Hair Loss Awareness Month: Helen Owens of Her Secret Hair is a Modern Day Miracle Worker

Her Secret Hair, founded and owned by sisters Helen and Jo Owens, is revolutionizing the resources available to women (and men!) experiencing hair loss, whether due to medical, genetic, or personal reasons. In honor of Hair Loss Awareness Month this August, we had the opportunity to connect with Her Secret Hair to discuss the past, future, and all things hair loss and restoration. Read on to discover how this remarkable place is making dreams come true, healing hearts, and helping people feel whole, sometimes for the first time, ever.

A History of Hair: How the Her Secret Hair Story Began

Helen was only 11 years old when she started experiencing the side effects of alopecia areata, a form of hair loss that causes sudden circular bald patches to form on someone’s head. It wasn’t until a neighborhood maternal figure and long-term cosmetologist, Granny, sat down with Helen and explained what alopecia was that Helen was finally able to experience some peace, and brace for the journey ahead. During a conversation with her mother soon after, Helen learned her family had a history of hair loss, which helped kindle the passion that was beginning to grow in Helen’s soul for hair restoration.

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Jo Owens, Helen’s sister and business partner, shared a similar battle to her sister’s, having not grown up with alopecia, but instead, incredibly thin hair. Both Jo & Helen knew what it felt like to want their hair to look, feel, and be a certain way, but never be able to have it. “It felt like we’d been cheated.” Jo explains. That was until Helen realized she possessed something both her and sister call the gift.

The Gift

What’s the gift? It’s Helen’s natural ability to perfectly craft hair pieces for women that don’t just cover up or mask their physical & mental hurdles—they solve them. The gift is Helen’s way of visualizing and stepping into someone else’s dream, and making it a real, tangible hair prosthesis.

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Artistically Building Confidence, One Strand at a Time

Helen’s commitment to women experiencing hair loss is unwavering, serving as a beacon of hope and love to those who need it most. Your hair is your crown, it’s an incredibly huge piece of who you are. For anyone experiencing something like lupus, alopecia, trichotillomania (TTM), or an alternate form of hair loss—that piece of you isn’t whole, or might be missing completely. That’s where the magic; the art that Helen creates comes in.

It’s more than putting someone in a chair and charging them a fee. You have someone’s life in your hands.

Let’s get one thing straight before we continue any further… Helen doesn’t just create wigs for her clients, she’s making entire hair prostheses that are able to flex around the different side effects that come with each type of hair loss. She’s a hair doctor.

“Patients," clients, and customers visit Helen for a variety of different hair loss causes. In fact, Helen mentioned that she still sees different things or cases to this very day—even after over 20 years of experience. One thing remains a constant: Helen’s aptitude for seeing someone’s dream the way they do; her vision; her gift.

While Helen’s working her magic with clients, Jo is keeping the business side of things in tip-top shape, ensuring the same professional, personable experience that clients receive during their hair restoration services flows through every aspect of the client journey. How does she do it? Well, Vagaro is a big piece of the equation! Jo mentions that while she loves the bells & whistles that Vagaro has to offer, like appointment reminders and deposits, the real value is in the marketplace and its ability to raise consumer awareness.

What Does the Future of Hair Loss Entail?

Helen and Jo share the sentiment that there needs to be more effort going into not only raising awareness about hair loss & its impact, but also more effort, from a cosmetologist standpoint, into learning how to create a safe environment for any clients potentially experiencing hair loss. “It’s about strengthening the world and industry for generations to come," as Helen nobly puts it.

Sources:

1. https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/androgenetic-alopecia/#frequency