In the Hair Replacement Industry, ?Sincerity Goes a Long Way?
they had become experts in their own right. Determined to save hair loss sufferers both time and money, the partners – Andrew and Warren – decided to open Hair Loss Center in the elegant Mayfair section of London. Think Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
From those humble beginnings sprouted White Cliffs Hair Studio, now known Internationally with studios throughout the United Kingdom including Scotland and Ireland. Studios in India, Canada, Australia soon opened, followed by three studios in the United States in Cleveland, Indianapolis and, most recently, in Chicago. Paul Sandor owns and operates all three US enterprises.
What made White Cliffs stand out so quickly was their multi-solution approach to solving hair loss. “In the beginning, before I became a White Cliffs studio, I only offered nonsurgical hair replacement,” said Sandor. “Hair loss is more complex than that. You need more tools than that. It’s like that saying: If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything like it is a nail. Now we offer every solution for every type of hair loss condition.”
I was still thinking about Jeremy when Paul’s next client, Lerna, walked into the office. Lerna is a beautiful 42-year-old African American woman who works as a public school teacher in Indianapolis. She looks and dresses conservatively but said that this wasn’t always the case.
“Ever since I was a child, I embraced all the African traditions as far as beading and braiding my hair,” she said, laughing. “All through my teens and twenties, I used harsh chemicals and even harsher braiding techniques. But I was young and even though everyone warned me to take better care of my hair I didn’t listen.”
While in her mid-thirties Lerna was diagnosed with traction Alopecia, a common cause of hair loss due to extended tension exerted on the scalp hair, such as is caused by ponytails and braids. She was shocked when she cut her hair short one year to find that underneath all of her outer hair, she had lost significant amounts of her hair in patches.
“It was nightmarish,” she said, “but little did I know that my nightmare was only beginning. The road to finding an expert and professional who cares and really understands how to help someone like me is not an easy one.”
Lerna related a four-year quest to restore her natural appearance as well as “everything else I lost when I lost my hair; the self-esteem and the self-confidence.”
“I went to six different salons before I found White Cliffs,” she relates. “They all put hair on my head, but it wasn’t my hair. And that’s a big difference. They all wanted me to shave off my remaining hair in order to give me the density I wanted and they didn’t understand why I would want to keep what is there, what is still mine.”
She had spent over ,000 over six years without getting what she paid for. Today, her hair looks both natural and stylish. Unlike Jeremy, her front hairline was her own actual hair. While the traction Alopecia had caused her hair to recede slightly, it still looked natural for a woman her age.
This time I got to see her without her hair prosthetic applied to her head. “Patchy hair loss” described her hair condition perfectly. She had a lot of her own hair, with large patches of thinning and missing hair. Sandor had applied a “Volumizer hair system” to her head, a thin, weightless mesh base with hair tied to it that perfectly matched her own hair, texture and color. The base contains openings for her own, natural hair to pull through it, perfectly blending with the tied-on hair, making her bald patches virtually disappear and giving her instant density and an instant smile.
“These people here are very sensitive,” she said. “They care deeply about me. I feel that. Like Paul always says, I’m not a client and he’s not a businessman. We’re in a partnership. We’re equals. That’s the sort of relationship I like to be in where nobody has the upper hand. It feels comfortable. Sincerity goes a long way with me.”
The White Cliffs of Dover in Britain are a sight to behold. They are chalky, white cliffs that form an important part of the English coastline and are deeply inscribed with significant national identity, history and meaning. For thousands of years these cliffs have formed a symbolic guard against enemy and foreign invasion of English ports.
To the British, these cliffs represent their national pride and values of strength, fortitude, courage and beauty.
White Cliffs Hair Studio claims the same values as their namesake cliffs. An examination of their website illustrates a study of smooth elegance, style and technology. Their marketing messages are fine-tuned into short, powerful phrases