From a hairdresser to one of Africa's sought after trichologists
At a clinic in Nairobi's Ngong Road, soft rock and pop music hum in the background.
Justin Bieber’s Intentions comes on as we take a seat at the reception. We’re at a facility called HairHub Trichology Centre, just next to the Nairobi Baptist Church.
Here, requests such as, ‘I need a full beard transplant’ or ‘replenish my receding hairline’, are common parlance.
HairHub is where those with thinning hairlines come to regain their lost crown. It also partly explains the recent full beard resurgence, what the so-called beard gang has been showing off.
“Hair is a big expression of your personality that displays outwardly how you feel inwardly. To lose it is to lose self,” reads a quote on the wall, credited to Muli Musyoka. This is the man we came to find, a trichologist (hair specialist) extraordinaire.
Muli is the first trichologist in East and Central Africa to have been accredited by the International Association of Trichology (IAT), which promotes the study, research and legitimate practice in all aspects related to treatment and care of the human hair and scalp.
He pioneered in the hardly chattered terrain, and his facility became the first home of hair transplant in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Here, varied hair loss management services are done after a microscopic analysis of the scalp and the general health condition of a patient, more of a client really.
It is this accomplishment that earned him recognition in Business Daily’s Top40 Under40 Men in 2014.
“We do hair, beard and even eyebrow transplant using the most recent technologies, including follicular unit extraction. We also have modern means of removing unwanted hair, such as beards in women,” Muli says.
“Hair transplant is a very superficial procedure. It's done under local anesthesia when you're fully awake. I see clients on their phone or iPads listening to podcasts as we do it.
"There's no pain involved. We only need to ensure that your blood pressure, sugar imbalance and hypertension are controlled,” explained the trichologist.
A full haemogram, or blood tests, ensure the platelet count and iron levels are okay. Once the vitals test good, the procedure is safe, even for an 80 year-old, he explains.
Onto the actual transplant, hair is harvested from the back of the head, which they call the safe zone, and their roots re-established on the thinning area.
Interestingly, 70 percent of the cases of transplant are women, thanks to hairdos such as braiding, that stress the hair.
“In every five women in Kenya today, three have lost their hairline,” Muli says.
In an era where a full, expertly shaped beard is considered trendy, the facility is receiving more men seeking to achieve the macho look.
“Beard transplant has become a thing now. We see men who want to transplant their beard while some seek creams to thicken them.
The cost is a little lesser than that of a hair transplant, though charges depend on the area to be covered, calculated by the number of hair strands that will be required,” he explained.
Interestingly, Muli’s journey to being Africa’s crème de la crème in trichology was nudged by something totally unrelated to hair - his love for football. He is an Arsenal diehard.
“Growing up, I wanted to be a soccer player, but my parents would hear none of it,” recalls the one-time model, who won Mr Kenya Red Cross in 2006.
They wanted him to study law, something he was averse to, so he reasoned like the teenager he was, to work towards a grade low enough to bring him closer to his soccer dream.
“After form four, I ventured into acting at the Kenya National Theatre and then decided to do hairdressing,” he says.
The youngster was grappling with career identity at this stage.
His short stint at acting put him through a wringer as it was poorly rewarding, so he resorted to the second best alternative, which was modelling, but was advised against doing it professionally by a close friend who cited bureaucracy by modelling agencies.
“She recommended hairdressing, saying that all I needed to make money was my hands. I fell for it.
“I don't think I had a passion for hair dressing. I just didn't want to do law. I would actually tell you that I got into hairdressing by mistake, but then I knew I would find my way out, somehow,” he says, and adds, “My mother couldn't tell anybody what I did because she was somewhat ashamed of it,” he recalls.
“Hairdressing was perceived as a course for low-achievers, but I am glad the Competence Based Curriculum is bringing it back as a skill to create employment.”
Unbeknownst to him, the ‘mistake’ happened to have been the path to his destiny. In 2006, Muli earned his certificate in hairdressing from Ashley’s College and got a job at Haco Tiger brands, (now Haco Industries) that manufactures hair-care products, among others.
His boss then, Nairobi governorship candidate, Polycarp Igathe, mentored him.
Being in a department that required him to train hairdressers and salons on understanding hair and how it relates with products, he saw serious gaps in the science of hair.
There was scanty research, particularly about black hair, and he immediately saw an opportunity that gave his mother hope and confidence in him. He was finally going to study “something more serious” about hair abroad.
“If you want to have proper hair growth, you have to understand hair, then go to the laboratory and get a product that will sort that issue. I traveled a lot, training hairdressers across East Africa, and I realised that people were losing hair a lot, yet nobody seemed to understand why, they addressed the issues without conclusive expertise,” he explains.
Sydney, Australia, is where he travelled to study trichology in 2009. He graduated in 2010 from the International Association of Trichologists.
When he returned home, he started briefcase consultancy. He recalls with a smile that his very first consultation took place in someone’s office while the second was at a restaurant.
Afterwards, a friend lent him office space to see his clients on Saturday mornings.
“I spoke to my brother-in-law, a surgeon, about doing hair transplants. We went to India to get training in the field, then we started doing trials during the last half of 2013,” he recalls.
After a hair transplant, it takes six months for the change to be apparent. That’s why they chose to do trials before commercialising the practice, to be sure it actually works. But there was a small problem.
The tools they had brought from India were not designed for African hair. They had to source suitable equipment as they commercialised their business in 2014.
They first analyse your hair and scalp with the help of a tricoscope, a sort of magnifier, the first time you visit the clinic.
“Not everyone qualifies for a transplant. Maybe they just have a nutrient deficiency, or are mistreating hair, something that proper maintenance can resolve. Sometimes, we do not get a diagnosis immediately.
"We collect biopsies and ship them out to South Africa through Lancet for analysis, particularly in the case of autoimmune problems that affect hair and scalp,” adds the trichologist.
He laughs at the thought that people call him “hair doctor”. He has since travelled the world and partnered with top notch researchers to improve the sparsely researched field, particularly on African hair.
Having been in the trade for close to a decade, he has hair matters at his fingertips. The man is result-oriented.
He points out that the African hair is different from any other race’s because the follicles have a curvature while Europeans, Asians and the rest have loosely waved or straight hair.
“And when you’re doing hair transplant, if you don’t understand the curvature of the root, then you’ll end up transecting it and you’ll not get the quality of a follicle that will produce hair after the process,” he explains.
His first out of the ordinary transplant was in 2016. It involved removing beard and chest hairs and planting them on the head.
“We call that body to head hair. We have even transplanted pubic hair to the head before,” Mr Muli says, adding that the challenge with cross-transplant is that it lowers the success rate.
“Scalp to scalp transplant has up to 95 percent success rate, chest to head is about 63 percent, while beard to head is 50 percent.”
Most of his clients are from the upper middleclass going up, those who can spare between Sh200,000 to Sh400,000 for the procedure.
“But I’d say that we've worked really hard to make sure that the lower main-stream consumers can have access to some of our services because the solution is really dependent on what is causing the loss. That's why we've kept our consultation fee at Sh3,500,” he explains.
Muthoni Gitau is a beneficiary of the process. Her hairline had suffered loss due to strenuous hair handling.
The surgical operations manager at the clinic would go under the tricoscope as she started the transplant process that saw hair from the safe zone thriving again in her forehead, months later.
“Losing the hairline was very stressful. But it took only six months for me to start noticing a positive change after the transplant,” she says.
Muli comments hat women are naturally more predisposed to many hair-loss due to bodily stress and hormonal imbalances.
“Autoimmune conditions are well haboured by oestrogen. Women also go through a lot of stress, not necessarily psychologically, but bodily - the nine months of being pregnant, postpartum stress and the general duties of taking care of a family...”
“Hormonal imbalances including thyroid and sex hormones will most likely be registered in the hair as well,” says the trichologist, adding that women too experience genetic hair loss, just like men, and also autoimmune problems such as low levels of nutrients.
When hair loss is not genetic, then the culprits could be poor care, use of wrong products or mental stress. It could also be due to a deficiency of Vitamin D or iron. In such a case, blood tests are needed to ascertain this, and if confirmed, they get some supplements for a period of between six to 12 weeks to resolve the problem.
The hair specialist adds that only 30 percent of their clients get to the level of transplant.
They have also noted a worrying trend where more children are experiencing hair-loss.
He partly attributes this to Covid-19 challenges that affected children such as being not able to go to school and not interacting with their friends due to the restrictions put in place.
“I attended to a six-year-old girl who's losing hair due to stress. She had a bald patch and was clearly stressed and very withdrawn throughout the consultation period. I also saw a number of girls aged around 12 and 13, plucking their hair due to stress.”
“It shouldn’t be happening at that age and there has to be something stressing them,” he comments.
Currently, there are six trichologists in the country, most of whom worked for Muli before venturing out to start their own clinics. Africa, as a whole, has only 15 practicing trichologists.
Muli believes in mentoring others, and has been invited to lecture in conferences all over the world.
“Being a pioneer is a progressive thing, and I'm proud to have created a path. HairHub was the first centre in East Africa to offer clinical training to students who have done the theory part. I have had students from Angola, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya,” he says.
His achievements have also left a significant mark in the progression of the hairdressing industry, where he started his career.
“It's a shame that there’s no research that has been done on actual African hair. When our people go to study, they use a curriculum that has been developed for the Caucasian type of hair.
"But I'm working with a few friends abroad towards proper research on African textures. We will also come up with trainings that favour our type of hair,” he adds, saying that it is disconcerting whenever he attends conferences in Europe to find a professor making a presentation based on unscientific statements.
“One would say, ‘This hair transplant cannot be done on African hair’, when I have contrary results backed with proper success stories.”
Muli is a member of the Hair African Society that brings together trichologists from Europe, Australia and America. And HairHub partners with some of the renowned hair doctors in the world to carry out exchange programmes in their various clinics in a bid to enrich the ever-growing field of science.
