THE BELGRAVIA CENTRE BLOG

IF YOU HAVE HAD AN EXPERIENCE WITH GARY HERON OF THE WESTMINSTER PRACTICE, ALSO KNOWN AS THE HAIR CENTRE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR COMMENT TO THIS POST IN ORDER TO KEEP THE PUBLIC AWARE OF THE WESTMINSTER PRACTICE AND HELP OTHERS TO AVOID FALLING VICTIM. YOU CAN SEE OTHER PEOPLE’S COMMENTS AND ADD YOUR OWN IN THE COMMENTS SECTION.

The Westminster Practice / The Hair Centre - A Warning

We are receiving an increasingly worrying number of negative reports about Gary Heron and the Westminster Practice (also known as the Hair Centre) from people who have visited the centre for a consultation. Gary Heron is the Westminster Practice’s owner and also works as the consultant, diagnosing hair loss conditions and recommending his own treatments to people who visit the Westminster Practice for a consultation. We have received many complaints about Gary Heron and The Westminster Practice over the years with reports of aggressive selling tactics and schemes to obtain money from people (usually women) without their consent. Gary Heron and the Westminster Practice were featured on BBC 3’s TV programme ‘Conning the Conmen’ in 2007.

Gary Heron of the Westminster Practice has frequently been reported
to use unethical and manipulative tactics to take money from hair loss sufferers.

The Westminster Practice formulate their own non-medically-proven natural lotions for hair loss (Vitastim, Biostim and Follicle Builder II) that have minimal clinical efficacy and are inexpensive to produce, even though reported charges have been between £1,800 and £3,000 for 12 month’s worth of the products. Gary Heron has had no medical or trichological training and has no medical or trichological certifications or qualifications but we have numerous reports that he passes himself as a trichologist to people who visit The Westminster Practice for consultation. There is also evidence of this contained in various articles posted by Heron on the internet where he claims to be ‘one of Europe’s leading trichologists’. Gary Heron is a highly experienced and manipulative sales person and will make the customer feel comfortable during the consultation at the Westminster Practice, usually bringing his family into the conversation to build trust and give the impression of sincerity.

We advise anybody to be highly cautious of Gary Heron and the Westminster Practice in order to avoid having vast amounts of money taken from you.

We would appreciate your comments on this post if you have had any experiences with Gary Heron and the Westminster Practice so that we can pull together to wipe out his bad practice and help to prevent people falling victim to his actions in the future. You can also contact us by email (info@belgraviacentre.com) or telephone (020 7730 6666) if you need any help or advice.

This story was originally posted in May 2007. If you click into the story you can see comments from members of the public at the bottom of the page:

The Daily Mirror today contacted one of the Belgravia Centre’s senior trichologists, Leonora Doclis, to request some expert advice on Naomi Campbell’s current hair condition. Recent photos show that Naomi’s parting seems to be wider than normal and the Mirror assumed this was caused by some form of hair loss.  Leonora advised that this possible hair loss could be caused by excessive pulling on the hair, but there is no way to tell conclusively by a photo alone.  You can see the story here - Daily Mirror Story.

Although Naomi Campbell’s Parting seems wider than normal, this
is not necessarily a sign of excessive hair loss although there is a possibility

• The average scalp has around 1000 hairs per Sq. inch.
• Genetic hair loss can be passed down from either the paternal or maternal side of the family tree.
• If you tied all the hairs of an average female from end to end the hair would stretch 30km… that’s roughly the distance from Dover to Calais!

• Hair is the second-fastest growing tissue on the body; bone marrow is the fastest.
• 10% of scalp hairs are resting – the remainder are growing.
• The average diameter of a hair is 0.03mm – this means that about 30 strands of hair will add up to a millimetre.

Check back next week for our final three interesting facts about hair!

Question: I’ve just noticed a bald patch on the top of my head. It’s round and about the size of a 2 pence piece. It’s strange because I’ve never noticed it before and it’s quite big - it must’ve literally come up over night! I’ve read up about bald patches on the internet and it seems it might be alopecia but I’m really worried because I don’t want to lose all my hair. Please help!

Answer: I wouldn’t say there’s too much reason to worry. It is understandable that a sudden patch of hair loss of this size (Alopecia Areata) can be a shock but from experience I can tell you that most of the time it will not progress into Alopecia Totalis or Universalis (loss of all scalp hair or all body hair respectively). With Totalis or Universalis the initial loss is generally more extreme than just one patch - people will experience a vast amount of hair being lost at once.

For patchy Alopecia minoxidil is very effective and we find that minoxidil 12.5% + azelaic acid cream will grow the patches of hair back most of the time.

More information on ALOPECIA AREATA
See some Alopecia Areata photo-scans
Read a previous post on Alopecia Areata

• Shaving hair does not cause it to grow faster.
• The only places on the surface of a human body that hair does not grow are the soles of the feet, the palms of the hands, mucous membranes and the lips.
• As we age the number of pigments in the hair decreases which results in the hair becoming grey or white.

Check back next week for 3 more interesting facts about hair!

Question: I have lost a lot of hair post pregnancy and I’m still breast feeding. Is there any treatment that is safe to use whilst breast feeding?

Answer: Yes, the LaserComb can be used whilst breast feeding (this is the only treatment of the FDA approved or cleared treatments).  More information on the LaserComb.

• In summer hair grows faster.
• The hair of elderly people grows slower than younger people.
• Recent research indicates smoking can increase the chance of hair loss.

Check back next week for 3 more interesting facts about hair!

• Hair generally grows about 12cm per year – that’s almost 10 metres throughout a person’s whole life.
• Brushing the hair is more damaging than combing.
• Washing your hair frequently will not increase chances of hair loss.

Check back next week for three more interesting facts about hair!

• Women’s hair grows slower than men’s and is generally thinner.
• Each hair on a person’s head will grow for 2-7 years before it is replaced by a new hair.
• Over 40% of women will experience hair loss at some point in their life.

Check back next week for 3 more interesting facts about hair!