While becoming a hair loss expert requires some in-depth continuing education, as a professional expertise it’s immensely rewarding. We offer you these 20 reasons why.

1. A Growing Concern. Your clients have a heightened and growing interest in the thinning hair and hair loss category. According to the 2016 HAIR+ Research Study, 75% of your male clientele and 81% of your female clientele are concerned about their current or future potential hair loss.

2. An Aging Workforce. According to Pew Research, in 2000, 12.8% of people over 65 held a job, By 2016, that figure had grown substantially to 18.8%. As men and women strive to stay professionally competitive longer, maintaining a youthful appearance—including a full head of hair—becomes more important.

3. Better Tools. Walk any trade show floor and the growth of the HAIR+ category immediately becomes obvious. From lasers to fibers, nutritional supplements to scalp care products, and extensions to hair systems, your professional toolkit for helping clients with thinning hair and hair loss is quickly growing.

4. A Deeper Understanding. Fueled by public demand, scientific research continues to unravel the mysteries behind thinning hair and hair loss, allowing medical professionals, trichologists and trained stylists to offer their clients more answers and better solutions.

5. A Trusted Resource. According to the HAIR+ research, most consumers report they would feel comfortable talking to their stylist or barber about hair loss, although they resist because they don’t currently believe their hair pro knows a lot about the topic. They do report though they would be more interested in talking to a barber or stylist if they knew the professional had expertise in hair loss.

6. A Willingness to Learn. Most consumers report they don’t know much about the range of options available for addressing hair loss, although they do have a strong interest in learning more.

7. Financially Rewarding. For extensions services alone, the price a professional can charge per hour is at least double that of their hair cut rate. That goes up exponentially when a beauty professional focuses on creating wigs and hair systems.

8. Retail as a Necessity. A HAIR+ client is more likely to see the professional products you recommend as a necessity rather than a luxury, which makes retailing much easier.

9. Guaranteed Returns. The average extension client returns to the salon every four to eight weeks to have their extensions moved up, offering professionals a very predictable amount of future business.

10. Strong Motivation. According to the 2016 HAIR+ research, stylists report the key motivation for developing their hair loss business is the ability to help their clients.

11. Education is Key. Stylists report that a ‘lack of knowledge’ is what holds them back from getting more involved with hairloss clients. New education resources are available though, including this supplement and the 2018 HAIR+ Summit, which will be held in Atlanta, September 30 through October 2. Visit hairplussummit.com for tickets and details.

12. A Deeper Bond. HAIR+ experts are privy to their clients’ most guarded secrets, and they offer help through clients’ most emotionally vulnerable times. As a result, hair loss clients form deeper attachments to their professionals than do non-hair loss clients. For example, Rebecca Walden, owner of the Rebecca Walden Wig Studio in Atlanta, Georgia, is often invited to accompany her clients who are battling cancer to their health screenings.

13. A Marketing Bonus. Most salon professionals don’t market themselves as hair loss solution providers, allowing those who do to develop the expertise as a key point of differentiation in their marketing pieces.

14. Elevated Professionalism. Clients tend to view HAIR+ experts along with their physicians as part of their respected wellness team, holding their stylists’ opinions about hair loss options in high regard.

15. A Broader Professional Circle. In an effort to offer their hair loss clients a variety of options, many HAIR+ experts develop mutually beneficial cross-referral businesses with trichologists, dermatologists, psychologists and hair surgeons, thereby widening their circle of professional influence.

16. Lifelasting Loyalty. Hair loss clients who have been helped by a trusted beauty professional tend to remain strongly loyal to their HAIR+ experts.

17. Professional Satisfaction. Most HAIR+ experts report that their careers are immensely rewarding, with citing the ability to help hair loss clients through a difficult challenge as the most satisfying aspect of their career.

18. It’s More Than Hair. When you help a hair loss client obtain a healthier looking head of hair, you give them more than hair—you offer them a renewed sense of happiness, self-esteem, confidence and excitement.

19. The Hair Loss Grapevine. While talking to hair loss clients may require more care than a consultation with your cut-and-color client, hair loss clients tend to seek each other out and share their success. Once you establish a HAIR+ expertise, the hair loss grapevine may keep you in a steady stream of new clientele.

20. Fashion and Function. You have a multitude of tools available to you as you help your hair loss clientele, and many of these tools help you stretch as a professional. While hair care products, lasers, scopes and your newfound relationships with medical professionals help you tap into your scientific wisdom, extensions and hair systems help you expand creatively.