So has your New Year's resolution to do something major about your hair solidified into resolve? Or is it melting into dissolution as lack of confidence or plain fear win the day?

Would it help boost that dutch courage to know about the eMPower Promise? The eMPower Promise is simple and has been around for as long as eMPower has. At your first (free) consultation your hair will be assessed and your non-surgical treatment options explained.

Choose any of these non-surgical treatment options and if you feel you are not getting the exciting results you desire in six months (and in the majority of cases overall hair improvement takes at least six months), we will redeem the cost of the treatment - a laser comb for example - against the cost of your first hair systems.

So ping that e-mail or pick up that phone and hotfoot it to the specialist salon where you can't lose and ALL our clients benefit from the eMPower Promise that within a short space of time they will walk out the door with a full head of hair, whether their own natural hair or eMPowered hair (and only YOU will know the difference!)

During the hinterland twixt Christmas and New Year I was strolling through the streets of Soho one fresh morning when I was accosted by a hairdresser who stopped me to ask if I would consider being a hair model for his salon! Naturally I was not just flattered but deliciously amazed that a top hairdresser could not tell that my lustrous locks had added eMPower! This was not the first time this had happened either, but the second, albeit different high class salons in different cities. The previous stylist had even run along the street after me when I did not hear his request the first time.

A fellow eMPower client tells a similarly uplifting Christmas story;

It was a busy December weekday afternoon in the city of London and I was trying to flag down a cab before the heavens opened, not what you want when wearing open-toed stilettos.

Just as I lifted my hand I noticed that I had successfully already hailed a cab and literally threw myself in. Well to be more precise, fell in, probably on account of the high heels.

As soon as I had sorted myself out and shut the door, the cab drivers' first words to me were; 'Wow, your hair is gorgeous. It is amazing!'

I was a little taken aback as I had not expected this at all so I replied in a meek, childlike way; 'Thank you'.

The cabbie and I talked non-stop for the 15 minute journey to my destination. He explained that he was an ex-hairdresser of 20+ years and that he was on a private job but had stopped to admire my beautiful hair.

His comments only re-affirmed how natural and beautiful the eMPower hair systems really are and how natural they look. the cab driver was an ex-hairdresser after all.

Like my fellow eMPower client, I didn't give any secrets away to the two stylists who wanted me to model for them either, but simply told them; 'Thanks, but I'm happy with the stylist I have' . Not a word of a lie!

We'd like to wish a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our eMPower clients, existing, new and thinking about it! We hope you'll have a wonderful holiday.

Then how could you not when you've chosen the best cosmetic cure on the market for your hair loss!

In festive spirit, we're offering three free re-grooms worth £55 each for any systems and extensions ordered by 31st December.

Other news: Our King's Road VIP salon is now open for business for A-listers, wedding and special occasion clients or just those clients who seek that extra bit of luxury and seclusion or feel in need of some extra pampering after cancer treatment. Please click link above for full info.

Our new salon in Leeds has just opened and Sean and Andy are already busy welcoming eMPower clients through their doors, so don't be shy about popping in if you're in the area and book that consultation!

Finally we announce the arrival of some rather exciting new European hair to add to our array of options for both systems and extensions, and whose purity and integrity is second to none as it is not pre-processed in any way. Though naturally with eMPower you can expect no less than genuine human hair in all our products and to look pretty wonderful whichever you choose or can afford. What you will find with the top end hair though is an extra silky-softness which stays that way throughout its lifespan, with minimal assistance needed from hair products.

Warm Regards,

The eMPower Team

When my once so-thick I couldn't get a hairslide to stay in without it popping open immediately had thinned to old lady thickness by age 33, a fine-tooth comb sufficed to tame it.

One of the immense joys of discovering hair replacement at eMPower was that I now needed hairbrushes again. Even de-tangle combs!

I attach a picture of the best design of of wide-intertooth comb I have found for minimising your new hair breakage and damage to any extensions and systems, though it works pretty well to tame 100% naturally-growing manes too. This type of detangle comb used to be all the rage and you could buy them in several funky colours in your local Boots but sadly it now takes the internet to track one down.

If you also want a brush, the Tangle Teezer is the best one of those I've found, though do try to buy one with a handle if you don't want it slipping out of your hand like a bar of soap every minute or so to land with a plonk in the bath as the actual holding bit is not so well-designed.

Not all our clients come to us to solve hair loss problems.

An increasing number are now beating a path to our door for our industry-leading MicroTouch hair extensions.

These clients often just wish to boost their natural volume or add length and glamour, occasionally even highlights, to their hair.

No longer are they constrained to the ranks of A-listers or models either. Many are now ordinary women who just seek more democracy in the great hair stakes!

Traditionally hair extensions have received a mixed press owing to their association with matting due to the glue used and traction pulling of natural hair to the extent of ‘traction baldness’ on certain areas of the scalp as a result of either glue or primitive bonding methods (although in the case of 80s pop duo Mel and Kim, it was their disastrous flirtation with early hair extensions which led them to jam on some pork pie hats to conceal their glue-filled hair, thereby sealing their iconic image!)

But I digress. To get back to the present day, in addition to risking the health of their natural hair, clients often have to throw away their extensions after six months as they have become matted beyond re-use when it comes to re-attaching them and replacements are needed. This becomes ruinously expensive after a time, and combined with the high risks and often questionable results obtained, the traditional hair extension process can easily become one of diminishing returns.

Those in the know abandon salons still using such outmoded techniques and come to eMPower where they know that they will be receiving the highest quality, low-maintenance, cashmere-touch hair extensions tailored exactly to their requirements and attached to their natural hair without the use of glues, chemicals or heat guns, employing eMPower’s unique micro-ellipses technology. As with any hair extensions they will require re-adjustment at regular intervals to accommodate the hair growth of your natural hair. Unlike other hair extensions they can be recycled and re-attached harmlessly but securely to your natural hair until such time as re-adjustment is required. A few of our clients have even made the same extensions last up to eighteen months!

And if your natural hair should prove too fine or brittle, perhaps through overprocessing, to sustain the weight of hair extensions, unlike the majority of other salons, eMPower will be honest enough to tell you if we do not think it is a good idea to proceed and advise you to postpone any extensions work until such time as the quality of your original hair can be improved and strengthened, which our specialist consultants can also assist you with. Or even in a small number of cases, if your hair type is wholly unsuitable to consider extensions, we will be honest about that as well. But caring and helpful too. And backed by a free 6-month guarantee if you are a suitable candidate for hair extensions.

eMPower. Because great hair should be a human right...

We are delighted to report that  the Hairmax Lasercomb has  been accorded FDA approval as a medical treatment for hair loss  following an official clinical trial. eMPower was among the first  salons in Britain to offer this product and a number of our clients  in early-medium stage hair loss have reported good results with  it, so it is great that it has now been rubberstamped by the world's  largest government medical agency.

For those who find wading through the official report a little  daunting, below is a simplified version from the manufacturer's  website.

' The results of the clinical study showed that 94.8% of the  subjects on the HairMax LaserComb Dual 12 experienced hair    growth after 26 weeks of treatment. The results also showed a  trend of continuous improvement during the trial and it is  expected that this trend would continue with further treatment. Furthermore, over the 6 month length of the trial, females using the HairMax LaserComb Dual 12 grew an average of 20.6 hairs per square centimeter, which is considered medically and scientifically significant, and the highest hair count recorded in the study was 68 hairs per cm2. In addition, a majority of the subjects on the HairMax also reported improvement in thickness and fullness of their hair and there were no reports of adverse side effects occurring during the trial. The results of this clinical trial closely matched the efficacy results seen in three recent clinical trials conducted with the HairMax. These results further validate that treatments with the HairMax LaserComb are consistently reproducible. In all of the clinical studies of females and males, significant results can be seen in as little as 16 weeks. The HairMax devices allow people to treat their condition in the privacy and convenience of their home. The HairMax is easy to use, requiring only one 10-15 minute session a day, 3 times a week.'

If, like me, you've ever wondered how it can be that an individual can have a leg lasered free of hair at one salon, yet buy laser treatment to enhance head hair at another,  the answer is that there are different breeds and intensities of laser, including surgical for use in operations. To destroy hair follicles requires a hot laser of a certain intensity. To stimulate hair follicles requires a cold laser of a certain intensity, so as long as you don't use the wrong one on the wrong area - or allow anyone else to - you should be fine!

To assess if your type of hair loss is likely to benefit from lasercomb therapy, please book a no-obligation free consultation at one of our salons or roadshows where you can explore all the options for your problem and receive friendly expert guidance in choosing the right one for you. Alternatively you can take the plunge and buy a HairMax Lasercomb direct from eMPower for only £399.

With hair loss products forming a £1bn industry in the US alone, it can be hard to access accurate information about the latest hair loss developments as every company seeks to aggressively promote its products as the most effectual, irrespective of substantive data or clinical evidence, and many will even dress themselves up as independent or scientific sources of information so they seem like genuine hair loss help sites when you first visit them.

Because eMPower is primarily concerned with the latest cosmetic solutions, we can be a bit more independent in discussing the scientific developments, the most exciting-sounding of which are very much still in their infancy by all accounts and not even in post-mouse, clinical trial stage, though some companies claim to have produced creams harnessing the miraculous power of stem-cell therapy, notwithstanding glowing customer testimonials of such products are harder to find, and at least one has been exposed as never having been near a stem cell! Personally I would want to know all about such an ingredient and where it came from (ie was it harvested from other human beings/animals or was it cultivated in a test-tube)? What is the evidence that it works if it costs an exorbitant amount per tiny jar and does the company concerned have the courage of its convictions to offer a full refund if it doesn’t work?

Scientists have long believed that our individual average of 100,000 hair follicles develop in the womb. Therefore when any of them shut down or become damaged in later life for whatever reason, the theory goes, that’s it! Just as our teeth do not re-grow if anything happens to them when we reach adulthood, the same applies to our hair once lost. Which hardly explains all the annoying hairs which suddenly sprout from places a person doesn’t want or expect them to as they grow older, so should scientists be exploring the cause and activation mechanism of these rogue follicles and how to generate new follicular activity in the right places? For now researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, led by Dr. George Cotsarelis, have been inducing regenerated follicles in mice by manipulating a gene called Wnt; normally employed in healing wounds; but apparently able to produce new hair follicles as well, particularly during the process of healing a wound. When the process was manipulated it greatly increased the number of follicles. When the gene was blocked, no follicles were created.

Anyone for a good scalping and an injection of Wnt....?

A BBC documentary 'Crowning Glory' is set to be screened later this year following a summer camp in the north of England for youngsters with alopecia.

The brainchild of Darren and Anne-Marie Payne, whose seven year old daughter Katelyn has suffered recurrent bouts of alopecia, the camp is intended as both support group where young sufferers can meet fellow youngsters in the same situation as well as a place where they can all have fun together; taking part in dance classes, talent contests, make-up lessons and lots of other activites to restore a sense of normality, and even specialness to their lives, and boosting lost confidence.

If life can be hard for children with all their hair, it is easy to imagine how hard (and cruel) it can be for children without. Indeed some visitors to this blog will know only too well from their own childhood experiences just how hard.

For further details of the summer camp and other support for alopecia sufferers, please visit website Be Bold

Sue B is a cancer nurse who is in a better position than most to advise cancer sufferers about how to deal with their hair loss, for Sue herself has suffered from devastating alopecia since the age of ten. Here is her story.

'I was 10 years old when I first started losing my hair after a bout of serious illness. There wasn't much in the way of medical help then and all I remember is being told my hair would probably grow back in time. Unfortunately it only grew back in patches and left me with the front and top of my head with virtually no hair. As a teenager this was very traumatic for me and my self-confidence plummeted. I was referred to the hospital when I was 17 in the hope they could offer some treatment, but after trying every lotion, potion, steroid and "experimental" treatment, nothing had made any difference.

I was eventually discharged from their care with the words "You'll just have to live with it!". I learned to style what little hair I had in a way that covered up the bald patches and used scarves to hold it in place. I tried wearing wigs but found them hot and itchy and they made me feel even more self-conscious so I went back to wearing scarves instead.

I hated myself and my appearance and found it almost impossible to look at myself in a mirror. I didn't go out much and never thought of myself as feminine. I was lucky that I had some good friends who supported me during this time. During my years as a hair loss sufferer I have tried every alternative treatment going. I was desperate to find a cure or at least see some improvement, but sadly nothing made any difference and over time I think I just gave up and resigned myself that I would never look any different.

However, about 5 years ago, I noticed that my hair was thinning even more, with the little hair I still had now starting to go. This time I decided to explore the internet to see if there was anything new that had been developed since I last searched. That was when I came across eMPower hair solutions. It took me 4 days to pluck up enough courage to contact them and then to make an appointment to see them. I met with Andy and he showed me the hair systems and what they can look like on. I decided to go ahead with getting a system made for me and when I arrived to get it fitted I just couldn't believe how I looked with it on. I didn't recognise myself in the mirror and couldn't wait to show it off to everyone. The one thing I noticed was that I felt taller now I had my new hair, I guess it was because I looked up and not down at the floor as I had before.

Having been a hair loss sufferer for 40 years I can say that eMPower has given me my life back, a life I never thought would be possible.'

In Part's 1 and 2 of The Hair Loss journey, I covered the emotional side of hair loss and how the first thing any sufferer should do upon realising they are suffering from hair loss is to visit their GP (sympathetic or not) and demand a specific list of tests to rule out (or in) medical causes and how this is never a waste of doctors' time as if they do discover an undiagnosed nasty, this can prevent all kinds of serious health issues developing as well as arrest any hair loss resulting from it.

In part 3, I am going to address the interim; ie what does a hair loss sufferer do whilst they are waiting for any medical treatment to take effect, or for that hair loss cure to come along, if medical reasons have been ruled out.

Doubtless for example, you will be terrified of washing your hair too often for fear of shedding more, but my advice is don’t stop washing your hair as lank or greasy hair looks even thinner, and it is seldom the washing which is causing the shedding, it just seems like it because wet hairs in the shower or basin are the most visible. However even normal hair sheds 100-150 hairs per day. It is the fact too many follicles are going into the resting phase when you don't want them to that is usually the problem, which makes it seem that normal hair shedding is far worse than usual (though of course with Alopecia or cancer treatment, sufferers will genuinely experience excessive shedding). Washing every other day using gentle PH balance shampoo was about right for me. Always blow dry and style using a de-tangle comb to minimise hair breakage, but on a low setting to avoid heat damage as blow drying also makes hair look thicker. Try going multi-tonal as this adds an illusion of thickness and can be surprisingly flattering. But use non-permanent colours as permanent dyes can also damage hair, whereas gentle colours can actually make your hair look more luxuriant and healthy. Experiment with partings, fringes and lengths. Mid-length turned out to work best for me as it gave the hair a little life and bounce whereas too long or too short and it looked thinner. Ditch any thought of using eyebrow pencils (my first desperate resort) and buy a purpose-designed hair loss cosmetic such as Nanogen in a colour which matches your natural hair. These are microfibers which cling to your natural hair, making it look a great deal more luxuriant and which will withstand wind and rain using locking mist, until you choose to shampoo out, dry hair and re-apply. Supplement with a thickening shampoo such as Nanothik, which will coat every strand of hair in with a transparent layer of silicon, giving strength, weight and volume to thin or flyaway hair. I found both of these products to be fantastic bridging products during the early stages of my hair loss, when I needed to do something, but my hair loss was not bad enough to consider more drastic measures.

Probably there are a number of similar products on the market, but Nano products are the ones I tried and can therefore recommend, though they were only available via the internet when I used them and not in any High Street chemist.

If you must use a hair vitamin as well, Florasine (for boosting iron levels and thus ferritin production in women) has the best internet reviews and at only £15.99 or so a month is not as bank-breaking as some of the more expensive ones with more mixed reviews. But always consult your doctor before taking. For men, Rogaine (also available in most chemists) is currently the best reviewed on the internet, though please do not expect it to do more than possibly slow or stabilise your hair loss.

Sadly in my own case, my hair loss went somewhat beyond the early stages before stabilising, and when I had lost 60% or so of my natural hair, I felt that Nanogen and Nanothik were no longer enough to keep me looking good and started googling other cosmetic solutions. That is when I came across eMPower and their unique volumisers, manufactured from real human hair and designed to blend in with your natural hair, allowing clients to live a completely normal life (well, apart from avoiding saunas and needing to allow a little more time to wash and dry than usual), though I did have one last go at solving my hair loss with a laser comb (unsuccessfully in my case, though some sufferers apparently have encouraging results with them).

Whilst not a cheap solution, I can honestly say I have never looked back. Almost overnight after my first volumiser fitting, I saw a complete return to my former confidence and started feeling feminine and attractive again, and more importantly, started behaving as if I were feminine and attractive again, which soon made a significant and positive difference in my personal life!

Ultimately my hair loss nightmare also taught me that whether man or woman, and age regardless, you don’t need to accept hair loss and learn to put up with it. There ARE natural-looking solutions which can give you your life back. Nor should anyone ever see solving their hair loss problem as ‘vanity’, but an important restorer of confidence. And confidence can move mountains, so self-investment is never a waste of money or self-indulgent if the boosted confidence it brings suddenly enables you to achieve several times as much and even feel like giving back to society rather than withdrawing from it. I know if I hadn’t exhaustively researched and tried all the options before finding the right one for me I would be living a much lesser life by now. In fact I dread to think of how my life would be by now.

And while I don’t want this piece to sound too much like an advertising feature as it really is my genuine hair loss journey and all the things I learned, I do thank goodness that I found a hair loss salon at the end of that journey which not only uses the very latest undetectable products, but prides itself on its customer-centred ethics as well. From my first (free) consultation, I felt I was in the hands of people who both understood and cared what it was like to suffer hair loss, with the consultants using the products themselves, so ideally placed to discuss them and their own experiences of hair loss. I have since learned that not all salons are in the same league of either product quality or customer service and hair replacement can be a cut-throat industry.

But even if you are one of the lucky ones and your hair is growing back or you find that bridging products are enough to keep your hair looking natural and acceptably voluminous, I hope I have helped you along your own journey and also given you comfort that hair loss need not be the end of the world and that quality options that give you your life back are out there, even for severe hair loss. And some customers have total hair loss requiring full systems, yet can enjoy the same cosmetic results as those with more localised hair loss.