Why Matthew McConaughey didn’t need a hair transplant: the hair product line that has the world talking
- When a surgeon claimed the actor had had surgery to combat his thinning hair, the Hollywood star admitted to using plant-based Regenix for two decades
- The CEO of company that makes the products reports more interest from Chinese men, from women and from young people, and says rising stress triggers hair loss
Actor Matthew McConaughey found himself in the middle of an unintended media blitz recently, over hair product.
McConaughey was responding to claims by a hair transplant surgeon that the actor had had an operation on his thinning hair, something he’d been experiencing since the late 1990s.
But McConaughey not only vociferously denied the rumours, he also let on that he’d been using a specific treatment on his scalp for the better part of two decades, and that it had been instrumental in regrowing his hair.
Regenix, a plant-based product line, has been used since 1984 to strengthen and condition thinning hair.
McConaughey’s revelation nearly crashed the brand’s website and generated an overwhelming demand for its products, although the vote of confidence is no surprise for the brand’s president and CEO, William Edwards.
Still, Edwards said that the last thing he wants is for Regenix to be thought of as a “miracle cure for baldness”.
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“Our principles have always been along the lines of prevention,” he said. “We like to step in before thinning and deterioration take place.”
In recent years, Edwards has noticed mounting interest in Regenix from a part of the world that had, in his experience, a low incidence of hair loss: China.
“The Chinese haven’t had to deal with too much hair loss,” he said. “But China was hit hard with Covid, and the pressures of that, and the stress around that can be a subconscious thing.
“People have been worried about what is going on economically. And in that family-oriented culture, they are anxious about their elders who might get Covid.
“Generally, long-term stress turns inward, and the hair, skin and nails are what suffer. Heavy stress is always followed by falling hair.”
Those interested in Regenix products mail in a hair sample, which is studied to determine the nature and severity of the hair loss or thinning. Clients also fill out a questionnaire.
A starter kit is sent out, comprising shampoo, cleanser, scalp protectant, and a dozen vials of a customised formulation.
“We insist on doing a hair analysis with everyone who starts the programme,” he said. “That way, we can eliminate any issues before we start.”
“But when the research was done on this, testing 1,000 bald men, their hormone levels were no indicator of their baldness,” said Edwards.
“It used to be that men made up 90 per cent of our clients, but now, half are women,” he said. “Women are now dealing with the same stress factors as men historically have.
“They’re getting into upper management, they have the same demands on them, and they are paying the price as far as their hair is concerned.”
He’s also noticed an entirely new generation of people dealing with premature hair loss – teenagers and other young people, who Edwards says succumb also to stress-induced hair loss.
“Social media, social stresses, not getting into a good college, studying hard, circumstances around Covid that have all these unintended consequences,” he said, adding that internet searches around the term ‘hair loss’ have skyrocketed.
The products made by the company are clean and chemical-free; ingredients include sandalwood, apple, citrus, bergamot and various hair-strengthening proteins and amino acids.
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“We deal specifically with problems around hair follicles,” said Edwards. “The products clean and emulsify the hair, and once the pathway to the follicles is clear, we can introduce specific treatments to neutralise the genetic factors that cause premature hair loss and help to increase blood circulation.”
Edwards recommends that people head off the problem before it starts, typically at the first sign of excessive loss.
“When hair falls out prematurely, it comes in weaker and thinner, then it falls out even faster, and the next generation is again weaker and thinner. If you can catch that, and treat the existing hair, the products can get to work gaining back the thickness and strength of the hair shaft that has been lost,” he said.
Certainly, McConaughey became an unintended poster child for the brand; he is known for his thick, wavy locks, hair he was once worried he would lose.
“There will be a halt to the degenerative process in the hair,” said Edwards. “There will be an improvement. The hair will be better, shinier, healthier and easier to style.”
