When a client is facing hair thinning or loss, the stylists can be a first line of defense in terms of acknowledging, assessing and treating the issue.Redken's Cerafill line provides a range of options depending on the circumstances surrounding your clients' situation.

“Hair loss is a very common problem that nearly everyone experiences," says board-certified dermatologist and hair-transplant surgeon Dr. Nicole Rogers. "It’s normal to lose some hairs on a daily basis during washing or styling, but it is considered excessive or premature hair loss if a person loses more than 100 hairs every day. Hair loss is a complex issue, and each case is different. Cerafill has multiple solutions for thinning hair, whether for instant hair thickening results or hair regrowth overtime.”

What is Cerafill?

Cerafill comprises three product ranges to treat hair thinning and loss and provide styling solutions for thin hair:

• Defy—battles early stages of thinning with ceramide, SP-94 and zinc PCA to strengthen hair and nourish the calp for fuller-looking and feeling hair. Includes Hair Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner, Energizing Scalp Treatment for a healthy scalp environment. 

• Retaliate—fights advanced thinning menthol, ceramide and SP-94 to strengthen and nourish hair. Includes Shampoo and Conditioner, and Minoxidil Topical Solution in two strengths: 2% for women and 5% for men.

• Maximize—styling line for short-term solutions. Includes Dense Fx Hair Diameter Thickening Treatment and Texture Effect Hair & Scalp Refresher.

Rogers points out that there's a big difference between hair thickening and hair growth that can often cause confusion for stylists and clients alike. Thickening products, like those in the Maximize range, are short-term and only last until the next shampoo. Think volumizing mousse.

Products that encourage growth, however, "send that molecular message to follicles to tell them to go back into the growth phase," Rogers says. "But those products take more time to work."

In summary, the growth products will give longer-lasting results but will also take more consistent use for real results and new growth to show up. In the meantime, thickening products are a great temporary solution.

Minoxidil: A history

Minoxidil can sometimes get a bad rap, but often it's because people have misconceptions about how it works.

“Minoxidil is an FDA-approved drug that is clinically proven to regrow hair," Rogers says. "Although it might work differently for everyone, it has the power to produce outstanding results when used as a part of a long term solution that you have discussed with your doctor." 

Originally, Rogers says, minxoidil was used in the 1970s and 1980s for people with hypertension. People started noticing, though, that their hair was growing like crazy as a side-effect. Now it is a common ingredient in the treatment of hair thinning and loss. 

A few misconceptions Rogers likes to address: 

• Shedding. At the beginning, some shedding means the product is working.
  "It shortens the resting phase and kicks out the telogen hairs sooner to make room for anagen," she says. "Sometimes it's new hairs pushing others out."

• Less hair if stop use. Clients won't have any less hair than they already would have if they stop using a minxodil-based product. When hair loss is male- or female-pattern baldness, an individual is on a path of loss. Using a minoxidil-based product will pull the client off that path and start new growth, and if they stop, they'll return to the downward path they were on before they started, Rogers says. Will they have less hair eventually, over time? Yes. But not because of the minoxidil use. 

How to talk to clients about thinning

You've likely noticed that a client's hair is thinning or shedding more than usual at some point, but bringing that up isn't always an easy conversation. Remember, though: If you have mutual trust with your client and this isn't, say, his or her first visit in, he or she probably wants to know if you're noticing something. The key is in how you approach the subject.

"I find that patients are surprisingly receptive," Rogers says. "One thing I find helps is just to have the products out or have some signage or marketing visible." 

The products or marketing materials might prompt the client to bring it up themselves, and you can take it from there. If that's not the case, you can mention things in a non-confrontational way.

"You could say something as simple as, 'Gosh, you know, have you been shedding a lot?'" Rogers says. Try asking instead of telling, and it might open a door for the conversation to happen more naturally.