LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- “This was originally her birthday look,” Whitney Easterling said.
Beautician Whitney Easterling makes women look good.
“A lot of my clients are my friends because I truly care about them,” Easterling said.
There’s one client that Easterling has a special connection with.
“I am Ingrid Thomas, business owner, somebody’s friend, somebody’s sister, somebody’s mother and that makes me happy,” Thomas said.
“I feel so amazing when I look in the mirror. It took me 10 whole years of contemplating to cut all my hair. Ten whole years,” Thomas said.
Ingrid Thomas says she has always had a head full of hair.
“I started to get sew-ins and started to become a little more stressed,” Thomas said.
Thomas says as she started to age and have kids, her look changed.
“I started taking all kinds of vitamins thinking it was going to grow back, but it just never grew back right,” Thomas said.
She met Easterling and her life changed.
“When she came I could just feel her pain,” Easterling said.
“That moment for me was like a moment of relief and anguish at the same time,” Thomas said.
Thomas says she suffered from what’s called Alopecia, which can lead to balding.
“Alopecia is a loss of hair loss of hair due to a variety of causes,” Dr. Harold Betton said.
Dr. Harold Betton is a family physician in Little Rock. He treats patients with Alopecia and says there are several things that can cause it.
“Just medical illnesses, certain tumors, certain types of drug therapy like chemotherapy,” Dr. Betton said.
When it comes to different ethnic groups. Dr. Betton says not taking care of your scalp is a big problem.
“I’ve seen some of these extensions where they use glue at the base of the extension and so if the glue gets to close to the scalp, sometimes you can get scalp problems that cause Alopecia,” Dr. Betton said.
Beautician Whitney Easterling says she had several clients who don’t take care of their hair when they have a wig or sew-in.
“Especially when I found out how much money the ladies have paid someone to do the job and then they don’t do it right,” Easterling said.
“I probably spend at least $100 to maybe $300 dollars a week to keep up that look of covering up the hair loss,” Thomas said.
Thomas says hair should never define a woman.
“I’ve really come to the point where I have embraced what my hair looks like,” Thomas said.
Special Report: Can hair extensions lead to balding?
