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“The best investment you will ever make is in yourself.” -Warren Buffett
During my 3 months working at Hair With A Cause (crazy how fast time flies!), I have learned so much. Not only has Deborah shared a lot of her wisdom with me, but every client I have spoken to has had a different story to tell. I have learned more and more about cancer each time. Although everyone that has come through us has had different experiences, some of them have lost hope in getting our services once we mentioned pricing. Yes our pricing can be a little scary, but hair is such an important asset. Many people believe that getting your hair done is pure vanity. Although yes at times it may be (then again there is nothing wrong with wanting to look good), there are times when it becomes a true necessity. When you have lost your hair due to chemotherapy or any other ailments, hair is what can make you feel alive again. Every single client that has walked through our door and received our services have been so grateful that we exist and with the level of support we provide. People are wary about spending a lot of money on anything. Of course it is understandable as there is never a true guarantee that something will work out the way you want it to. I have always believed that if there is enough proof for you to fall back on it is worth a shot. I don’t believe you should hold back or feel guilty about spending a lot of money on yourself. At the end of the day, it is an investment that will make you feel happy and will be well worth it. If you really want something for yourself that you know will make you feel better, go get it! We only get one life to live, lets make it a happy one without regrets. With much love, Romina Nalli Operations Manager
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“Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you. The future will take care of itself” -Yogananda
With all the hustle and bustle in our daily lives, we often forget to live our life to the fullest. We often go through our days, weeks, and months set on automatic. With work, school, family, and maintaining a social life it is easy to forget to take care of ourselves. Sometimes extraneous situations force us to listen to our bodies and actually listen to what we need. I used to force myself to continue to work even though I was just getting better from being sick or just plain exhausted. In that sense I didn’t respect by body enough to take it easy. There was always something about having to stay productive. It wasn’t until I got diagnosed with a chronic illness in 2016 that I had to force myself to take it slow. The thing about having a chronic illness that no one tells you about (and for sure I wasn’t prepared for) is that your energy level fluctuates so much. I have had to miss countless days of work and modify my daily routines. Not to mention that I went through a grieving phase, because I longed to have my old self back. Two years in now, it hasn’t gotten easier but I do appreciate what this whole ordeal has taught me. It has taught me that I am bigger than the havoc happening in my body, to enjoy every day, and cherish the company I get from the people that have stuck around. Self care is so important!! Whether you’re struggling through a chronic illness like myself, another invisible illness, or battling cancer…it is monumental you live one day at a time and rule out the “what ifs?” and really listen to what your body is needing. Don’t push yourself to the breaking point, allow yourself to let go and think about only yourself. Sending positive vibes your way! With much love, Romina Nalli Operations Manager “Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith” -Margaret Shepard
Before I get into the true body of this post, let me start off by giving you a little bit of a background story. Back when I was 4 years old, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Of course being 4 years old, I was pretty oblivious to the chaos that was happening around me. I didn’t know how much my mother was suffering, nor was I aware of the toll that it took on my family. All I remember is the day my father and I took a plush toy to my mother at the hospital (which I would later know was the day post operation) and I saw her getting up from her hospital bed smiling at me. Thankfully my mother survived and she has been cancer free since then. Nonetheless, it is something that haunts me since cancer pretty much runs in my family. This leads me to the next part of my story. About a month ago I was a mere hair consultant at an extension shop which I have been working at for 2 years. I had enjoyed my job but as the company culture changed it quickly formed into a rut for me. The most rewarding part of my job had always been helping chemo patients, as that always hit close to home for me. It was rewarding to see them with a smile on their face, and that for that time I spent helping I was able to give them hope, reassurance, happiness, and lift some worry off their shoulders. At the time, little did I know that I would soon have the opportunity to do something greater. I had formed a close relationship with Deborah, and one day she offered me a position at Hair With A Cause. I didn’t see it coming, but I am so grateful it did. Now I have an opportunity to make a greater impact in hair recovery for women going through chemotherapy. I took a leap of faith and accepted the opportunity to join. There wasn’t a clear agenda, but I came in with passion and motivation to make a difference. I suppose my point is, life is filled with uncertainty. Sometimes the best decision you can make is take a leap of faith, trust that everything will turn out fine, and take the opportunity for change. Here’s me saying hello and empowering all of you to take a chance! With much love, Romina Nalli Operations Manager In the world of Hair Loss you are challenged with each new client to come up with a solution to help STOP THE HAIR LOSS. This is ALWAYS on my mind, curious as to “why” some do and some do not suffer with the issue of hair loss. In my line of work, not only do I see women who suffer from Chemo Hair Loss, I also see women who are faced with what to do or where to turn for their hair loss complaints. Don’t you think it’s strange that there are not enough Hair Recovery Treatment Centers to address microscopically and genetically what is at the “root” of YOUR exact cause of hair loss?? That there are only topical medications, steroids, and hair pieces. All these “temporary” solutions can be beneficial, but what is THE SOLUTION to REGROW hair and STOP hair Loss?
If I could start my career all over I would become a HAIR SCIENTIST to finally solve this age-old question -- WHY IS MY HAIR COMING OUT? I would study GENETICS, Blood Types and perform thousands of Biopsies on the Scalp. But here we are using the latest technologies trying to help women who suffer from hair loss from chemotherapy and autoimmune deficiencies without a definite answer to what is causing the hair to fall out. In my finer years, I am understanding more and more to work with what I have. So it was my dream to take what I have learned thus far and open my own Hair Recovery Treatment Center. Here, I have the chance to apply my skills and create solutions for women with hair loss. I get to be hands on and connect directly with very strong women. I get their before chemo hair pics and I get their after chemo hair pics .. and after they go through one of my hair solutions, I also get their first date pics and their first day back on the job pics and (sometimes, years later) their wedding pics. In this way, the work that I CAN do feels so fulfilling. And, you know, I am definitely keeping my ears, eyes, and mind open to new developments. I might not be the hair scientist that solves the question, but I know that she’s out there. This Blog Posting is a very sensitive subject matter for me and it has to do with pride and relationships. Recently I lost a cancer client to a competitor. It was a hard loss because prior to gaining her as a client, I was building a relationship with her on an almost daily basis via phone calls, text messaging, and emails for about a month. Her desire was to have Hair Extensions applied prior to a trip she was taking. We went back and forth with her wishes, her photos, and hair texture prior to the chemo hair loss. She sent her pre and post chemo photos (her hair was only 1.5 inch in length). Together we came up with a plan and she decided to travel to me (she lived in Chicago and our Treatment Center is located in Los Angeles). For 7 years, I have traveled to my clients and now that I have built my center, they could come to me. I considered her a client because of the constant interaction and the plan that we both decided would be the best for her length of hair. “My client” as I will refer to her, was not 100% happy that we would use a small hair closure to give her a finished look, however, she understood the necessity of why we needed to conclude her services with a finished look. After shipping her hair to me (we convert wigs and human hair into hair extensions saving the client money on purchasing new hair) we moved forward in booking travel and securing the date she requested for having her hair applied.
The day of booking travel, she texted me that she needed to get my advice on something. She confessed to me that she reached out to my competitor at the same time she reached out to me and he was just now getting back to her {he apologized for his tardiness} and stated to her he is one of two in the whole UNITED STATES who is specifically trained to apply Hair Extensions on 1” hair. She found this very impressive and he explained to her that he will not use any hair closures to complete the look. He stated that he has touched over 400 heads and can apply the strands all over. She asked me what were my thoughts….{now comes the test}. I told her that I did not want to “sell” myself nor did I want to sway her decision, I explained to her why I currently “choose” not to do the method that he does and what I had heard can happen long term with this particular method. I explained to her that she had to make the best decision for herself and to ponder it, sleep on it and then decide. So, YES I lost her because she wanted what he was offering. I too, have been trained in 7 different techniques of applying hair extensions and most importantly, I knew that by applying extensions over the entire head on 1 inch short hair is nearly impossible and could not be concealed at the closing point. I wondered, "how does he does it??" I reached out to experts in this field here in Los Angeles, Union Stylist {Stylists who work on Set of TV, Movies and Commercials}, I also reached out to a couple of wig makers, and, finally, to my extension manufacturer ... I just could not wrap my mind around how in the hell was he concealing the extensions. And after much searching, I decided that I needed to try to apply the skills I already had and test it out myself! It was the only way I could be sure. Fast forward! Guess who I received a text from….Yes you guessed it, my client { I guess I shouldn't refer to her as my client or should I?} After 1 week of having her hair done. she was not happy with the $3000 Hair Extensions all over her entire head. She was not happy with the service she received. Shocked I was….but even more so, when I saw the pictures. I could not believe what I saw .. or that she came back to me! The relationship we built was the MVP of the story because she felt safe enough to put down her pride and ask for help. My client became MY CLIENT. She is now in Hair Recovery and we were able to repair some of the work she received. She is now so happy and that makes me happy. I know in business you gain some and you lose some BUT after building a relationship, I have a hard time convincing anyone to stay, I just want you to want to stay~ I love my clients and the relationships I build with them are priceless. I get a natural high off of watching their hair recovery from Chemo. I mean .. when people are under my care, it is a gift to watch their hair grow back stronger and longer. I did not embark into Hair Recovery after Chemo to be an option, my calling is to offer the BEST solution. So moving forward, I will take the technique of all over hair extensions and perfect it. Pride can not stand in the way. If it's what makes my client happy, I'm going to be the BEST AT IT. And I really have my competitor to thank. So, thank you! How it all startedThere is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you will become truly alive.” -Oprah Winfrey Alright, so maybe Oprah wasn’t speaking directly to me when she said these words but she might as well have been. For over 20 years, I had already been transforming damaged, weak hair into healthy, strong strands for women as a Hair Treatment Specialist in the City of Angels. In 2010, I owned my own beautiful hair extension studio in Beverly Hills filled with beautiful women on the path of looking even more beautiful. We had already closed for the day and were wrapping up paperwork when a very timid woman knocked on our studio door. She told me she had waited ‘til everyone had left. She began to remove her obviously itchy wig and shocked me with her mere inch of discolored hair. What a beautiful and strong woman that stood in front of me asking for help with her hair; her name was Karina! After 3 months of waiting for her hair to return post chemotherapy, Karina was still imprisoned by this wig that she dreaded putting on every day. It constantly reminded her of the illness she had overcome and, honestly, it felt like she was in hair prison. She wanted help transforming her hair and feeling like herself again. I had never dealt with anything so challenging or delicate. It humbled me to be asked to help in such a vulnerable moment. I told Karina “let me think about this …” because I needed to figure out her transformation. And how she did transform! She said my work made her feel 20 years younger! This humble beginning eventually led to me creating my first Hair Recovery Treatment Center for Pre and Post Chemo women. Not only has the center given me a purpose but it has connected a community of women to transition their hair image and create friendships along the way. Karina’s plea for help was honestly my calling and I now honor this calling for women around the world. It has been my pleasure to expand into helping women with more hair traumas such as trichotillomania and alopecia. Every year and every client has inspired me to learn more to serve better. So Much Love, Deborah  |
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HAIR WITH A CAUSE | Hair Recovery Treatment Center | 1523 S. Lacienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035