Citizen Femme’s beauty editor, Becki Murray, has spent the last eight weeks investigating whether an emerging solution for hair loss and thinning – Calecim Advanced Hair System – could help you achieve a fuller head of healthier-looking hair.
Tweak of the Week is Citizen Femme’s tried-and-tested beauty treatment review series, covering the CF team’s favourite recommendations for facials, massages, aesthetics, and everything in between.
This week, read on to discover how Calecim, a serum-infused microneedling treatment, is offering a preventive solution for hair thinning – especially if you are noticing changes due to ageing, pregnancy or even a high-stress lifestyle.
What causes hair loss and thinning?
If you’ve brushed your hair recently and more strands than usual seem to be coming out, or you’ve looked in the mirror post-pregnancy and your hair definitely isn’t as thick, shiny or bouncy as it was before – firstly you are not alone. Hair loss and thinning is actually a really common concern, although it’s often under-discussed for women (compared to male pattern baldness), despite its emotive consequences across the board.
The causes of hair thinning can be quite widespread, so it’s important to get to the bottom of what your trigger is. Unfortunately (as with many cosmetic concerns) ageing is a massive contributor, as are genetics, so if your parents have experienced hair loss symptoms, you’re likely to as well. However, your individual lifestyle plays a massive role too, with high levels of stress, aggressive hairstyling techniques (such as extreme heat and extensions) and a poor diet, all contributing to a decrease in overall hair quality.
Another significant trigger is hormonal fluctuations, with pregnancy and menopause both causing hair changes in women. During pregnancy for example, you may actually experience an initial improvement in your hair’s quality – as increased oestrogen prolongs your hair’s growth stage. However, postpartum shedding can then occur in dramatic style, with changes in texture and density happening alongside it. This is normally temporary, but your hair can take many months to get ‘back to normal’, which is where treatments to kick-start your hair regrowth journey could really help.
Why is Calecim’s treatment for hair thinning exciting?
In the past, the main solution for hair loss was either hiding it (with clever partings and thickening products), or, when it became really bad, getting a hair transplant, which is both expensive and very invasive. Luckily though, in recent years there’s been a surge of research into minimally-invasive methods for hair regrowth, including PRP, microneedling and red light therapy.
Calecim’s Advanced Hair System is one of those emerging treatments and it’s certainly impressive in terms of clinical research (which you can read more about here). It combines microneedling – whereby a device with hundreds of tiny needles is used to stimulate your scalp’s natural healing response – with a scalp serum rich in reparative growth factors. It’s said to help improve the health and growth of your hair in as little as six weeks, which is seriously impressive considering that’s not much longer than one monthly hair cycle. In more good news, after your in-clinic treatment, Calecim offer an at-home version – complete with a clever microneedling stamp tool – to help you maintain and improve your results at home.
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Some leading clinics, including Remedi London, are also supercharging the innovative technology’s results, by offering it on their treatment menus alongside a course of red light therapy – which has been linked to decreased hair thinning by reducing inflammation – and polynucleotides (another regenerative injectable treatment). It’s this combination of Calecim with these treatments that I’ve been investigating.
Tried and tested: what is having the treatment like?
There’s a reason Remedi London is fast-becoming a leading name in the little black books of beauty editors: it’s modern, stylish, and the knowledgeable staff (led by the leading aesthetic practitioner Dr. Nima Mahmoodi) are as friendly as they are experts in their field. Diana (a hair-boosting whizz of a practitioner) was extremely personable and exactly the person you would want to see if your hair thinning is taking an emotional toll. You can immediately tell that she’s done this treatment many times before, which – as a piece of wider advice – is always something to ask your practitioner about before you book in; expertise after all is all about repeated experience.
Overall, the process will take about a hour starting, on your first appointment, with a thorough hair examination to identify the key areas of hair loss and thinning, which can be very personalised. Then, it’s time to lay back on the comfortably-plush treatment bed and get started, with the Calecim serum gently poured onto your scalp. This feels exactly the same as any other slightly cooling serum, although the smell is a little unpleasant. After that, the solution is worked into your scalp using the microneedling pen, which pushes the formula just beneath the surface of the scalp, exactly where the hair needs it. This takes around 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how many areas you are having treated, and while it isn’t pain-free (see below), you can stay comfortably laying down throughout, with just some loud buzzing radiating in your ears.
Once this part of the treatment is complete, your practitioner will bring over a red light therapy lamp, for you to lay under for the next 20 minutes. Not only is this a rather relaxing way to finish the treatment (it’s totally hands-free and all you feel is a little heat), red light has been shown to reduce scalp inflammation (a key trigger of hair loss). That means, together with the microneedling treatment, it can help further boost your healthy hair growth. This is a process that needs to be repeated six times (over six weeks) to complete the full programme, but you’ll soon get into the swing of the experience, as all future appointments follow the same structure.
Then, depending on the type of hair thinning you have, as well as its severity, you may be invited back into clinic for a session of polynucleotides. This needle-based regenerative treatment is administered in a similar way to microneedling (complete with the concluding light therapy), except it’s a little more invasive; this time anti-inflammatory biostimulators are actually injected into the skin on your scalp, to boost healthy cell function. The treatment, which can also be used on your face, has just hit the UK market and it is garnering a lot of excitement among practitioners, Dr. Mahmoodi included. Used in this way, it has been shown to further encourage hair growth and improve overall hair quality and functions as a finishing flourish to your treatment plan in-clinic.
What results can you expect?
With results promised to be subtly visible from six weeks, by eight weeks I could really see new baby hairs starting to come through. A highlight was when I went to see my hairdresser for the first time post-treatment, as I hadn’t booked in with her during the process. During my haircut, she could get up close to my scalp, so could show me how many new baby hairs there are in the treated areas (of which there should be many). Your hair should also start to feel fuller over the treatment period; enough so that friends and family may comment on the fact that it’s looking thicker, although it will, of course, take some time for the baby hairs to grow significantly. Your results – in terms of hair growth and density – will also develop over time, so it is worth sticking with it.
How painful is the treatment?
The concept of needles being pressed into your scalp might not sound like a whole lot of fun, but I promise you that it isn’t as painful as that mental image appears. You’ll probably feel a bit of discomfort depending on your pain threshold, with some areas such as the back of the head being a little more sensitive, but having a phobia of needles shouldn’t put you off, as it really does feel more like a vibration across the scalp as opposed to an injection.
As mentioned, the red light therapy is totally pain-free, but if you do choose to have a session of polynucleotides, you should be prepared for this to hurt more, as the needles penetrate deeper. It shouldn’t be unbearable though, and your practitioner will check-in regularly with you to ensure you are comfortable. You can always ask for a little pause if you need to.
What is the aftercare advice?
Your scalp is likely to be a little tender after your appointment and there may be some patches of redness, where the microneedling has occurred. These should quickly disappear in a couple of days but, while the downtime is short, listening to the aftercare advice is still really important – mainly because it’s all about avoiding infection and irritation (which, if you ignore, could actually make hair loss worse). For example, after each treatment you are advised to not wash your hair or put product in it for at least 24-48 hours, and you should schedule your appointment to avoid your exercise classes and spa sessions too, for the same reason. Try to avoid any lifestyle habits that may cause further damage to your hair during the treatment period (and beyond) as well. That includes taking a break from extensive hair-straightening, extensions and harsh stripping products, as this will really help to maximise your results.
Who is Calecim suitable for?
One of the most exciting things about Calecim is that it’s considered a safe and suitable treatment for almost anyone experiencing mild hair loss, with very few (if any) side effects. It is also designed as both a preventive and reactive hair treatment. That means as soon as you notice any changes in your hair quality, whether it be mild-to-moderate hair thinning around your parting or a more lacklustre appearance, you can start doing something about it. However, if you have any medical conditions, a very sensitive or inflamed scalp, or are just post-pregnancy, it is always best to speak to your doctor before booking a consultation.
How many treatments do you need?
This isn’t a one and done treatment: you need to have at least six sessions, spaced a week apart, to see the best results, as you need to stimulate hair growth throughout at least one monthly hair cycle. Repeat appointments may also be necessary if your hair loss is more substantial. However, if you stick with it, you really can see results, and those little baby hairs being noticed by your practitioner through the process should give you an exciting indication that your hair loss journey is going in the right direction.
Why is Calecim ‘Tweak of the Week’ worthy?
For anyone that is experiencing thinning hair – whether through natural ageing or as the lingering after effects of pregnancy – Calecim offers a really impressive, minimally-invasive option that (with a little bit of patience) can definitely kickstart your hair growth journey. Plus, Dr. Mahmoodi offers it in a luxe and relaxing environment, so it feels less like a medical exercise and more like a results-driven act of self-care. That’s particularly important considering that anxiety can make hair loss worse. Consider it your stress-relieving solution for a fuller head of hair by spring 2024.
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Any Questions or Tips to add?