In the Hair Replacement Industry, “Sincerity Goes a Long Way”

Introducing White Cliffs Hair Studio, the best thing to come from England since … the Beatles?

His face was the picture of earnestness and sincerity as we spoke in the parking lot of the nondescript studio located just outside of Indianapolis.  “This company has given me back my life.  It has delivered me from years of feeling hopeless.”

The young man I’m speaking to is Jeremy, a 22-year-old graduate student at the University of Indiana and the company he’s speaking of isn’t a corporate headhunter or a shrink or an employer.  He’s speaking of an Indianapolis hair replacement studio that, according to Jeremy, “has given me back the confidence to enjoy my life without looking ten years older than I am.”

Jeremy is a handsome man with a baby face and a serious manner.  He has already explained that he’s “bald” but upon close inspection, there is no proof whatsoever that he has lost one single strand of hair from his head.  The sun is shining and I can see the color and natural highlights as well as the density and what appears to be hair growing – emerging – from his scalp.

“Touch it,” challenges Jeremy.  “Run your fingers through my hair.”

I’m shy to do this in a parking lot, but I do.  I explore his head with my fingertips searching for some sign that this kid is putting me on.  I feel no creases or bumps aside from the normal features of his scalp and head.  I examine his hairline.  I see hairs growing everywhere.  I look closer.

“All of the hair on top isn’t mine,” he says.   “The hair on the sides and back is mine.”  Then the talk turns serious.  “When I began losing my hair at age 17, I wanted to die.  I didn’t believe I would ever find anyone to love me and I hid in a hat for five years before I found White Cliffs on the Internet.  They had just opened here in Indianapolis.  They are a British company but now they’re here.  To me, they are the coolest thing to come from England since the Beatles.”

Jeremy tells me he is performing a poetry reading on campus this very night, an “open mic” affair.  He tells me that his restored hair allows him to focus because he isn’t worried about what other people are thinking.  “This is the best money I’ll ever spend,” he says before driving off.

Inside I’m now visiting with Paul Sandor, the owner and operator of White Cliffs’ Indianapolis hair replacement studio.  We’re looking through Jeremy’s file and I’m examining the photos Paul took of Jeremy when he first came in for a consultation.

“Can you believe it’s the same person?” Sandor asks.  “Look at that hair.”

I reply in the negative but I hadn’t even focused on the differences of the hair.  I’m looking at the eyes, the face.  I’m trying to reconcile the sad, hopeless and lifeless face of the young man in the photos to the handsome, colorful, intense and full-of-life face of the person I was just speaking to in the parking lot 30 minutes before.

Then I allow myself to take in the entire photo and I see a young, premature balding man with a scant amount of hair on the top and a recession pattern that goes back clear to the crown.

“That’s quite a transformation,” I finally say to Sandor, who is standing back smiling broadly.

“That’s what we do here,” he replies, still beaming.  “We change lives for the better.”

“What does a ‘transformation’ like this cost?” I asked, bracing myself.

He directed me to again look at the photos and to reflect on Jeremy’s current look and outlook.  I did.  “So the question, then, isn’t ‘what is the cost’” he said, “as much as it is ‘what is the value’ of the transformation.”

I wanted to press him for a straight answer but instead I heard myself saying, “Well, if I take what Jeremy told me at face value, and I examine these photos and add that to what I understand about human nature, I might conclude that the value is priceless.”

“Exactly,” he said, patting my shoulder with as much enthusiasm as if I had just recited the winning question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  “Now you understand what White Cliffs is all about”.

White Cliffs Hair Studio originated in London in 2003 and began as a single studio called Hair Loss Centre.  The premise of the founding partners was to found a company dedicated to hair loss sufferers by hair loss sufferers.

According to the company profile on their website, the two principals were both hair loss sufferers who had tried every hair loss treatment method under the sun including laser treatments, topical remedies, surgery and nonsurgical treatment methods.

After years of research and many, many thousands of dollars later, they had realized that 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 $20,000 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 that cut right to the heart of hair loss.

In one banner a young woman is leaning carefree with her head in her hand, along with the message:  She looks great and feels great.  Hair Restoration is life restoration.  The confidences to exceed her limits and to see herself as she is … beautiful.

Another banner portrays a chemo patient posed with a physician and the words:  Maintaining a whole and healthy appearance during your recovery helps you to feel better … which helps you to heal better.

Like a menu at a fine restaurant, they outline their treatment offerings with each treatment accompanied by pages of frequently asked questions, photos, videos and testimonials.  Lightly sprinkled throughout the website are testimonials of British celebrities and accolades from organizations and websites dedicated to hair loss.

While they made their name with their nonsurgical hair systems – which they manufacture themselves in their own factory – all studios now offer laser hair therapy, hair transplant surgery, hair extensions, topical treatments, and special “Cancer wigs” – prosthetics – for those undergoing Oncology treatments who temporarily lose their hair as a result of the treatments.

The partners - in order to fund and provide free hair loss products and services to children with financial need - formed the White Cliffs Foundation.

Bill Smith, editor of HairSite.com, one of the world's largest and longest running websites dedicated to hair loss, recommends White Cliffs and offered this perspective:

“I’ll tell you what is different about White Cliffs.  They’ve mastered the relationship with the client, which in this industry has become one of the most important factors for success.  Nowadays, the materials that go into a hair system are more or less the same anywhere you go.  In the end, success in the non-surgical hair replacement business depends on two things: artistry and customer service. In other words, the craftsmanship that goes into building an undetectable hair system and how well a salon manages client relationships.  White Cliffs is one of the very few full service salons that has managed to do both extremely well and that explains why they have become so successful.”

Sandor himself reads Smith’s quote and nods approvingly.  “He’s right.  If we assume all things are equal in terms of materials, you still need talent and caring to turn it into something beautiful because only when its done with a high level of skill does it work as far as restoring the hair but also the self-esteem and self-confidence; the restoring of life.”

“That’s the White Cliffs way,” he adds reassuringly.  “That’s ‘the better way’.”