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Happening this weekend, hair stylists and dermatologists from across the country will come to Kansas City, highlighting hair loss prevention.
Two organizations, Docs4Hair andS.T.R.A.N.D. are putting on this two day workshop.
"This is a marriage between two organizations. One is called S.T.R.A.N.D. where they teach and educate hair stylists about hair loss, because hair stylists really are the first people to see hair loss in an individual. So they're kind of our front line when it comes to hair loss, so it's stylists being trained by dermatologists on what to look for with hair loss," Dermatalogist and Dermatologic Surgeon, Dr. Meena Singh said. "Then we're doing another workshop at the same time where we're bringing dermatologists from all over the country and actually internationally as well, here in our clinic in Kansas City, to train them on hair restoration procedures, specifically in afro-textured hair."
Dr. Singh, the owner of Skin and Hair Center and co-owner of Docs4Hair says she's trained all over the world on hair restoration and hair transplant, and wanted to bridge the gap when it came to training on afro-textured hair.
"There's never been a meeting where they train specifically on techniques on afro textured hair," Dr. Singh said. "Our hair is completely different, it takes completely different considerations and it's a lot more challenging. So our workshop is specifically for afro-textured hair, hair transplant and also all other non surgical procedures as well."
Nia Taylor, a trichologist at Skin and Hair Center, says this workshop will give hair stylists the tools and training they need when identifying hair loss in their clients.
"Sometimes people don't always see the dermatologist, they see the stylist first, and so we are doing the hands on, Taylor said. " It's beyond just styling hair and just putting a band-aid on the surface of a problem, especially if you're passionate about what you do as a stylist. You want to go above and beyond and get the training and get what's necessary to be able to help people because it's not getting any better, it's getting worse.
Dr. Singh says with these workshops, she hopes stylists can take what they've learned from dermatologists across the country, back to their studio and put those skills into action.
"With hair loss , really it's important to get access and diagnosis as early as possible so that's why it's going to be amazing to have hair stylists who are learning what to do and what to see and how to recognize what's happening so they can get them to us faster," Dr. Singh said. "And so they're not only going to be trained by some of the top dermatologists s in the country, they're also going to get access to the network, they're going to be educated, they're going to get certified and once they're trained, they're going to be known as strand certified so they'll have access to each other and access to us."
Dr. Singh says the other half of this workshop will allow dermatologists to gain skills and techniques on afro-textured hair.
"We have patients from everywhere, across the world coming from all different kind of countries and different backgrounds," Dr. Singh said. "And if you have a doctor who is not trained on how to treat all skin types and all hair types, it does a disservice to the patients as well. So we're really trying to expand that knowledge base, so when someone walks through the doors, no matter what type of hair they have, no matter what type of skin they have, we know the exact kind of procedure to do on them."
To learn more about the workshop, click here.
