Elline Surianello knows first-hand what it’s like to really hate your hair. Hers started falling out in clumps–in high school. “I have Androgenetic Alopecia,” says the 56-year-old New Yorker. “So I know what it’s like to not look and feel attractive and to face judgment due to hair loss.”
Elline spent years working as a makeup artist in New York while trying to find solutions for her hair loss. Wigs, creams, implants, pills–she tried it all, but never loved the results until she began designing her own custom hair pieces. “I realized how hard it was to find something truly individualized. That’s when I started my business, designing and manufacturing custom hair systems based on each client’s needs.”
Today, Elline is known across the country for her incredibly natural-looking hair ‘solutions’–painstakingly designed to fit each woman’s specific hair loss problem as well as her exact hair color and texture. Whether you’ve noticed minor thinning or you’re suffering serious hair loss, Elline has a permanent or semi-permanent piece designed to clip easily into your hair and be completely undetectable.
Here, she reveals some incredible hair before-and-afters (including her own!), and shares the 5 biggest mistakes FOF women make when it comes to our hair.
1. Coloring your own hair. If you want to go from red to blonde, you have to know how to remove the red tones or else your hair will result in an unwanted tone, like green. Professional hair stylists are trained in color corrective methods. Utilize them.
2. Not using the correct product, or no product at all. Curly hair is drier and needs moisture, so it needs a product with moisture. If your hair is oily, don’t add a serum to keep down the fly-aways. It will just look more oily. Instead, use a little hair spray and comb it down.
3. Cutting your own hair. Unless you are a trained expert at using shears, don’t do it! You will never be able to get the right angles, especially for the hair in the back of your head.
4. Holding on a hair style that is no longer working. As you age, your hair changes, and so does your face. The hair style you wore 20 years ago may not be working today. Older women don’t always look good with longer hair. Your hair color must also compliment your skin tone. Don’t be afraid of change.
5. Waiting too long to fix your hair. “I think women often feel they have to accept thinning hair as a part of aging. They give up! But there are many things we can do as we get older. Whatever your age, whatever your hair trauma, you can still look wonderful if you invest a little time and money in the right solution. Every woman can improve her hair right away if she does these five things: (1) Get a trim every 4-8 weeks, (2) Wash your hair more often if it’s oily; (3) Always condition; (4) Limit use of harsh chemicals–relaxers, perms, etc. (5) Eat a quality, high-protien diet. Hair is made of protein!”
Learn more about Elline and her company, LeMetric, here.