Press & Testimonials

Advanced Hair Center is a hair replacement company that specializes in all types of hair loss; male pattern baldness/hereditary baldness, hormonal issues, female hair loss, alopecia, burns, and perhaps the most devastating of all, chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments.

When a woman is diagnosed with cancer, it is devastating. She has to deal with hair loss on top of her illness. We understand this is a very emotional and private situation, and offer in-home visits as well as private styling rooms in our office. Our specialty is duplicating the clients hair, whether it be a hair piece, wig, or one of the many hair loss treatments we offer. We are able to reproduce the exact style, texture, curl, color and thickness. It works best when clients can plan ahead of time and come in prior to starting treatment so we can take samples.

Clients tell us that the nurses and physicians they have been seeing could not tell that they were wearing hair system. Doctors emphasize that maintaining a healthy image and a positive attitude is key in recovery. Advanced air Center knows this, and helps you maintain your current hair appearance promoting positive feelings and playing an important role in your recovery.

The Hair Connection Magazine -- May 2008 -- MHR impact

These two companies share, in their own words, how their relationship with MHR has impacted their clients and their business. This is what they had to say.

Why did you decide to participate in in MHR grassroots marketing program?

We have known Dr. Krenitski and Maureen Lenon, the director of patient education in Cleveland, for a long time have seen MHR's work. MHR is one of the leaders in the field and we knew several of their patients. The patients were very happy with the results and we felt good about being in business with such an outstanding company.

How has the experience been?

We really enjoyed working with MHR. It is been a win-win situation for both companies. For years, the non-surgical hair replacement businesses struggle with creating a perfectly natural hairline. And due to the limitations of some patients donor supply, MHR struggled with giving these patients the density they were looking for. Together, we are able to accomplish both.

How has it benefited your clients?

Our clients benefit mostly from having a perfectly natural hairline. When they come to us with existing hairline, is that much easier to blend in non-surgical hair replacement. This results in a much more natural looking head of hair and allows the client many more styling options.

How has the benefit of your business?

Working with medical hair restoration has enabled us to offer more solutions to our clients. In turn, this opens our doors to many new clients. We believe by working together we can increase the revenue of each company and help more people with their hair loss.

Would you recommend this to other non-surgical hearer place and businesses ?

We would highly recommend collaboration with MHR to any non-surgical hair replacement company. By doing so, they will be able to offer far more solutions to your existing clients and attract a new client base.

Is the program easy for your clients to go through?

We work closely with the staff of the Cleveland MHR office. They treat our clients like family. When our clients arrive at their office they are greeted with a smile. Everyone involved in the process knows exactly how it works. This makes the transition very simple.

Do you find it easy to explain the relationship between your company & MHR to your clients?

Yes, it is very easy to explain our relationship. We inform the client that our two companies work together to produce the best result possible for them. Most clients find this reassuring.

The Cleveland Women's Journal -- Cancer can still have a pretty face -- March 2008

When a woman is diagnosed with cancer, one of the side effects she fears most is hair loss. The diagnosis is devastating, but you are determined to fight back. Your doctor emphasizes that maintaining a healthy image and a positive attitude is key to recovery.

The best way to deal with the impending hair loss is to plan ahead and focus on making yourself comfortable with your appearance. The best time to start thinking about hair replacement, scarves or other head coverings is before treatment begins.

For many women hair is associated with femininity and health, so they choose to sustain their current hair appearance by duplicating that look through hair replacement, promoting positive feelings and playing an important part in recovery.

In most cases, health insurance might help cover the cost of her placement. Contact your insurance provider.

Cleveland Magazine - December 1998

While they may embrace the results of the Look Good Feel Good program, not all men are comfortable with this approach. "They don't like to share in a group like the women do." says Sam Fratantonio, co-owner of Advanced Hair Center, a men's hair replacement salon in Beachwood. It was that insight that prompted Fratantonio and his business partner, Marilyn Lacy, to join forces with Lou Ferranti and Rosemary DelCalzo, proprietors of next-door rival Hair by Design, to create Just Our Secret, a new hair replacement and skin-care program that caters primarily to male cancer patients.

One-on-one consultations take place in an office set up like a living room, complete with TV, couch, chair and end tables. But even the privacy in a homey environment isn't enough to put all clients at ease. Fratantoino says some men actually park in nearby lots and walk to the office because they don't want their cars seen in front of a place where her placements are done.

"I've had men come in here and disguises -- hats over their faces, the dark sunglasses, collars up around their necks," he adds. "They look like hitmen. And these are men who lose their hair normally, through hereditary balding, over a long period of time. [ The emotional reaction ] is compounded 20 times over when a man loses his hair in a week because of chemotherapy".

And although the bald look is in style -- a fact evidenced by the number of young men who routinely shaved their heads -- Fred Antonio says the look usually doesn't flatter cancer patients. He explains that even shaved heads have a "shadow" effect provided by the underlying stubble. "It's just white and clear," he says of the baldness resulting from chemotherapy. "It's just not a healthy look." Like Pappadakes, Fratantonio encourages patients to see him before they begin chemotherapy so you can create a hairpiece (known to professionals as a prosthesis) that mimics the customer's hairline, complete with any blonde streaks or gray spots. The hairpiece, which ranges from $400-$700, is secured in the front by a piece of plastic wrap like polyurethane that sticks to the scalp and a strip of Velcro or elastic at the nape.

Depending on the degree of skin sensitivity, double-faced tape may also be used. Fratantonio says the hairpiece fits so well that some men actually wear it in the shower and shampoo it as they would with their own hair. Aesthetically, the results are often so good that even spouses and significant others are surprised by them. The satisfaction, as he puts it, "doesn't just come from the person sitting in the chair."

When it comes to thinning or lost eyebrows, Fratantonio suggests wearing eyeglasses with rounded brown or black frames. A bronzer dabbed on with a brush, he adds, will camouflage the skins yellow-ish cast. The problem, of course, is that many men refuse to buy the stuff, even at a department store counter that stocks only men's toiletries.

To save them the embarrassment, just our secret has developed its own skin-care line, Bravura ( the word means "bold" or "daring"), that includes a moisturizer, toner, hydrating mist and special lotion that makes shaving easier once beard hair begins to grow after chemotherapy. Although Fratantonio says it's hard to get the average shower and run male into a three-minute skin saving routine, many continue to use their products -- and prosthesis -- after they finish treatment.

"A lot of guys, especially if they're older, are in a thinning pattern on top already," he says. "They get so used to having hair that once their hair starts growing back they go to a partial because they liked what they saw."