A mum who felt 'awful' after losing her hair due to grief has had a hair transplant - and is over the moon with the results.
Billie Foyle, 28, admits she had always felt her hairline 'went too far back', but it became more noticeable after she lost a family member.
Soon after she heard the news, she started losing even more hair and developed alopecia, and she was left feeling so insecure on a girls' holiday due to her hairline that she refused to tie her hair up in a ponytail.
After spending hundreds on different hair growth shampoos and even a failed plasma injection treatment, the mum-of-two decided to get a hair transplant at the British Hair Clinic in Chelmsford, Essex, last August.
Bille made a 'rash decision' to spend £5,000 on the transplant, but now she feels more confident in her appearance.
She believes the painless transplant to be 'worth every penny', even describing her experience as a 'very relaxing day'.
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Billie, from Billericay, Essex, said: "I had alopecia on one side and just had a really far back hairline, which I never liked.
"I'd had alopecia since 2016 when I went completely bald on the left side. It was about the size of a ten pence piece. I just lost all the hair.
"I lost someone in the family and had a lot of stress, so it all fell out and never grew back at all. It was completely smooth.
"When I'd look at it, I just felt awful.
"It was not very nice, I tried all different shampoos and nothing ever worked. I tried plasma injections which cost me £1,000 at a different company and they never worked either.
"It was not very nice, I tried all different shampoos and nothing ever worked. I tried plasma injections which cost me £1,000 at a different company and they never worked either.
"No one else really noticed it as I had a far back hairline anyway, and I've got quite a lot of thick hair.
"But I never liked my hairline either, it just went too far back. No one ever said anything, it was just myself, but I didn't feel that confident about it.
"It bothered me when I started going on girls' holidays. I started to feel a bit insecure going on nights out.
"I'd never wear my hair in a ponytail or anything like that.
"I didn't feel sad about it but it did play on my mind a little, and so when I saw the clinic could do something I just went for it."
Billie went to the clinic for a consultation one Saturday in August last year and had the treatment done just two days later in a 'rash' decision.
The process was painless after surgeons used a local anaesthetic and Billie felt surprisingly relaxed, spending the seven-hour session watching TV and even being brought lunch.
Now, Billie feels confident enough again to wear her hair up and is delighted with the results, hoping to encourage more women to go ahead with a hair transplant.
Bille said: "I went there on the Saturday for the consultation and he had a cancellation for the Monday. There wasn't much involved if I'm honest, it was a rash decision.
"I went for a consultation and I booked it and went straight in and had it done. It was so straight forward.
"I turned up in the morning and they gave me the anaesthetic injection, which wasn't bad at all. It was no worse than getting Botox done, it was over in seconds.
"You're awake for it so I sat there watching telly, they even brought me lunch. It was quite a relaxing day.
"I didn't feel a thing from start to finish.
"It took seven hours and then it was all done.
"Afterwards it was itchy where they took the donor hair from at the back.
"When that was coming back through, that was the worst bit as it was just itchy. But it wasn't bad, it was just a bit irritating.
"I'm six or seven months in now and it's grown loads, it's completely blended with my original hair now. No one would notice I'd even had it done now.
"I've been for a PRP treatment since, where they take blood out of your arm. They get the plasma I think and then they inject it into your head to make the hair follicles stronger.
"The hair will be there the rest of my life I think.
"When I had the hair transplant done, everyone said to me, 'why did you have that done?'
"And then now when they see the pictures they go 'Oh, it was actually quite bad'.
"After seeing it grow through they see why I was insecure.
"It looks so much better and I feel so much better now since having the hair transplant done. I feel a lot more confident.
"Where I lost hair through the alopecia, it's all grown back through.
"When I wake up and look at myself in the mirror in the morning I just feel a lot happier about the way I look.
"I'd definitely recommend it and have it done again.
"More people should go for it. I don't regret it at all. It's not painful and was worth every penny."
A British Hair Clinic spokesperson said: "Billy is over the moon. She said that its one of the best things she has ever done.
"You can see that even on already confident happy people like Billy, a fuller hairline makes a huge difference to how she looks and feels about herself.
"That is the most important thing, how our patients like Billy feel afterwards.
"The pictures you see of Billy are only at the six-month stage, which means she has approximately 40 per cent more hair growth and thickening still to show in the coming months. Full results can take up to 12months."
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