LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Results released today from an informal investigation conducted over the last four years indicates that individuals who suffer from hair loss believe their appearance negatively impacts virtually every part of their lives.
Conducted by Farrell Hair, an international company with salons that specialize in custom, non-surgical hair replacement systems, the study reinforces the trend which Richard Farrell, President of Farrell Hair, has been witnessing first-hand.
"The pain of hair loss knows no age limits, no ethnic or gender exemptions," said Farrell. "Imagine waking up one day and realizing you are drastically losing your hair, or worse, that you are bald? These people feel disfigured and devastated!
"What if you're only eight years old? One recent case is an eight-year-old girl suffering from Alopecia Areata since she was two. What was a girl so young supposed to do when over the period of a few days she permanently loses all of her hair? We see this situation frequently." Farrell said. "Should she should have to live with ugly wigs and scarves? It is sad situation and so unnecessary when we can give any person all of their hair back exactly like it used to be. We non-surgically replace everything, duplicating the client's original density, growth patterns, cowlicks, hair texture, color, and hair tendencies."
Farrell concludes, "It's not only common sense but proven that people suffering from hair loss, especially due to a medically-related condition such as post-chemo therapy treatment, recover more rapidly when they see a healthy image looking back at them in their mirror. They feel more alive, more whole and more accepted."
According to New York psychologist Dr. Stanley Teitelbaum, whose focus is on male pattern baldness, "In our culture hair loss becomes a marker of visual imperfection. Many patients experience an overall sense of decline that, after thirty years of practice, I call the 'feeling of losing it.' The patient will come in anxious and depressed with this specific problem and its perceived social consequences."
According to a Manhattan private practitioner dermatologist Dr. Jordana Gilman, Assistant Clinical Professor at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, "Young people, women and men suffering from hair loss are treated for any number of reasons, from teen stress to premature or ageing baldness, trauma, including chemotherapy, post-stress from childbirth, thyroid disorders, anemia, iron deficiency, psoriasis, to the scalp disease Alopecia Areata."
Dr. Gilman added, "Once an aggressive treatment program results in hair restoration, the patient's psyche improves and he or she is more apt to overcome certain aspects of related anxiety from hair loss, and therefore resume normal activities."
Feedback from the Farrell Hair survey showed that 92% of the respondents reported obsessively thinking about their hair loss situation "all the time" while 82% agreed with the statement "My hair loss prohibits me from being who I really am."
As Dr. Teitelbaum explains, "Therapeutically exploring who they are and their current attributes as an older person can help their related emotional outlook. Later on those patients successful with hair restoration perceive themselves looking better and therefore feel better internally."
The questionnaire, issued to both men and women in varying stages of hair loss, illustrates that hair loss sufferers collectively agree that there is a link between losing one's hair and losing self-confidence and self-esteem.
Roughly 86% of the respondents said they face unwelcome questions and comments about their hair loss by significant others, co-workers, family and friends while 88% of those participants feel "uncomfortable and awkward" at work and social settings such as clubs, parties, and even family gatherings.
An even higher number (89%) of those answering identified themselves as "single" reported that their hair loss keeps them from meeting new people. 90% of the participants described feeling "depressed and hopeless" about their hair loss while 6% acknowledged suicidal ideation. 64% of those contributing to the research indicated that they felt "discriminated against" by their hair loss situation by prospective employers, prospective mates and others.
Approximately 94% of participants reported that their hair loss contributed to "dysfunction" in their lives affecting everything from focus at work to focus in intimacy with about the same number (90%) reporting that their struggle to deal with hair loss is "debilitating."
With numerous salon and satellite salons located in major U.S. markets, UK, India and Australia, Farrell Hair Replacement has long been seen at the forefront of the battle against hair loss; a consistent voice of advocacy for hair loss sufferers by providing one of few recognized non-surgical hair replacement solutions for totally transforming an individual's natural appearance.
The custom-designed hair systems, made from a template of each individual person's head, are crafted by hand in a production facility in Mexico and are comprised of many proprietary techniques that make them virtually undetectable to sight and to touch. Each strand of human hair is knotted into a fine, mesh-like material that is attached to the head with adhesive. The Farrell hair system can be worn for three to five years. About every two weeks, it needs to be removed and washed thoroughly. Clients receive another identical hair system as a backup.
The international company was recently acknowledged in the industry by being awarded the highly esteemed "Best in the World," for the eighth consecutive year by www.hairsite.com the largest Internet Web site dedicated to treatment of hair loss.