Tuesday 4^thFebruary 2014 - World Cancer Awareness Day

How a Bournemouth University Student

is getting her life back after the trauma of leukaemia

A 23 year old Bournemouth University student, whose hair is unlikely to grow back following years of treatment for leukaemia, has been able to turn her life around with the help of a former cancer sufferer now running a bespoke hair systems salon in Westbourne.

Betsi Olivier, who lives in Eastbourne, was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 16 and says her life became "a living nightmare" as she underwent a bone marrow transplant which was followed by a bacterial infection that resulted in multi organ failure. Her kidneys took a long time to recover and eventually, Betsi had to learn to walk again. As a result of the prolonged treatment her immune system remains very low and she is always in and out of hospital.

Two years ago, following a biopsy, Betsi learned that her hair would never grow back; so she set out to find a hair replacement system.

After months of frustrating and expensive experiences in London she went on line and to her amazement discovered a specialist company on her doorstep - Hair Loss Bournemouth, run by 32-year-old Simone Thomas, who has also suffered hair loss thanks to alopecia and cervical cancer.

Simone is a bespoke hair systems innovator and knows from personal experience what it is like to be bald as she lost her own hair twice before the age of 30. Simone had worked in TV, film and magazine modelling since the age of 18, so finding ways of disguising her hair loss was a particular challenge. Unfortunately, she found there was little on the market apart from cheap and nasty looking wigs. A dispiriting experience!

Simone decided to pursue courses in Specialist Hair Extensions & Hair Loss Systems and recently established Hair Loss Bournemouth at her salon in Westbourne called MWAH Bournemouth - Makeup, Wigs & Hair.

Finding Simone helped Betsi to set out on a new path in life. She now has a personal hair system which is the same colour brown as her natural hair and in a style of her own choice.

"I wash it every week or so, the same way everyone washes their hair, and it looks so natural that people don't know it isn't my own," says Betsi, with a smile. "The technology means my bespoke system was built up hair by hair over a period of a few months and it allows my scalp to breathe. When I tell people it is a specialist hair system they think it is attached to my head - but it isn't. It just looks and behaves that way."

With her liberating customized "head of hair", Betsi goes swimming, running and to the gym - plus, she says that any difficulty her baldness presented with relationships has become a thing of the past. Now in her final year at Bournemouth Uni doing a BSc in Forensic Investigation, Betsi paid £575 for her hair system, just a third of the price that Betsi was paying in London, plus it will last two to three years.

Simone's business provides professional makeup services, hair extensions and hair loss systems to clients all over the UK and Europe. She sources the best-available products and techniques and as a result, her clientele includes celebrities, TV companies, photographers and agents.

Simone and her staff also provide training in the art of hair care at the Lewis Manning Hospice in Poole. The charity offers free specialist palliative nursing care to around 650 local people living with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. ***

A new website -www.hairlossbournemouth.co.uk - details all the services and advice available as a result of Simone's own experience of how cancer can dramatically affect a woman's looks and ability to live life to the full. Hair loss as a result of treatment for cancer is always going to be traumatic for those involved but Hair Loss Bournemouth means there is now an expert service in Dorset to help anyone looking to turn their lives around. Simone is also launching a new service where people can purchase wigs online:www.wigsbysimone.co.uk.

-ends-

Further information fromwww.hairlossbournemouth.co.ukor email:mwahbournemouth@gmail.comor tel: 01202 760 003.

Press information and images from: Jane Adkins, Tel 01935 813114 or email:jane@aheadforpr.co.uk

*** A detailed Press Release about the way Simone and her staff are helping the Lewis Manning Hospice is available on request.

Feb 2014 (MWAH 07)