Alopecia Areata - A New Lease of Life for Beverley

A visit to the salon is, for most women, a pleasurable, relaxing experience.
For Beverley, a trip to Wattz International literally changed her life.

Beverley suffered from gradual hair loss for about 12 months in 1996, resulting in total devastating, baldness. There was no confirmed medical explanation says Beverley, although the most probable cause was put down to stress combined with a suspected case of hormone imbalance. After consulting a Harley Street specialist to no effect, Beverley began to resign herself to the fact that there was nothing she could do. Probably the worst moment for me was taking the kids to school every day. I found the best solution was to be completely up-front and open about the whole business, although it was quite draining at times for me to have to worry about putting other people at their ease when I needed all the support I could get myself."

After a 2 year period, during which Beverley endured total baldness, she began to notice a re-growth of fine, downy, 'baby' hair around her crown, but this fell out almost immediately. This baby hair re-grew three times before she eventually noticed a re-growth of stronger, darker hair. This was, however, restricted to a small area on the crown of her head. "Although this was an extremely positive sign for me, it didn't do much for my appearance!" says Beverley. "Little did I know that help was, quite literally, just around the corner!"

Beverley met Christine by pure chance through a mutual acquaintance. "I had toyed with the idea of having human hair extensions", says Beverley, "but I had been given to understand that I needed at least 3 inches of re-growth over my entire head for them to be successful".

Biddenden is quite literally a stone's throw from Beverley's home-village of Goudhurst, so it was easy for her to arrange an initial consultation with Christine. "I checked to ensure that Beverley's root bulbs were healthy and strong enough to take the extensions," explains Christine. "Although everything seemed to be fine, I had to explain to Beverley that hair loss can be very erratic and I could therefore make no guarantees regarding the work I would do. The most important factor to consider was that the hair-extensions wouldn't cause the hair to fall out unless it was going to anyway.

However, the additional weight could cause the hair to fall out sooner than it would normally have done." This was a risk that Beverley was willing to take. It was a risk that certainly paid off, as during the 8 week period that followed, no hair loss was experienced at all. It would be true to say that the system combined with Christine and Donna's hairdressing and technical expertise have been instrumental in helping Beverley to lead a normal life again. When our photographic team arrived in Biddenden, Beverley was in the process of having her 8-week-old extensions removed and replaced for the first time. Christine was about to make an amazing discovery. Naturally, the two months in which Beverley had lived with a 'normal' head of hair had boosted her self-confidence and made her psychologically more positive. Her more relaxed attitude towards life can be the only explanation as to why, on removing the extensions, Christine discovered that Beverley's own hair was beginning to grow through in places that had been totally bald just 8 weeks previously.

What has been for Christine the greatest and most satisfying challenge in her career, is for Beverley the beginning of the end of a nightmare which she is finally able to put behind her as she looks to the future with confidence and enthusiasm.