Navigating the Path to Becoming a Trichologist: A Personal Journey and Professional Perspective
What is a Trichologist?
By definition, Trichology is the study of the hair and scalp. In a clinical sense, a Trichologist is someone who can diagnose hair and scalp disorders and with proper state licensing they can offer treatments to the scalp if they wish to. There are many different avenues for obtaining a Certification in Trichology and so I felt the need to help give some insight into this from my own experience.
There are no prerequisites to becoming a Trichologist. Trichology Certifications are all online home-based study programs which can take a year to two years to complete. If you are attending a reputable institution, anything of value should take time and should cover extensive topics in regards to the human body.
If a certification program is promising you that you'll become certified in a weekend, or a few short months and it will help you suddenly make lots of money then I think it is worth questioning how legitimate this “certification” really is and what the quality of information is that you are being taught.
The History of Trichology
Trichology, derived from the Greek word “trikhos” for hair, emerged as a formal paramedical discipline in the late 1800s with the founding of the College of Diseases of the Hair, now known as the Institute of Trichologists. This London-based institution, established to advance the understanding and care of hair and scalp health, gained recognition for Trichology as a paramedical field in 1902.
While the importance of hair care grew in the early 1900s, it wasn't until the 1930s and 1940s that it became widely emphasized. The demand for hair products, such as shampoos and tonics, also rose during this time.
In the United States, awareness of Trichology has increased in recent decades and especially since the global pandemic in 2020 when hair loss became a trending topic online, leading to the establishment of several respected organizations offering certification in the field.
However, in the last couple years with this boom of Trichology I want to share some facts and insights into this field so that we can all continue to offer the same quality standards that past Trichologists have laid down before us.
The International Association of Trichologists
The International Association of Trichologists was the very first Trichology Course provider in the US and it is the only university developed trichology course in the world. It was developed at USC in 1974-75 by David Salinger.
They also are a non profit organization, the most recognized internationally established organization, and they have been training Trichologists for over 50 years.
They provide clinical training as part of the certification process and have annual conferences to share the latest research and create a long lasting community of Trichologists. IAT offers two programs, The “hair practitioner course” is essentially an introductory course into the field of Trichology, “The goal is to give you some basic knowledge about the hair and scalp so that you can then understand how internal and external factors can cause hair loss and hair breakage.” I recommend this to hairstylists that want to learn more about the scalp because maybe they want to incorporate a scalp treatment in their business but they need a better understanding to address the scalp disorders they will be presented with.
Then if you feel as if you need to learn more you can sign up for the Full Trichology Program which consists of 13 modules and 19 online lectures and 40 hours of clinical training along with a final test to complete the certification.
I signed up for the Hair Practitioners course in April of 2020 when we were all at home during the global pandemic. I completed that certification in October 2020 and signed up for the full course shortly after. It took me until June 2022 to complete the full trichology certification. I also had 2 babies in that time period, sold my partnership in my salon, and opened my own salon all in those two years. It was the most dramatic period of my life so far and it brought about an enormous shift in my life.
I knew when I started my journey to become a Trichologist that I would want to have a place to see patients in private but I had no idea that there would be so much change to get there and it really was necessary for me to do it the way I did. The way I did it is not what might be what works for you reading this, but if it gives you any insight into what you want to do then I hope it helps you.
I knew I wanted to have a salon to surround myself with a team and to have the support of the salon as a business to provide new patients for my newly growing business. It has helped to have a salon to create a nice channel for clients to be a salon client and a trichology patient and vice versa. It was not easy to open a salon while I was making this change and I still do hair services one or two days a week to support myself as I am growing this entirely new side to my business and service offerings.
Questions to ask yourself before becoming a Trichologist:
Understanding the reason you want to be a Trichologist can help you uncover your motivation to decide if it is the right move for you.
Are you interested in making this an entire career change?
Are you just curious about hair loss and scalp disorders and want to learn more?
Do you think you should become a trichologist because you see other hairstylists becoming one?
Are you suffering from hair loss or a scalp issue and you want to learn more about yourself?
Do you want to do scalp treatments or do you want to run a full hair loss clinic and see patients, or both?
Do you have the time, motivation, and resources to study for the next 2 years?
Do you have the means to open or operate a small business at the end of your certification?
Do you feel an intense desire to help people who are suffering from hair loss? - Because I did and that's what motivated me throughout this whole process.
My insights and opinions on Trichology
To enroll into a Trichology program you do not need any prerequisites although many Trichologists naturally have a background as a Cosmetologist. Even though Trichology has existed for over a century, its recent explosion is likely a combination of the consumer's need for hair & scalp care and the accessibility of connecting on social media.
Since becoming a Trichologist I have been contacted by several brands to promote their product and to give my insight in articles about beauty and wellness in many mainstream publications. Never once did that happen to me as a hairstylist so the demand for more Trichologists or “experts” seems relevant. I appreciate that the media wants to uncover honest answers about a lot of myths out there.
The consumer's need for a Trichologist is really valuable in my opinion. Many of the people that have found me have exhausted many other options to improve their hair & scalp so clearly we need more educated professionals in this field.
Just four years into this field, I am by no means an expert in Trichology, I have absorbed a lot in the last four years and this is my new career path, but it has been challenging to navigate on my own. I can only predict some others might be going through or will go through the same struggles I have had.
I found it difficult upon becoming certified that there was an overwhelming amount of people asking me questions about different products and medications that were available on the market and I couldn’t look up all of them fast enough to give any real answers about the effectiveness or if it would be appropriate for them. I also was trying to figure out what I wanted to offer as my recommendations at the same time. It also occurred to me at one point that while I always wanted to just see patients in my office there are clearly other opportunities to explore as a Trichologist.
Maybe you are super passionate about the ingredients that go into haircare and so you decide you want to create a product or partner with a brand you love to help them promote their good products for hair loss. You can also get into the field of research and clinical studies, or become a researcher and present your findings at international conferences as well.
The opportunities are there but you just have to decide what you feel is your calling! This industry has always been thought of as snake oil or just met with skepticism so you just have to remember to focus on the research that does exist and to truly continue to study so that you know what is true and what is not.
And lastly, working with people will only help you improve your practice and we cannot be expected to have all the answers right off the bat. Its been a lot of learning to incorporate what I have studied into real life but everyday it gets a little easier.
Since embarking on my Trichology journey
Trichology is a field of study. It takes time to absorb the information you are ingesting and you can't expect to absorb all of it even in a year or two or three. I am 4 years into my journey and even though I know one hundred times more than what I knew before I started, there is so much more to learn and one needs to continue to stay up to date on the latest research.
I have found that connecting with other Trichologists and Dermatologists who are focused on hair loss has helped me since it is a relatively small field. I hope to find a dermatologist in my area to partner with when I need someone to refer my patients to, so far I have yet to find someone. I have found specialists on Youtube that educate on topics more in depth than what I initially learned, like Trichoscopy, so that helps a lot.
I am now looking to see where I can further my knowledge in areas that interest me the most, like nutrition and epigenetics. The ultimate goal is to help give people an accurate diagnosis of their hair loss and scalp condition so that they can recover and if you cannot do that you need to be able to at least make a referral to help the patient.
The one thing I found most overwhelming is that in the United States is that there are endless products that can market and say whatever they want to help “regrow” or “prevent” hair loss and scalp products that say they’ve “cured dandruff”. I think we have to be very cautious and very careful about what products we partner with. Just because a brand wants you to endorse them does not mean you have to.
If we have Trichologists endorsing brands that have no scientific or clinical evidence of being effective or helping people then that lowers the entire playing field for other Trichologists as being reputable or taken seriously especially if its not actually helping the person.
I have had clients DM a product and ask if it works and I let them know I will have to look into it before I say anything because if we don’t take the time to do that then how is that being helpful to our clients who come to us and trust us to guide them. When people ask me if “popular brand name” supplements work I tell them, “it works for some people but I can’t tell you if it will be effective for you until I’ve diagnosed your hair loss.”
There can be a lot of pressure to have answers to all the many questions people on the internet ask but you do not have to have all the answers and it is ok to say you don’t know but will do some research on the subject.
I have spent countless hours researching what I want to carry in my business. I have seen what other successful trichologists are doing to compare what I might like for my business and I have taken notes from my IAT program when it comes to ingredient lists that have been studied and are tried and true in helping improve scalp health and hair loss. In regards to supplements and recommending them I tend to be cautious until I feel confident this is safe and appropriate for the individual.
I need to know what other medications supplements someone is currently taking before I recommend anything at all. I may be more cautious than others but all that matters is the person I am working with so I am going to take my time and ensure that their treatment recommendations are safe and will hopefully be effective.
After I took my clinical training with Tracie Radford she helped me understand that to run an effective business you need to also have systems and procedures in place for the intake and ongoing filing for each patient. I have many forms and systems in place to ensure I document each patient's information in a way that is quick and effective. Lets just say I have many many folders in google drive.
I am currently working on putting together simple programs for my patients so that they don't feel overwhelmed after coming to see me and this has taken some time to brainstorm. I am figuring out what that will look like but ideally I want to be able to address the internal and external factors that people are dealing with in regards to their hair loss as quickly and with low effort as possible.
I find that people don’t seem to be eager about putting a serum on their scalps every night or washing their hair as often as necessary so educating the client about why it is important is going to help them feel motivated to follow your recommendations.
There are so many things I still want to learn and want to do and I am so excited to be able to be in this field in this day and age where I can connect and have conversations with other trichologists all over the world. It is an exciting time to be a Trichologist.
Lastly, I have been asked if this is a more lucrative field compared to doing hair since my background is being a hairstylist. I would say that it really depends but just with everything- the more time and money you have to invest in yourself and your business and if you have good relationship building skills and truly want to help people then I think the money naturally will follow. You have to take some risks to get started so be smart about it and take it slow. 🙂 Good things take time as I like to say.
If you are new to Trichology I hope this sheds some insight into what it all means and please connect with me if you decide to start your journey so that we can keep in touch, it is nice to have a community when you are embarking on something new!
-Sara Hallajian, IAT
