CHESSCO recently sat down for a short conversation with the Founder and General Manager of Feso Africa and Feso Hair Clinic, Dr Kuda Mupawose who recently obtained a certification as a Trichologist in the US. We wanted to find out more about Trichology. What is it all about?
CHESSCO
Hi Kuda, how’s it going?
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Good. How are you?
CHESSCO
I’m alright. Thank you. Kuda thank you so much for your time I see that you recently obtained the Trichology certification. What is Trichology?
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Yeah, everybody seems to be asking me what is Trichology? So, Trichology is a specialised arm of dermatology that focuses on hair issues, hair loss, hair disease and scalp issues. Yeah. So basically, that’s Trichologist, somebody who you’re supposed to go to when you have the issues.
CHESSCO
Okay, I must say, it was my first time coming across this term to Trichology and hearing of a Trichologist when we connected, I’d never heard of the term before.
Dr Kuda Mupawose
I know. Apparently, I don’t know why we didn’t know about it. But it’s about 119 years. The qualification has been around for 119 years now.
CHESSCO
Okay. Excellent. So, you obtained your qualification – your certification from the American Medical Certification Association.
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Yeah, that is the board, that’s the second qualification. you know, it’s like if you go to American colleges, there is a governing body.
Yeah. So, take for example, SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) you know, for South Africa, I could say SAQA. I don’t know, or the medical governing boards, they say you have passed, you have qualified, they make sure that you have gone through what is needed for you to have that qualification and test you. Again, up and above your college certification, and then they test you to make sure that whatever the college that you went to, because there’s so many dubious universities on the way, so they all give you dubious qualifications, but when it comes to now delivery, you probably have not gone through the proper education that is required. So AMCA is a Board of Medical, so it qualifies the programmes that people go through under medical,
CHESSCO
Alright, thank you so much for that. So now that you are a Trichology practitioner, what that really mean, for yourself, and for clients of hair clinic.
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Um, for me, it’s just… how can I put it, it’s, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to have. It’s something that I have been doing. But I needed to go through this process. It’s a journey that I started eight years ago. So, it’s been eight years and coming to see it come to pass… I was very excited with myself. And for the patients that I deal with at large, I think it gives them comfort, because now they know. I’m not just doing things. Because I have Googled things. But it gives them comfort, just knowing that the person that you’re dealing with is qualified, especially when they are so many google doctors.
CHESSCO
Thank you for that. You clarify the value that you’re adding to the clients that, you know, when the clients walk through the door, they know that whoever is going to be working on their hair loss.
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Patients, not clients.
CHESSCO
Patients, thank you for that correction – is somebody who has taken the time to get the right certification.
Dr Kuda Mupawose
You know, it’s almost like what’s happening now is almost like people that are self-prescribing drugs, you know, you google a disease, and you think “oh, if I take this, this will happen, and you take this”. Yes, it might help but see it’s not advisable and these, a lot of things that could go wrong by googling, you know, medication or your disease and self-prescribing. So, this is a step ahead of others just coming up with products out there. So, our products are specific because at Feso we don’t just do the treatments, we also produce products that heal these issues. So, they know, and they will have comfort in knowing that the people that are producing this product are qualified and we know a thing or two. and our products are science-based products.
CHESSCO
That’s fantastic. now, the question I’m going to ask you is probably the question I should have asked right at the beginning. Going back to this subject, this topic of Trichology, what attracted you to this field?
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Okay, so I didn’t start to just being a Trichologist, I, love doing hair, and I left my first profession, waiting for the pharmaceutical industry to become a hairdresser. I enjoyed doing people hair. But one thing that I noticed is that most of my clients, maybe after two, three years, you find somebody has cut their hair, why? Because they’ve lost their hairline. Or they’ve got some hair loss somewhere and I didn’t know how to help my client and as a result, it was also putting a strain on my budget. Because if a client cuts her hair, so that means she is no longer going to come to the salon. So, I started the journey on trying to mitigate this issue and it was through this research on trying to get, you know, products that can help my clients. That’s what triggered Trichology in me, that’s how I came across the word Trichology. And then I came up with a product, which was doing well, and it still is, then I wanted to understand why my clients were losing and even though my products were working.
But the hair was coming in different shapes, it was coming – the recovery process was different and different for every person. So, I wanted to understand more. And I wanted to understand the causes of hair loss in some cases where I didn’t have answers. Like suppose if it was now what I know. It’s a hormonal, or it’s inflammation, or it’s nutritional, or, but I just knew, or somebody has had you know, braids, and then the hairline is gone. But then when there was inflammation, I didn’t know what that was. I wanted to be able to understand what was going on with my clients then hence the reason why I embarked on the study.
CHESSCO
Well, that’s really fascinating. now, what about someone like me? I started going bald in my 20s. and now I’d say I’m probably say 50% bald? Is there hope for someone like me who has not had hair for the better part of 15 years or so 15-20 years or so?
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Yes, there is hope because there are different types of mitigations that could be done. It could be you could get a hair transplant, you could start on a product but one thing that I want to tell you especially for somebody like you mainly you guys, if you have which is what you have male type Bolden. It’s a lifetime kind of disease. So, you need to constantly and continuously be on treatment.
CHESSCO
Okay
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Because you’ve got Male Type balding, will you be able to get your hair 100% after 15 years, I don’t know, but we can try. But one thing that I know is, if it’s five years and coming, you know, coming back, you can be able to get your hair, if not 100%, maybe 70%. But even though if you started treatment now the way that you are, it stops from receding. But you need now constantly to be using DHT blockers, meaning Dihydrotestosterone because you’ve got an overdrive of testosterone that are just dormant which is its genetical and there’s nothing you can do about it because it’s part of the makeup of your body.
So, the only thing that you can do is continuously block the DHT. Your hair will start growing again, you stimulate the year that you have lost in the last five years, you can get that back. I don’t know about the other 10 years. But there are so many other ways and other things that we can do to make sure that you can get a full head.
CHESSCO
Wow, thank you so much for your time, Doctor, I really appreciate it. If we’ve got any questions. We’ll get back to you for a follow up if you’re fine with that.
Dr Kuda Mupawose
No problem.
CHESSCO
Cheers have a good one.
Dr Kuda Mupawose
Thank you.
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