July 15, 2024 • 34 mins
It can be hard to talk about female hair loss and all the ways in which it can impact your life.
In this episode Bambi talks to a hair loss coach and psychologist,Evelien, who specialises in helping women with hair loss.
Evelien also has her own hair loss story and she talks about how hard it was to talk about her own hair loss in professional settings.
You’ll also learn a little more about cotton hair fibres.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How an Alopecia coach can help women with hair loss to get the most out of life, with or without hair
- Why women with hair loss need a safe space to try out new looks
- How you can use cotton hair fibres as makeup for your hair
CONNECT WITH HAIR LOSS COACHES:
Want to know more about hair loss coaches?
You can connect with Evelien at the Alopecia Coach (Netherlands based)
And Alison Mann, an Alopecia Therapist and Coach (US based)
SHARE THE PODCAST:
Like what you heard and want to share the podcast with other women in your life? Send them this link: https://www.boostnblend.com/pages/hair-loss-in-women-podcast
FIND OUT MORE:
If you’d like to find out more about Boost n Blend head to the Australian website, US website, UK website.
Find us on social media at Facebook or Instagram.
DISCLAIMER:
While Bambi is a former registered nurse with extensive knowledge on hair loss in women, she is not a medical doctor.
All information shared in this podcast is of a general nature.
Please see your GP or other medical professional for specific advice related to your circumstances.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello ladies, are you struggling with hairloss?
I want you to know you're not alone.
Hi, I'm Bambi Staveley, former registerednurse, author, founder of Boost n Blend
and someone who probably just like you hashad first -hand experience with hair loss,
which is all covered in my latest book,Hair Loss in Women.
(00:23):
When I noticed my own hair thinning 15years ago,
I went looking for information and I wentlooking for products for women, just like
you and me.
But all I could find out there wasproducts made for men.
And most of the information I could findwas about male pattern baldness.
Well, that's not much help.
So I set out to change that.
(00:44):
I want to see women with hair loss talkingabout it and talking to each other,
sharing their stories from a place ofknowledge.
So join me.
as I meet some courageous women.
I'll share some information and we'lllearn together on the Hair Loss in Women
podcast.
(01:11):
Welcome to Hair Loss in Women.
I wonder if you've spoken to aprofessional about your hair loss.
I'm not talking about a doctor or adermatologist.
I mean someone who can help you come toterms with your hair loss.
Someone like a psychologist or a lifecoach.
Well, you're about to hear from Evelien,otherwise known as the Alopecia coach.
(01:34):
After our interview, we'll finish up thisepisode, which happens to be the final
episode in this first season.
with some facts you may not know abouthair fibres.
And look, just a word of warning, we dotalk about mental health in relation to
hair loss in this interview.
Let's start by meeting Evelien.
(01:55):
hello, Evelien.
It's great to welcome you to the podcastall the way from the Netherlands.
Hi Bambi.
So good to be here.
Thank you for having me.
You're welcome.
Now you're a psychologist and a coach andyou specialize in hair loss, mostly female
hair loss.
Tell me how you made the transition fromgeneral psychology to specializing in hair
(02:18):
loss, or did you start out with thisspecialty?
I absolutely did not start out with thespecialty.
the 18 year old hair losing me would bedisgusted at what I'm doing now.
Not because it's not necessary, butbecause, you know, it was the worst thing
for me happening and me taking this muchtime voluntarily to work with hair loss
(02:41):
would be something that, you know, 18,little 18 year old me, you know, couldn't
visualize the time at all.
I studied psychology and, I always,
I have a master's in social psychology andthen I always worked in professional
development and organizing events andtraining events for professional growth.
(03:04):
But two and a half years ago, I realizedthat there's still so little mental and
emotional support for women losing theirhair due to alopecia.
And I'm just not okay with that.
I wasn't okay with that 20 years ago andI'm still not okay with that.
You know, I have the education.
I have 20 plus years of experience withhair loss, 10 plus years experience with
(03:24):
wearing wigs.
Being a psychologist is not the same asbeing a coach.
So I trained for a year and a half tobecome a really good certified coach.
and then I was able to combine myexperiences and my education and now I'm
doing something that I absolutely love.
yeah.
Who knew?
I think 18 year old me would have had afew raised eyebrows.
(03:47):
where I've ended up as well.
And there are so many women with hair losswho would just love someone to talk to
someone who understands what they're goingthrough.
It's a shame there aren't more people likeyou.
Do you know of other alopecia coachesaround the world?
I do.
And I do see them becoming more frequent,which is good.
(04:09):
You know, one person I would really liketo point out is a therapist from New York,
Alison Mann.
I talked to her as well.
And I think she's doing amazing work.
There's many, well, not many, not yet, buta few coaches like me that wear, wear hair
pieces, you know, alternative hair andhelp, especially women navigating that
(04:29):
world.
But she is actually setting herself apartby she's also helping with women with
wigs, but she made a decision for herselfto not wear wigs or eyebrows or any type
of alternative hair.
And she's really trying to change, youknow, what we.
think of as normal.
Yeah.
And that's just so wonderful to hear.
(04:50):
So we'll put a link to her name is AlisonMann.
We'll put a link to her information in theshow notes, as well as yours, of course.
And so what does a hair loss coachactually do?
Well, not one session is the same becauseeveryone's different and everyone has
different challenges regarding hair loss.
It can either be, how do I tell my friendsand family about this?
(05:13):
How do I deal with romantic love?
in combination with me losing my hair andmaybe wearing alternative hair or not.
How can I still try to be myself and feellike myself when the image I see in the
mirror is not at all recognizable?
So there's a ton of things that come up,of course, but what we actually do is the
(05:37):
first thing I do is I listen.
Like you said, I know what it's like tolose your hair.
I know, of course, everyone's experienceis different, but I really do
think that I know from experience whatsomeone's going through.
And it's really nice to be able to lend,you know, just a safe space where someone
can actually feel understood, recognized,not judged in any way.
(06:00):
So of course, that's the first thing I do.
And then there's many things we work on.
We work on resilience.
You know, Alopecia is something thathappens to you.
No one wants this.
No one chooses this.
But the reality is that it's here.
You know, it's part of your life andyou're going to have to find a way to make
the best out of this situation you're in.
(06:22):
And that requires acceptance, not fightingthe reality that you're in.
And some people find that really difficultand that can actually take a long time.
So we practice radical acceptance.
So that's about not only wanting to feelgood and the good feelings, but also not
shying away from despair, sadness, anger.
(06:44):
All those feelings, they're also part ofthe deal.
Yeah, they are.
And you talk about radical acceptance.
How is that something that you can helpwomen to come to terms, come to a place of
that would be sort of through theresilience that you mentioned?
Yeah, I think they work together becausewhat I see a lot in coaching is that, for
(07:07):
example, people, you know, we all knowpeople that are actually really life
-threateningly ill.
And then a lot of women I work with,
think that or feel that they don't reallyhave the rights to be upset about just
hair loss because otherwise they'rehealthy.
They can be 100 years old and they'relosing people in their family or friends
to cancer, for example.
(07:29):
So they feel like they don't have theright to actually feel what they're
feeling.
So they push it away, but that's notaccepting what's happening to you.
Yeah.
And I think there's some sort of layer ofguilt that we possibly feel.
When we think about other people worse offthan us, other people who have some other
issue and here we are feeling terrible orstaying home rather than going out because
(07:53):
of a lack of hair, I guess there's sort ofa layer of guilt there somewhere, isn't
there?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So I try to create a safe space where it'sokay to address that guilt and actually
lean into that.
You know, why are you feeling that?
And what would it be like if you couldactually take a little time to just dip
your toe into that feeling?
and that toe becomes a foot and that footbecome, you know, so we take step by step.
(08:18):
And that is also like a bigger theme thata lot of my coaching clients struggle
with, which is taking up space.
And that's something I think a lot ofwomen maybe struggle with.
That's not even that related to hair loss,but I see that women with hair loss find
it difficult and challenging to take upspace, claiming who they are.
(08:41):
or who they want to be in this newsituation that they're dealing with,
dealing with their surroundings, you know,how are they going, how are people going
to respond if you decide not to wear hairor if you decide to buy a long blonde wig
as I did, well, I'm not really that blondeor never had long hair, you know, you have
a lot to deal with and a lot of people gointo their head, you know, and have
(09:05):
thoughts and negative thoughts and stressabout that as well.
Yeah.
And tell me what,
do you mean by taking up space?
It means, I think, first of all, knowingwho you are.
I know this from experience and I alwayssee this in my coaching sessions.
When you lose your hair, you lose the wayyou look, right?
(09:26):
Your expectations of yourself, image inthe mirror, what society thinks women
should look like if they're healthy andattractive and all of that.
So it challenges you to create a newversion of yourself.
which can be really empowering, but first,really, it's really scary and sad and, you
(09:46):
know, it's uncharted territory.
So taking up space means finding out whoyou are if your outside doesn't match your
inside anymore.
And that also gives you a greatopportunity to learn about your inside.
You know, it happens.
Lepisha happens on the outside, but italso has a big impact on the inside of
your head.
Yeah, sure.
(10:07):
And is there something that comes up timeand time again when talking to women with
hair loss that you think women listeningtoday might be able to identify with?
And then if so, what is your advice forthat?
Well, there's many things I could talkabout now, but I'll just get, I'll keep it
small and I'll focus on in Holland.
(10:29):
We are very big on tough love.
You know, we touched on that subjectbefore just now.
There's many people experiencing way worsethings than hair loss.
So a lot of women are very strict withthemselves.
If they feel ashamed or sad or desperateor, you know, all that kind of stuff,
they're very negative towards themselves.
(10:50):
So they experience a lot of negativethoughts.
And that's, you know, you might have heardof that, the inner critic within yourself,
it's the like nagging voice you have onyour shoulder.
you know, that says, you can do that orcome on, don't be such a wuss.
Get, you know, put on your hair.
Come on.
It can be helpful to listen to that voice.
(11:13):
It can bring you a lot, but it can alsostand in the way of actually accepting
what's happening to you because it doesn'twant you to feel pain.
And therefore you keep on going, but younever really stand still and experience
what's happening to you and what's doingthat to you.
You know, so all those feelings, the toughfeelings, you push them away.
(11:34):
So I do encourage a lot.
I work with that inner critic.
That's great.
Yeah.
And that's what we, we, we would, youknow, we could all do with some help with.
So it's fabulous that you're doing that.
So what about your story?
You, you mentioned that you started tonotice your hair was sitting at about 18.
How did you get from there to where youare now with your hair?
(11:57):
Well, it's been a long journey.
I'm 40 at this moment, so it took me awhile.
Well, at 18, my hair became thinner andwithin a year I had the diagnosis alopecia
and then androgenetic alopecia.
So I still had hair and it wasn't verynoticeable to people that didn't know me,
(12:17):
but I noticed, you know, and my familynoticed.
But I pretended that it wasn't there.
I was studying psychology, but all thosetools I did not use on myself at all.
I wasn't capable, didn't want to, wasunable, I don't know what, but it was too
close, too painful, too horrible.
So my tactic was just looking the otherway.
(12:43):
But on the outside I was tough.
I always made jokes.
I was lighthearted, but on the inside Iwas not at all.
I was very scared, very lonely.
I didn't know anyone experiencing this.
I also had the feelings of guilt that youtalked about earlier.
You know, there's a lot worse things goingon.
My hair should not be such a big deal.
Two things.
(13:03):
One, I ignored the problem on the outsideto other people, but inside I was torn and
looking for solutions.
So I tried everything you can think offrom acupuncture to dieting, massages to
creams, whatever I could find.
I did that for a long time.
Yeah.
After about 10 years,
(13:24):
my sweet mother who has always been verysupportive, but for me also very annoying
because she kept saying, you know, it isgetting worse.
Maybe we should look at alternatives.
And I didn't want to hear that after 10years I did because I was broke because
it, you know, it's a lot of money as well.
So tired and just desperate.
(13:44):
I didn't know what else to do.
So I went to a hair salon and I tried onmy first hair piece.
And I think
I thought I looked ridiculous and it wasthe last place I wanted to be.
But I think there I just, I was up to thewall, you know, I was done.
There was nothing more I felt like I coulddo.
I didn't have it in me.
(14:05):
And I think that's where my actually beingable to accept what's happening to me
started.
Okay.
With a little bit of acceptance.
Yeah.
And also, actually seeing that there isanother way.
I don't have to do this alone.
Being in that hair salon, they normalizedElopecia a little bit for me, which made a
(14:28):
big difference because they met a lot ofpeople with Elopecia just like me.
I just didn't know them.
But, you know, they were all around.
But because it's still such a touchysubject and it's such a taboo still.
Yeah, I didn't know there were that manypeople that had the same issues as I did.
So it took away the loneliness a littlebit.
I actually loved my hair after after awhile.
(14:50):
I had way better, better alternative hairthan I ever had naturally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So there was still a long way to go foryou from that day in the hair salon to
being the alopecia coach.
So tell us a little bit about how thattransition happened in your, I guess there
(15:13):
were many years where you were wearingalternative hair and you were getting on
with your life, but
you know, as you said, at some point you,you felt that there was a need, which
you're definitely right.
There certainly was a need, but for youthat must've meant, I use the term of sort
of coming out, telling people, beingprepared to publicly show people your, or
(15:34):
talk about your hair and your hairsituation and wearing hair.
So how did you manage that?
You're right.
It took a lot of years to get there.
and I never thought that this would besomething I would be doing work wise.
So I worked, like I said, I just worked ineducational companies and there were a lot
of things that I was teaching other peoplethat I was actually able to then project
(15:58):
to myself as well.
Also themes like resilience, compassion,empathy, all those kinds of things that
are really healing and helpful to knowabout if you're dealing with alopecia.
So that happened over the years andmindfulness and all those kinds of things.
I had an opportunity when my seconddaughter was born, had a little free time.
(16:21):
I was in between jobs and that was one ofthose crucial moments that I thought,
okay, what am I going to do?
I have two little girls.
I am at the end of my thirties and Ireally wanted to get back to coaching and
the psychology side of me because I wasbeing a little, you know, more active in
the corporate world, which I also reallyenjoyed, but I missed guiding and
(16:43):
counseling people.
And I don't know what it's like inAustralia, but in Holland, there's a ton
of coaches.
Like everyone is becoming a coach.
And I really lean into that as well,because I just knew I love psychology and
I love being really driven to get aresult.
And in coaching, you have the best ofboth.
(17:03):
So I thought, you know, coaching issomething that where I can really excel.
And I think I would be really happy in acoaching job.
And that's actually
a little voice popped up and said, well,you know what makes you really different
and where you can really do some goodwork, you know, where there's a lot of
need.
And of course, I was at Lopecia and firstI thought, am I going to do that?
(17:27):
Because yeah, it is coming out, you know,and my friends and family know about my
hair loss and that I wear alternativehair, but not my LinkedIn network, you
know, not my everyone's work streets.
So it is really a big step, but for me, itfelt like something I had to do.
I was in such a good position to do it.
I had the experience, the education, I hadall the mistakes as well.
(17:50):
I did it the tough way, I think, and I canalso teach people what that was like for
me so they can make more better informeddecisions.
So it doesn't have to take 20 years forthem, hopefully, to get where I am now.
It was kind of something that I knew I hadto do.
And I guess I was a little apprehensive.
On the other hand, I thought that's justsomething I'm going to have to deal with
(18:13):
because I can help so many people doingthis and not even just to coaching and the
one on one work I do, but also with thewriting about it, talking about it, you
know, social media, the podcast like youare doing as well to normalize hair loss
and women take away the taboo and theshame of it and the like the loneliness
that is actually so a million times biggerthan my little fear of coming out with my
(18:38):
hair loss, you know.
You could be telling my story as well, butjust because that moment when I realized,
no, this is what I'm going to do.
I'm actually going to talk about my hairloss to people.
So the people on the street and the peoplein my community and network find out that
I've been hiding something all this time.
(18:59):
So I totally get where you came from.
It's funny how it's a very similarfeeling, that sort of need to help.
everybody else to go, look, this isn'tthat bad if we can all pull together.
Let's talk about it.
Let's see if we can see if I can helpother people.
You obviously have the same thought.
(19:19):
Let's help other people.
So, and, and so again, you and I in thesame position in a way, but what does it
feel like for you to embrace being someonewith hair loss and helping out your
community?
What does that feel like for you?
I really don't really have anything tocompare it with.
It makes me incredibly thankful.
I'm actually one of those people that 18year old me would cringe, but I actually
(19:44):
feel at this moment that hair loss broughtme more than that it took for me because
it allowed me to look inside myself at away younger age, I think, than my peers at
that time.
I was confronted with the fact that we'reall, well, we're not permanent beings, you
know, and my hair was just the first thingto go.
(20:05):
So it,
me a lot of gratitude for the moments thatwe have here and a really big drive to
just enjoy the good things happening toyou because I was also able to tap into
the bad things, you know, and allow themto also be bad, that it's okay.
Yeah.
And teaching that to other people, Ireally hope that they can, they don't have
(20:28):
to embrace hair loss, you know, that's notthe point I think of what I'm doing.
They do.
I would love for them to embrace theirlife and be able to enjoy the moments with
their kids, be at a wedding and, you know,actually enjoy the company instead of
thinking, is anyone going to see that myhair's thin or, you know, that I have a
bald patch or, cause you miss your lifedoing that.
(20:51):
Exactly.
How, how serious do you think the impactof hair loss can be on our mental health?
Extremely serious.
I think it's different for everyone, butI've worked with many women and I'm still
trying to work with them, you know, thatare sick at home for a year or so.
They don't go to work anymore.
(21:11):
You know, they cancel social activities.
They become depressed, lonely.
And it's not just them, right?
It's their kids too.
It's their spouses.
It's their family.
It's their colleagues.
It has impact, not just on the personexperiencing hair loss, on their
surroundings very much.
Yeah.
And if, if someone is finding themselvesreally focused on their hair loss as, as
(21:35):
the thing they're thinking about all thetime.
And I hear women say that, how do you helppeople get out of that mindset?
Or is there something you could say to tryto not focus that much on it?
Yeah.
How do you, how do you change thatmindset?
Well, I think that's a skill.
So the bad news is that it's not gonna beovernight.
(21:57):
It's gonna take work, it's gonna takerepetition.
It's actually like learning a new skill,but the good news is that you can learn a
skill.
So I think step one would be to analyzewhat you're thinking.
Be aware of the thoughts and the thingsyou're telling yourself.
Because if you're not aware of what'shappening, you know, inside of your head,
you can't really change it.
(22:18):
So step one is, you know, you can do thatreally easily.
Every day you take five minutes,doesn't...
matter when in the day and you write down,how am I feeling?
What am I feeling in my body?
What am I thinking right now?
What is my mood?
And the more you do that, the more you getin touch with, you know, your inner world.
So that would be step one.
And then step two is thinking is analyzingyour thoughts.
(22:40):
You know, are you being mean to yourself?
If you look into the mirror, what do yousay to yourself?
If you go outside, what are the thoughtsthat pop up in your head?
You know, are you going to compareyourself to everyone or what, you know,
what's happening?
And then step three is to check if that'sactually correct.
What you're saying.
There's many things you can do them, butalso to learn how to objectively observe
(23:03):
instead of putting judgment in yourthoughts.
So if you look to the mirror, you canthink, yeah, I see, you know, two eyes.
I see a nose and that's what you, whatyou're objectively seeing.
You can also say, I see an ugly bulb, butthat's judgment.
So
are just some tiny things you can do.
And one of my favorite exercises that Ithink your listeners might enjoy as well.
(23:28):
Try talking to yourself as if you wereyour own best friend going through what
you're going through at this moment.
Because we're not used to talk, at leastin Holland, we are not used to talking to
ourselves like that at all.
We put ourselves down, we're negative,we're strict.
We're like the angry step mom, you know?
(23:50):
Yeah, but we shouldn't be we should be ourown cheerleader, you know, and in the
beginning when you do that, it feelsreally unnatural.
Like I said, it's so not a Dutch thing todo.
Yeah, we're direct, we're tough.
But when you learn to actually say, youknow, if you're feeling really, you're
feeling really down today, and that'sreally okay.
(24:10):
But you can do this, honey, you know, beproud of how far you've come celebrate
your tiny little steps that you're making.
That's such a different vibe, right?
The energy is completely different.
It is.
Well, that whole mindset approach is justso valuable.
So thank you so much for sharing that withus.
And actually it's been very insightfultalking to you, hearing what you have to
(24:35):
say.
And I am, you know, I'm very envious ofthose women who get to talk to you as you,
as a coach, because I think it's wonderfulto hear you talking.
I can imagine that you have such apositive influence on women's lives and
you know, that is just so amazing.
So thank you for sharing your story withus today and all of your wonderful skills.
(24:58):
I really appreciate having you.
Thank you so much Bambi.
It was an amazing time to you and I lovewhat you're doing as well.
I think it's so important.
Like I said, maybe we have the samemission or the same drive, but it's so
good to meet you.
And I hope many, many people all over theworld will listen to your podcast.
thanks, Evelien.
(25:19):
Wasn't that wonderful to listen tosomebody with such great advice?
You know, we're all in our heads toooften, I think.
And Evelien just had such a beautiful wayof helping us to think of other ways of
thinking about ourselves and gettinginside our own heads.
So I hope that what she had to say madeyou think a little differently about your
(25:41):
hair loss, perhaps.
OK, so now.
I want to share just a little bit of whatI know about hair fibers.
It's time to talk about something veryclose to my heart and my head of course,
and that is hair fibers.
I'm the founder of Boost and Blend, whichis a company that predominantly sells hair
(26:03):
fibers.
So it makes sense that I love them.
And in fact, I don't leave the housewithout hair fibers in.
If you haven't used them, hair fibers aretiny,
hair like microfibres that you shake ontothe roots of your hair and they make your
hair appear thicker.
Actually they make your hair appear up to10 times thicker.
(26:27):
So you just shake them on onto dry hairand you blend in with your fingers.
So if you've got an area of scalp that'svisible then you just shake it over that
and the visibility of your scalpdisappears in an instant.
And if you haven't heard of hair fibers,you probably think that I'm talking
absolute rubbish.
(26:47):
But the funny thing is about hair fibersis that as soon as somebody sees them and
sees what they do, the reaction is often,my goodness, why didn't I know about this?
And a lot of incredulous responses aswell.
So let me tell you a little bit about hairfibers.
So they're not all created equal.
(27:10):
Good quality fibers,
electrostatic so they cling to dry hairand that's how they stay in place.
And in fact they stay in place in wind andin rain and they stay there until they're
washed out with shampoo.
I actually had my hair fibers in one dayin a flood event and I was caught in the
(27:31):
pouring rain for a couple of hours andsomebody knocked on our front door and I
suddenly realized that my hair fibersmight have moved in all that rain.
And I ran into the bathroom to check andno, they were still there.
So that was a relief for me.
But good quality hair fibers really shouldbe made from cotton.
(27:52):
That is actually important because thatwill reduce the likelihood of any
irritation.
You hear a lot of stories about women whouse hair fibers and they find them really
itchy and uncomfortable and heavy.
And that's because they're made out of
animal hair or made to simulate animalhair or hair.
(28:17):
They're usually keratin hair fibers andthey can cause some issues for some
people.
Actually the keratin hair fibers is oldtechnology.
That technology for hair fibers has beenaround for over 40 years, probably closer
(28:37):
to 50 years.
And unfortunately they are water soluble,so the color can run and that's obviously
not good in the rain.
But cotton hair fibers and in particularfemale cotton hair fibers, which is the
hair fibers that we make are made from thesame thing that cotton clothes are made
(28:57):
from, the cotton plant.
And we know that that's gentle on ourskin.
So that's a whole lot easier for us toapply and not to have any side effects
from.
So that's a little bit about cotton hairfibers, but I get asked a lot of questions
about hair fibers and there are a lot offears that people have around them.
(29:19):
So I thought I might address a couple ofthose.
So one of the questions I get asked a lotis, can you use them all the time?
Can you use them every day?
And the answer to that is absolutely.
They don't do anything other than obscurea visible scalp.
And another question I get asked a lot isdo they actually clog your follicles?
And there are people online who I haveseen say, hair fibers clog your follicles.
(29:43):
Well, they don't, they don't clog yourfollicles.
They do not prevent hair from growing andthey do not clog your hair follicles.
It's one of those things that the hairfibers cling to the shaft of your hair.
Yes, some, some do fall through onto yourscalp.
Yes.
but they don't.
and in fact we have lots of stories ofpeople who have been doing things to grow
(30:08):
their hair back and while they were doingthat, whether it was a stimulant or a
blocker or whatever they were doing, theirhair grew back whilst using hair fibers
and that happened to me.
So my hair has fallen out a number oftimes over the years due to different
things, but I have always used hair fibersand my hair has grown back every time.
So no, they don't prevent hair growth orthe cotton ones don't.
(30:31):
Do they stay in the rain?
Yes, as I mentioned before that happenedto me and they certainly did stay in the
rain.
And then another question that comes up isdo they run?
Do they run down your face?
No, they don't.
The cotton hair fibers don't.
The keratin ones possibly because thecolor does run out of the keratin hair
(30:54):
fibers.
They're not colorfast.
So cotton, as you know, in cotton clothingis colorfast.
and the hair fibers, the cotton hairfibers are definitely colourfast.
But I think the keratin ones have had abit of a bad reputation of leaching colour
out, particularly with people who go tothe gym and sweat and so on.
(31:15):
So you really are better to look forcotton hair fibers if you can.
But you know, the best thing about hairfibers is that they provide an incredible
level of confidence, no longer.
do you have a gap that people can see?
I remember before I was using hair fibersthat I would talk to somebody who would be
(31:37):
looking at the top of my head rather thanmy eyes or my face in a conversation.
So taking that away, taking away thatfeeling that someone's noticing your hair
loss is great at providing extraconfidence.
So that's the first thing.
But the other thing is it reduces thestress.
Now I have mentioned I think in previousepisodes that the stress of hair loss
(31:59):
causes hair loss.
Any kind of stress can cause hair loss.
And so if you can have hair fibers in andyou're not as stressed and you're not
stressed about your hair loss at all, thenthat can only be a good thing.
And I guess the other thing to mention isit actually a cheaper option than some of
the other options out there?
(32:20):
It has no real side effects and you canuse hair fibers forever.
Just think of it as if it's makeup foryour hair.
You're not going to just use makeup for acouple of years.
You're going to keep using makeup for aslong as you feel like you want to make
your face look better.
So you just use hair fibers as makeup foryour hair and you can do that for the rest
(32:41):
of your life if that's what you want to doand hide your hair loss from everyone from
the world and just have more confidence.
And I think that's really one of the mostfabulous things about hair fibers.
So that brings us not only to the end ofthe episode,
but also to the end of season one of HairLoss and Women.
(33:01):
I really can't explain how grateful I amto everyone who has shared their story
this season and thank you also forlistening.
If you haven't managed to catch all 12episodes, now is probably a perfect time
to catch up.
And you may also want to share thispodcast with someone you love or someone
who you know who may be dealing with hairloss.
(33:22):
We are now going to take a short breakfrom the podcast, but we will be back.
before you know it.
But for now, as always, I'd like to leaveyou with these words, kindness is
beautiful, so wear it every day.
Thanks for joining me on the Hair Loss inWomen podcast.
And a big thank you to the women who sharetheir stories here and with others in
(33:46):
their community.
One of the hardest things about hair lossfor women is that we don't talk about it.
So if you do want to hear more, pleasesubscribe to the podcast.
And if you like what you heard, why notleave a review?
Positive reviews will help other women tofind this podcast too.
You can also find out more in my book,Hair Loss in Women.
(34:08):
This podcast has been recorded in Sydney,Australia and is produced by Pod and Pen
Productions.
Hello ladies, are you struggling with hairloss?
I want you to know you're not alone.
Hi, I'm Bambi Staveley, former registerednurse, author, founder of Boost n Blend
and someone who probably just like you hashad first -hand experience with hair loss,
which is all covered in my latest book,Hair Loss in Women.
(00:23):
When I noticed my own hair thinning 15years ago,
I went looking for information and I wentlooking for products for women, just like
you and me.
But all I could find out there wasproducts made for men.
And most of the information I could findwas about male pattern baldness.
Well, that's not much help.
So I set out to change that.
(00:44):
I want to see women with hair loss talkingabout it and talking to each other,
sharing their stories from a place ofknowledge.
So join me.
as I meet some courageous women.
I'll share some information and we'lllearn together on the Hair Loss in Women
podcast.
(01:11):
Welcome to Hair Loss in Women.
I wonder if you've spoken to aprofessional about your hair loss.
I'm not talking about a doctor or adermatologist.
I mean someone who can help you come toterms with your hair loss.
Someone like a psychologist or a lifecoach.
Well, you're about to hear from Evelien,otherwise known as the Alopecia coach.
(01:34):
After our interview, we'll finish up thisepisode, which happens to be the final
episode in this first season.
with some facts you may not know abouthair fibres.
And look, just a word of warning, we dotalk about mental health in relation to
hair loss in this interview.
Let's start by meeting Evelien.
(01:55):
hello, Evelien.
It's great to welcome you to the podcastall the way from the Netherlands.
Hi Bambi.
So good to be here.
Thank you for having me.
You're welcome.
Now you're a psychologist and a coach andyou specialize in hair loss, mostly female
hair loss.
Tell me how you made the transition fromgeneral psychology to specializing in hair
(02:18):
loss, or did you start out with thisspecialty?
I absolutely did not start out with thespecialty.
the 18 year old hair losing me would bedisgusted at what I'm doing now.
Not because it's not necessary, butbecause, you know, it was the worst thing
for me happening and me taking this muchtime voluntarily to work with hair loss
(02:41):
would be something that, you know, 18,little 18 year old me, you know, couldn't
visualize the time at all.
I studied psychology and, I always,
I have a master's in social psychology andthen I always worked in professional
development and organizing events andtraining events for professional growth.
(03:04):
But two and a half years ago, I realizedthat there's still so little mental and
emotional support for women losing theirhair due to alopecia.
And I'm just not okay with that.
I wasn't okay with that 20 years ago andI'm still not okay with that.
You know, I have the education.
I have 20 plus years of experience withhair loss, 10 plus years experience with
(03:24):
wearing wigs.
Being a psychologist is not the same asbeing a coach.
So I trained for a year and a half tobecome a really good certified coach.
and then I was able to combine myexperiences and my education and now I'm
doing something that I absolutely love.
yeah.
Who knew?
I think 18 year old me would have had afew raised eyebrows.
(03:47):
where I've ended up as well.
And there are so many women with hair losswho would just love someone to talk to
someone who understands what they're goingthrough.
It's a shame there aren't more people likeyou.
Do you know of other alopecia coachesaround the world?
I do.
And I do see them becoming more frequent,which is good.
(04:09):
You know, one person I would really liketo point out is a therapist from New York,
Alison Mann.
I talked to her as well.
And I think she's doing amazing work.
There's many, well, not many, not yet, buta few coaches like me that wear, wear hair
pieces, you know, alternative hair andhelp, especially women navigating that
(04:29):
world.
But she is actually setting herself apartby she's also helping with women with
wigs, but she made a decision for herselfto not wear wigs or eyebrows or any type
of alternative hair.
And she's really trying to change, youknow, what we.
think of as normal.
Yeah.
And that's just so wonderful to hear.
(04:50):
So we'll put a link to her name is AlisonMann.
We'll put a link to her information in theshow notes, as well as yours, of course.
And so what does a hair loss coachactually do?
Well, not one session is the same becauseeveryone's different and everyone has
different challenges regarding hair loss.
It can either be, how do I tell my friendsand family about this?
(05:13):
How do I deal with romantic love?
in combination with me losing my hair andmaybe wearing alternative hair or not.
How can I still try to be myself and feellike myself when the image I see in the
mirror is not at all recognizable?
So there's a ton of things that come up,of course, but what we actually do is the
(05:37):
first thing I do is I listen.
Like you said, I know what it's like tolose your hair.
I know, of course, everyone's experienceis different, but I really do
think that I know from experience whatsomeone's going through.
And it's really nice to be able to lend,you know, just a safe space where someone
can actually feel understood, recognized,not judged in any way.
(06:00):
So of course, that's the first thing I do.
And then there's many things we work on.
We work on resilience.
You know, Alopecia is something thathappens to you.
No one wants this.
No one chooses this.
But the reality is that it's here.
You know, it's part of your life andyou're going to have to find a way to make
the best out of this situation you're in.
(06:22):
And that requires acceptance, not fightingthe reality that you're in.
And some people find that really difficultand that can actually take a long time.
So we practice radical acceptance.
So that's about not only wanting to feelgood and the good feelings, but also not
shying away from despair, sadness, anger.
(06:44):
All those feelings, they're also part ofthe deal.
Yeah, they are.
And you talk about radical acceptance.
How is that something that you can helpwomen to come to terms, come to a place of
that would be sort of through theresilience that you mentioned?
Yeah, I think they work together becausewhat I see a lot in coaching is that, for
(07:07):
example, people, you know, we all knowpeople that are actually really life
-threateningly ill.
And then a lot of women I work with,
think that or feel that they don't reallyhave the rights to be upset about just
hair loss because otherwise they'rehealthy.
They can be 100 years old and they'relosing people in their family or friends
to cancer, for example.
(07:29):
So they feel like they don't have theright to actually feel what they're
feeling.
So they push it away, but that's notaccepting what's happening to you.
Yeah.
And I think there's some sort of layer ofguilt that we possibly feel.
When we think about other people worse offthan us, other people who have some other
issue and here we are feeling terrible orstaying home rather than going out because
(07:53):
of a lack of hair, I guess there's sort ofa layer of guilt there somewhere, isn't
there?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So I try to create a safe space where it'sokay to address that guilt and actually
lean into that.
You know, why are you feeling that?
And what would it be like if you couldactually take a little time to just dip
your toe into that feeling?
and that toe becomes a foot and that footbecome, you know, so we take step by step.
(08:18):
And that is also like a bigger theme thata lot of my coaching clients struggle
with, which is taking up space.
And that's something I think a lot ofwomen maybe struggle with.
That's not even that related to hair loss,but I see that women with hair loss find
it difficult and challenging to take upspace, claiming who they are.
(08:41):
or who they want to be in this newsituation that they're dealing with,
dealing with their surroundings, you know,how are they going, how are people going
to respond if you decide not to wear hairor if you decide to buy a long blonde wig
as I did, well, I'm not really that blondeor never had long hair, you know, you have
a lot to deal with and a lot of people gointo their head, you know, and have
(09:05):
thoughts and negative thoughts and stressabout that as well.
Yeah.
And tell me what,
do you mean by taking up space?
It means, I think, first of all, knowingwho you are.
I know this from experience and I alwayssee this in my coaching sessions.
When you lose your hair, you lose the wayyou look, right?
(09:26):
Your expectations of yourself, image inthe mirror, what society thinks women
should look like if they're healthy andattractive and all of that.
So it challenges you to create a newversion of yourself.
which can be really empowering, but first,really, it's really scary and sad and, you
(09:46):
know, it's uncharted territory.
So taking up space means finding out whoyou are if your outside doesn't match your
inside anymore.
And that also gives you a greatopportunity to learn about your inside.
You know, it happens.
Lepisha happens on the outside, but italso has a big impact on the inside of
your head.
Yeah, sure.
(10:07):
And is there something that comes up timeand time again when talking to women with
hair loss that you think women listeningtoday might be able to identify with?
And then if so, what is your advice forthat?
Well, there's many things I could talkabout now, but I'll just get, I'll keep it
small and I'll focus on in Holland.
(10:29):
We are very big on tough love.
You know, we touched on that subjectbefore just now.
There's many people experiencing way worsethings than hair loss.
So a lot of women are very strict withthemselves.
If they feel ashamed or sad or desperateor, you know, all that kind of stuff,
they're very negative towards themselves.
(10:50):
So they experience a lot of negativethoughts.
And that's, you know, you might have heardof that, the inner critic within yourself,
it's the like nagging voice you have onyour shoulder.
you know, that says, you can do that orcome on, don't be such a wuss.
Get, you know, put on your hair.
Come on.
It can be helpful to listen to that voice.
(11:13):
It can bring you a lot, but it can alsostand in the way of actually accepting
what's happening to you because it doesn'twant you to feel pain.
And therefore you keep on going, but younever really stand still and experience
what's happening to you and what's doingthat to you.
You know, so all those feelings, the toughfeelings, you push them away.
(11:34):
So I do encourage a lot.
I work with that inner critic.
That's great.
Yeah.
And that's what we, we, we would, youknow, we could all do with some help with.
So it's fabulous that you're doing that.
So what about your story?
You, you mentioned that you started tonotice your hair was sitting at about 18.
How did you get from there to where youare now with your hair?
(11:57):
Well, it's been a long journey.
I'm 40 at this moment, so it took me awhile.
Well, at 18, my hair became thinner andwithin a year I had the diagnosis alopecia
and then androgenetic alopecia.
So I still had hair and it wasn't verynoticeable to people that didn't know me,
(12:17):
but I noticed, you know, and my familynoticed.
But I pretended that it wasn't there.
I was studying psychology, but all thosetools I did not use on myself at all.
I wasn't capable, didn't want to, wasunable, I don't know what, but it was too
close, too painful, too horrible.
So my tactic was just looking the otherway.
(12:43):
But on the outside I was tough.
I always made jokes.
I was lighthearted, but on the inside Iwas not at all.
I was very scared, very lonely.
I didn't know anyone experiencing this.
I also had the feelings of guilt that youtalked about earlier.
You know, there's a lot worse things goingon.
My hair should not be such a big deal.
Two things.
(13:03):
One, I ignored the problem on the outsideto other people, but inside I was torn and
looking for solutions.
So I tried everything you can think offrom acupuncture to dieting, massages to
creams, whatever I could find.
I did that for a long time.
Yeah.
After about 10 years,
(13:24):
my sweet mother who has always been verysupportive, but for me also very annoying
because she kept saying, you know, it isgetting worse.
Maybe we should look at alternatives.
And I didn't want to hear that after 10years I did because I was broke because
it, you know, it's a lot of money as well.
So tired and just desperate.
(13:44):
I didn't know what else to do.
So I went to a hair salon and I tried onmy first hair piece.
And I think
I thought I looked ridiculous and it wasthe last place I wanted to be.
But I think there I just, I was up to thewall, you know, I was done.
There was nothing more I felt like I coulddo.
I didn't have it in me.
(14:05):
And I think that's where my actually beingable to accept what's happening to me
started.
Okay.
With a little bit of acceptance.
Yeah.
And also, actually seeing that there isanother way.
I don't have to do this alone.
Being in that hair salon, they normalizedElopecia a little bit for me, which made a
(14:28):
big difference because they met a lot ofpeople with Elopecia just like me.
I just didn't know them.
But, you know, they were all around.
But because it's still such a touchysubject and it's such a taboo still.
Yeah, I didn't know there were that manypeople that had the same issues as I did.
So it took away the loneliness a littlebit.
I actually loved my hair after after awhile.
(14:50):
I had way better, better alternative hairthan I ever had naturally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So there was still a long way to go foryou from that day in the hair salon to
being the alopecia coach.
So tell us a little bit about how thattransition happened in your, I guess there
(15:13):
were many years where you were wearingalternative hair and you were getting on
with your life, but
you know, as you said, at some point you,you felt that there was a need, which
you're definitely right.
There certainly was a need, but for youthat must've meant, I use the term of sort
of coming out, telling people, beingprepared to publicly show people your, or
(15:34):
talk about your hair and your hairsituation and wearing hair.
So how did you manage that?
You're right.
It took a lot of years to get there.
and I never thought that this would besomething I would be doing work wise.
So I worked, like I said, I just worked ineducational companies and there were a lot
of things that I was teaching other peoplethat I was actually able to then project
(15:58):
to myself as well.
Also themes like resilience, compassion,empathy, all those kinds of things that
are really healing and helpful to knowabout if you're dealing with alopecia.
So that happened over the years andmindfulness and all those kinds of things.
I had an opportunity when my seconddaughter was born, had a little free time.
(16:21):
I was in between jobs and that was one ofthose crucial moments that I thought,
okay, what am I going to do?
I have two little girls.
I am at the end of my thirties and Ireally wanted to get back to coaching and
the psychology side of me because I wasbeing a little, you know, more active in
the corporate world, which I also reallyenjoyed, but I missed guiding and
(16:43):
counseling people.
And I don't know what it's like inAustralia, but in Holland, there's a ton
of coaches.
Like everyone is becoming a coach.
And I really lean into that as well,because I just knew I love psychology and
I love being really driven to get aresult.
And in coaching, you have the best ofboth.
(17:03):
So I thought, you know, coaching issomething that where I can really excel.
And I think I would be really happy in acoaching job.
And that's actually
a little voice popped up and said, well,you know what makes you really different
and where you can really do some goodwork, you know, where there's a lot of
need.
And of course, I was at Lopecia and firstI thought, am I going to do that?
(17:27):
Because yeah, it is coming out, you know,and my friends and family know about my
hair loss and that I wear alternativehair, but not my LinkedIn network, you
know, not my everyone's work streets.
So it is really a big step, but for me, itfelt like something I had to do.
I was in such a good position to do it.
I had the experience, the education, I hadall the mistakes as well.
(17:50):
I did it the tough way, I think, and I canalso teach people what that was like for
me so they can make more better informeddecisions.
So it doesn't have to take 20 years forthem, hopefully, to get where I am now.
It was kind of something that I knew I hadto do.
And I guess I was a little apprehensive.
On the other hand, I thought that's justsomething I'm going to have to deal with
(18:13):
because I can help so many people doingthis and not even just to coaching and the
one on one work I do, but also with thewriting about it, talking about it, you
know, social media, the podcast like youare doing as well to normalize hair loss
and women take away the taboo and theshame of it and the like the loneliness
that is actually so a million times biggerthan my little fear of coming out with my
(18:38):
hair loss, you know.
You could be telling my story as well, butjust because that moment when I realized,
no, this is what I'm going to do.
I'm actually going to talk about my hairloss to people.
So the people on the street and the peoplein my community and network find out that
I've been hiding something all this time.
(18:59):
So I totally get where you came from.
It's funny how it's a very similarfeeling, that sort of need to help.
everybody else to go, look, this isn'tthat bad if we can all pull together.
Let's talk about it.
Let's see if we can see if I can helpother people.
You obviously have the same thought.
(19:19):
Let's help other people.
So, and, and so again, you and I in thesame position in a way, but what does it
feel like for you to embrace being someonewith hair loss and helping out your
community?
What does that feel like for you?
I really don't really have anything tocompare it with.
It makes me incredibly thankful.
I'm actually one of those people that 18year old me would cringe, but I actually
(19:44):
feel at this moment that hair loss broughtme more than that it took for me because
it allowed me to look inside myself at away younger age, I think, than my peers at
that time.
I was confronted with the fact that we'reall, well, we're not permanent beings, you
know, and my hair was just the first thingto go.
(20:05):
So it,
me a lot of gratitude for the moments thatwe have here and a really big drive to
just enjoy the good things happening toyou because I was also able to tap into
the bad things, you know, and allow themto also be bad, that it's okay.
Yeah.
And teaching that to other people, Ireally hope that they can, they don't have
(20:28):
to embrace hair loss, you know, that's notthe point I think of what I'm doing.
They do.
I would love for them to embrace theirlife and be able to enjoy the moments with
their kids, be at a wedding and, you know,actually enjoy the company instead of
thinking, is anyone going to see that myhair's thin or, you know, that I have a
bald patch or, cause you miss your lifedoing that.
(20:51):
Exactly.
How, how serious do you think the impactof hair loss can be on our mental health?
Extremely serious.
I think it's different for everyone, butI've worked with many women and I'm still
trying to work with them, you know, thatare sick at home for a year or so.
They don't go to work anymore.
(21:11):
You know, they cancel social activities.
They become depressed, lonely.
And it's not just them, right?
It's their kids too.
It's their spouses.
It's their family.
It's their colleagues.
It has impact, not just on the personexperiencing hair loss, on their
surroundings very much.
Yeah.
And if, if someone is finding themselvesreally focused on their hair loss as, as
(21:35):
the thing they're thinking about all thetime.
And I hear women say that, how do you helppeople get out of that mindset?
Or is there something you could say to tryto not focus that much on it?
Yeah.
How do you, how do you change thatmindset?
Well, I think that's a skill.
So the bad news is that it's not gonna beovernight.
(21:57):
It's gonna take work, it's gonna takerepetition.
It's actually like learning a new skill,but the good news is that you can learn a
skill.
So I think step one would be to analyzewhat you're thinking.
Be aware of the thoughts and the thingsyou're telling yourself.
Because if you're not aware of what'shappening, you know, inside of your head,
you can't really change it.
(22:18):
So step one is, you know, you can do thatreally easily.
Every day you take five minutes,doesn't...
matter when in the day and you write down,how am I feeling?
What am I feeling in my body?
What am I thinking right now?
What is my mood?
And the more you do that, the more you getin touch with, you know, your inner world.
So that would be step one.
And then step two is thinking is analyzingyour thoughts.
(22:40):
You know, are you being mean to yourself?
If you look into the mirror, what do yousay to yourself?
If you go outside, what are the thoughtsthat pop up in your head?
You know, are you going to compareyourself to everyone or what, you know,
what's happening?
And then step three is to check if that'sactually correct.
What you're saying.
There's many things you can do them, butalso to learn how to objectively observe
(23:03):
instead of putting judgment in yourthoughts.
So if you look to the mirror, you canthink, yeah, I see, you know, two eyes.
I see a nose and that's what you, whatyou're objectively seeing.
You can also say, I see an ugly bulb, butthat's judgment.
So
are just some tiny things you can do.
And one of my favorite exercises that Ithink your listeners might enjoy as well.
(23:28):
Try talking to yourself as if you wereyour own best friend going through what
you're going through at this moment.
Because we're not used to talk, at leastin Holland, we are not used to talking to
ourselves like that at all.
We put ourselves down, we're negative,we're strict.
We're like the angry step mom, you know?
(23:50):
Yeah, but we shouldn't be we should be ourown cheerleader, you know, and in the
beginning when you do that, it feelsreally unnatural.
Like I said, it's so not a Dutch thing todo.
Yeah, we're direct, we're tough.
But when you learn to actually say, youknow, if you're feeling really, you're
feeling really down today, and that'sreally okay.
(24:10):
But you can do this, honey, you know, beproud of how far you've come celebrate
your tiny little steps that you're making.
That's such a different vibe, right?
The energy is completely different.
It is.
Well, that whole mindset approach is justso valuable.
So thank you so much for sharing that withus.
And actually it's been very insightfultalking to you, hearing what you have to
(24:35):
say.
And I am, you know, I'm very envious ofthose women who get to talk to you as you,
as a coach, because I think it's wonderfulto hear you talking.
I can imagine that you have such apositive influence on women's lives and
you know, that is just so amazing.
So thank you for sharing your story withus today and all of your wonderful skills.
(24:58):
I really appreciate having you.
Thank you so much Bambi.
It was an amazing time to you and I lovewhat you're doing as well.
I think it's so important.
Like I said, maybe we have the samemission or the same drive, but it's so
good to meet you.
And I hope many, many people all over theworld will listen to your podcast.
thanks, Evelien.
(25:19):
Wasn't that wonderful to listen tosomebody with such great advice?
You know, we're all in our heads toooften, I think.
And Evelien just had such a beautiful wayof helping us to think of other ways of
thinking about ourselves and gettinginside our own heads.
So I hope that what she had to say madeyou think a little differently about your
(25:41):
hair loss, perhaps.
OK, so now.
I want to share just a little bit of whatI know about hair fibers.
It's time to talk about something veryclose to my heart and my head of course,
and that is hair fibers.
I'm the founder of Boost and Blend, whichis a company that predominantly sells hair
(26:03):
fibers.
So it makes sense that I love them.
And in fact, I don't leave the housewithout hair fibers in.
If you haven't used them, hair fibers aretiny,
hair like microfibres that you shake ontothe roots of your hair and they make your
hair appear thicker.
Actually they make your hair appear up to10 times thicker.
(26:27):
So you just shake them on onto dry hairand you blend in with your fingers.
So if you've got an area of scalp that'svisible then you just shake it over that
and the visibility of your scalpdisappears in an instant.
And if you haven't heard of hair fibers,you probably think that I'm talking
absolute rubbish.
(26:47):
But the funny thing is about hair fibersis that as soon as somebody sees them and
sees what they do, the reaction is often,my goodness, why didn't I know about this?
And a lot of incredulous responses aswell.
So let me tell you a little bit about hairfibers.
So they're not all created equal.
(27:10):
Good quality fibers,
electrostatic so they cling to dry hairand that's how they stay in place.
And in fact they stay in place in wind andin rain and they stay there until they're
washed out with shampoo.
I actually had my hair fibers in one dayin a flood event and I was caught in the
(27:31):
pouring rain for a couple of hours andsomebody knocked on our front door and I
suddenly realized that my hair fibersmight have moved in all that rain.
And I ran into the bathroom to check andno, they were still there.
So that was a relief for me.
But good quality hair fibers really shouldbe made from cotton.
(27:52):
That is actually important because thatwill reduce the likelihood of any
irritation.
You hear a lot of stories about women whouse hair fibers and they find them really
itchy and uncomfortable and heavy.
And that's because they're made out of
animal hair or made to simulate animalhair or hair.
(28:17):
They're usually keratin hair fibers andthey can cause some issues for some
people.
Actually the keratin hair fibers is oldtechnology.
That technology for hair fibers has beenaround for over 40 years, probably closer
(28:37):
to 50 years.
And unfortunately they are water soluble,so the color can run and that's obviously
not good in the rain.
But cotton hair fibers and in particularfemale cotton hair fibers, which is the
hair fibers that we make are made from thesame thing that cotton clothes are made
(28:57):
from, the cotton plant.
And we know that that's gentle on ourskin.
So that's a whole lot easier for us toapply and not to have any side effects
from.
So that's a little bit about cotton hairfibers, but I get asked a lot of questions
about hair fibers and there are a lot offears that people have around them.
(29:19):
So I thought I might address a couple ofthose.
So one of the questions I get asked a lotis, can you use them all the time?
Can you use them every day?
And the answer to that is absolutely.
They don't do anything other than obscurea visible scalp.
And another question I get asked a lot isdo they actually clog your follicles?
And there are people online who I haveseen say, hair fibers clog your follicles.
(29:43):
Well, they don't, they don't clog yourfollicles.
They do not prevent hair from growing andthey do not clog your hair follicles.
It's one of those things that the hairfibers cling to the shaft of your hair.
Yes, some, some do fall through onto yourscalp.
Yes.
but they don't.
and in fact we have lots of stories ofpeople who have been doing things to grow
(30:08):
their hair back and while they were doingthat, whether it was a stimulant or a
blocker or whatever they were doing, theirhair grew back whilst using hair fibers
and that happened to me.
So my hair has fallen out a number oftimes over the years due to different
things, but I have always used hair fibersand my hair has grown back every time.
So no, they don't prevent hair growth orthe cotton ones don't.
(30:31):
Do they stay in the rain?
Yes, as I mentioned before that happenedto me and they certainly did stay in the
rain.
And then another question that comes up isdo they run?
Do they run down your face?
No, they don't.
The cotton hair fibers don't.
The keratin ones possibly because thecolor does run out of the keratin hair
(30:54):
fibers.
They're not colorfast.
So cotton, as you know, in cotton clothingis colorfast.
and the hair fibers, the cotton hairfibers are definitely colourfast.
But I think the keratin ones have had abit of a bad reputation of leaching colour
out, particularly with people who go tothe gym and sweat and so on.
(31:15):
So you really are better to look forcotton hair fibers if you can.
But you know, the best thing about hairfibers is that they provide an incredible
level of confidence, no longer.
do you have a gap that people can see?
I remember before I was using hair fibersthat I would talk to somebody who would be
(31:37):
looking at the top of my head rather thanmy eyes or my face in a conversation.
So taking that away, taking away thatfeeling that someone's noticing your hair
loss is great at providing extraconfidence.
So that's the first thing.
But the other thing is it reduces thestress.
Now I have mentioned I think in previousepisodes that the stress of hair loss
(31:59):
causes hair loss.
Any kind of stress can cause hair loss.
And so if you can have hair fibers in andyou're not as stressed and you're not
stressed about your hair loss at all, thenthat can only be a good thing.
And I guess the other thing to mention isit actually a cheaper option than some of
the other options out there?
(32:20):
It has no real side effects and you canuse hair fibers forever.
Just think of it as if it's makeup foryour hair.
You're not going to just use makeup for acouple of years.
You're going to keep using makeup for aslong as you feel like you want to make
your face look better.
So you just use hair fibers as makeup foryour hair and you can do that for the rest
(32:41):
of your life if that's what you want to doand hide your hair loss from everyone from
the world and just have more confidence.
And I think that's really one of the mostfabulous things about hair fibers.
So that brings us not only to the end ofthe episode,
but also to the end of season one of HairLoss and Women.
(33:01):
I really can't explain how grateful I amto everyone who has shared their story
this season and thank you also forlistening.
If you haven't managed to catch all 12episodes, now is probably a perfect time
to catch up.
And you may also want to share thispodcast with someone you love or someone
who you know who may be dealing with hairloss.
(33:22):
We are now going to take a short breakfrom the podcast, but we will be back.
before you know it.
But for now, as always, I'd like to leaveyou with these words, kindness is
beautiful, so wear it every day.
Thanks for joining me on the Hair Loss inWomen podcast.
And a big thank you to the women who sharetheir stories here and with others in
(33:46):
their community.
One of the hardest things about hair lossfor women is that we don't talk about it.
So if you do want to hear more, pleasesubscribe to the podcast.
And if you like what you heard, why notleave a review?
Positive reviews will help other women tofind this podcast too.
You can also find out more in my book,Hair Loss in Women.
(34:08):
This podcast has been recorded in Sydney,Australia and is produced by Pod and Pen
Productions.
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