Joanna's story as shown on Channel 7's Today Tonight

Former model, actress and songwriter Joanna Fergusson recalls that hair loss has been a concern for her since her primary school days. 

When looking at school photos Joanna was always aware of her ‘exceptionally high hairline’, a feature inherited from her maternal grandmother. 

But like many women, Joanna, now 35, was extremely creative in finding ways to conceal her hair loss and forged ahead with a career that often put her in front of the camera. 

“I became very fond of baseball caps and in Year 12 I set my sights on becoming a hairdresser. It was purely so that I could develop ways to disguise my thinning hair,” Joanna says. 

“Hairdressing wasn’t for me, so I trained as a makeup artist and this supplemented income earned from modelling, acting and song writing.   

“Prior to having children a big portion of my earnings were spent on solutions for camouflaging my thinning hair.” 

Joanna says some of the solutions she chose included expensive hair extensions and treatments and combing her hair in a strict style to conceal thinning areas on her scalp. 

After her two sons were born, Joanna’s hair loss became more pronounced and increasingly difficult to conceal. 

But as a single mother investing in ongoing solutions for concealing her hair loss became increasingly unaffordable. 

Joanna says she gained encouragement when a friend told her how the latest techniques in scalp micro pigmentation (SMP) are providing an affordable aesthetic semi permanent solution for concealing hair loss.    

SMP, which involves applying micro organic pigment into the epidermis layer of the skin, creates the illusion of greater hair density.  

The pigment appears as hair follicles, thereby creating the appearance of a fuller head of hair.   

Matched to the patient’s existing hair colour and skin tone, the non-invasive procedure, which involves no down time or scarring, lasts up to five years.  

After a consultation with trichologist Kate Dawes of Medical Hair Restoration Australia (MHRA) in Nedlands, Joanna decided to proceed with the treatment. 

“I didn’t think twice about having SMP and I most certainly will have it done again when it starts to wear off in five years time,” Joanna says.  

“Life is short so if something bothers you and you are in a position to do something about it, then do.”  

Joanna says hair loss can be devastating for women, particularly given that women link the appearance of their hair to their overall attractiveness. 

“Any woman will tell you they don’t feel right when their hair isn’t right,” Joanna says.

“It’s pretty hard to feel good when one looks in the mirror and sees evidence of balding.” 

Trichologist Kate Dawes says demand is rising among both men and women for SMP treatment. 

Kate says SMP provides an ideal alternative for people who can’t afford hair transplant surgery or who aren’t ready to commit to a completely permanent solution. 

Her clinic’s staff have been trained to utilise the latest equipment developed by German and Spanish company, Goldeneye,  

“Patients are delighted with the results achieved with SMP,” Kate says. 

“Medical Hair Restoration Australia only use the highest standard quality pigments available and procedures are completed at our modern, hygienic and sterilised clinic in Nedlands.” 

For more information about SMP visit: http://www.mhra.com.au/services/scalp-micropigmentation

Young women and diet related hair loss

Growing numbers of young women, many of whom are on self imposed extremely low calorie diets, are seeking help for hair loss. 

According to trichologist, Kate Dawes, IAT, an increasing amount of young women, aged between 15 and 25, are seeking treatment for diet related hair loss. 

Ms Dawes says while genetic reasons, stress and other health issues can play a factor in hair loss, trichologists increasingly see a lot of young women who are affected by the condition due to completely preventable reasons. 

She says while hair loss affects 50 per cent of women at some stage of their lives, women are increasingly seeking treatment at a younger age. 

Ms Dawes says up to 40 per cent of the young women who seek her help for hair loss have a nutritional source to their problem. 

While the women she sees don’t necessarily all have an eating disorder, many of them have an extremely limited calorie intake and are starving themselves of the essential nutrients needed for their hair health. 

The impact of this is seen in hair that is dull, breaks easily and is either thinning or falls out. 

Ms Dawes, the consulting trichologist for Medical Hair Restoration Australia, says hair loss is often one of the first visible signs of the damaging affects of excessive exercise and dieting. 

She says after treating nutritional deficiencies, identified through blood tests, patients often notice a big improvement in their hair health within months. 

Ms Dawes says a lot of women are quite surprised to learn that nutrition plays such an important role in the health of their hair. 

“There are many nutrients that play a role in the hair growth cycle and hair and scalp health,” Ms Dawes says. 

“However, the main nutrients that we find lacking are iron, zinc, protein and vitamin D. 

“While a lot of patients will act on my advice and improve their diets, there are still some who continue to eat sparse and poorly balanced diets and, as a consequence, the health of their hair does not improve.”    

Ms Dawes interest in nutrition and trichology began almost a decade ago, when after being diagnosed with Graves Disease, now in remission, she sought a way of managing her condition. 

“I wanted to find a better way of healing and I became very interested in nutrition and the link with a lot of diseases and hair and skin conditions,” Ms Dawes says. 

“I felt a strong need to work in a field that is healing, and trichology – which treats hair loss, hair shaft breakage and scalp conditions -  enabled me to build on my experience as a hairdresser, was the perfect fit.”   

Medical Hair Restoration Australia is the distributor for the Help Hair Protein Shake – a shake developed to support the complete nutritional needs of hair and nails. 

Developed by United States based hair transplant surgeon and dermatologist Dr Larry Shapiro, Help Hair can be incorporated in a weight loss program and is free of wheat, gluten, soy, eggs, nuts, peanut oil, artificial sweeteners, MSG, artificial colours and flavours, growth hormones and sulphites.