Insights from a Hair Loss Expert: Jeff El Zenny

Jeff El Zenny [00:00:07]: I started losing my hair, you know, early in high school, and it was just, you know, going through all of the motions of losing hair. Right. So, like, I wasn’t able to style it. You were able to see through the scalp. I became a recluse. I just didn’t want to be in the public eye. I didn’t want to go out and want people to have the chance to make comments about my hair. So if I had to go somewhere I couldn’t wear a hat, I didn’t want to be there’s.

Kevin Rolston [00:00:48]: Welcome to the very first episode of Hairpod, the show where we get real about hair loss and how everyday people like you and me are navigating life and getting their hair back. I’m your host, Kevin Ralston. I’m here to tell you all about the show, share a little bit about my journey, and give you a taste of how a typical episode will be. As my friend Jeff El Zenny and I talk openly about our experience when it comes to hair loss and how we made it through. When I first heard about HairPod, I was so excited, because it’s so much more than just a typical podcast. It’s a community and a movement where we celebrate diverse hair journeys and experiences. Many of us are impacted by hair loss. Maybe you’re seeing some thinning.

Kevin Rolston [00:01:32]: Perhaps you’ve experienced hair loss or you’ve got a family member or somebody close to you who has. But even though so many of us can relate, there’s still a huge stigma when it comes to hair loss for both men and women. Many of us are trying to hide it, ignore it, or cover it up. There are not many resources out there that are sharing true, authentic stories the way we aim to do it. We want to break that stigma and give you hope. Again, your average podcast about hair loss tends to be a combination of dry interviews and medical jargon. At Hairpod, we’re going to be taking you on a journey and immerse you into our guest experiences. I can’t wait for you to hear from all of our awesome guests.

Kevin Rolston [00:02:11]: I’m going to take you on a Minnesota with my friend Jeff El Zenny, a hair loss professional and expert in the industry. We open up a dialogue about the stigma surrounding hair loss and just how hair loss can change your life and hold you back.

Kevin Rolston [00:02:29]: Hey. Welcome to the Hairpod. If you are here, you probably are struggling with your hair loss. Well, the good news is you’ve got a couple people here that have already been down the path, and hopefully we can help you out. Jeff, how the heck are you?

Jeff El Zenny [00:02:43]: I’m doing good, Kevin. Thank you for having me on the show today. Couldn’t be more excited. I really want to be able to help tens of thousands of people get their hair back, know, really go through the steps that we went through. Man, it’s quite an amazing feeling to have your hair back, your confidence back know, really, it just helps in all aspects of life, I think.

Kevin Rolston [00:03:02]: No doubt. Absolutely. I mean, it is a life changer. And one of the big things that I love about it as well is it makes you look younger. And as you get into your thirty s, I don’t think anybody at that age or older wants to look older. And so, look, I’ve even talked to some people in some of these conversations who were in their early 20s that was dealing with significant hair loss, and they were looking like they were in their early to mid thirty s at the age of 20. That’s tough. I even talked to a kid that was in high school, and he was self conscious about his prom pictures. I was like, Dude, that’s crazy, man. So the stories I’ve heard have just opened my eyes, and I’ve talked to so many people with hair loss, and I know you’ve talked to even more. No matter what age you are, everybody’s dealing with it.

Jeff El Zenny [00:03:49]: Absolutely. And you just kind of ratted me out there, man. So I’m that guy. So the guy you were just talking of prom pictures, early 20s, high school graduation, all of the above. So I started losing my hair when I was a junior in high school. And the problem with that was I looked so much older than I was. I was 17 years old. Looked like I was going on 30 at that point.  It was crazy. By the time I graduated high school, I looked like I was in my late 30s, almost 40. So it was a major hit to the ego. You know me as this outgoing guy, and I’m always out and talkative and really just kind of living my best life right when I went through that, I became a recluse. I didn’t want the attention. I didn’t want people to call me out on it. So I figured it would just be easier for me to not be in those environments.

Kevin Rolston [00:04:41]: I didn’t know how much hair loss could affect somebody’s life until it started happening to me.  I started losing my hair in my mid twenties. I went to another place and I found out about Finasteride, which is a pill that will help slow down your hair loss. And I thought, okay, I’ll just see how long I can ride this thing out. And you know, for about maybe 15 so years, it was good enough where I could kind of fake it. You could tell I was losing my hair, but it wasn’t anything that was too extreme. And so I became ball cap guy after that because I knew it was just not good. And we had a dome camera in the radio studio where I was working, and it was always shining down on my head. And we have a lot live chat room on YouTube and people would it would be laughy faces and look at Kev’s bald spot and all that kind of stuff. And man, I was so self conscious of it. I hated to go anywhere where I couldn’t wear a hat.

Kevin Rolston [00:05:36]: A formal event, any kind of black tie affair. You’re trying to figure out what kind of hat you could wear if we had to do any kind of show photos, promo photos for the show. I hated all those kind of moments. And I was at the point where I’m like, you know what? I think I’m just going to have to shave it all off because I look like that guy that was trying too hard. And I don’t want to be that in between guy with the hair all around the sides and so much gone up at the top.

Jeff El Zenny [00:05:59]:  Absolutely. I had one of my best friends growing up. He didn’t ever do anything about his hair loss, but this guy was men’s health fit, right? But he wouldn’t go anywhere. He couldn’t wear a hat. He perfect body in the gym all the time, all this stuff. Cool guy. But he literally wouldn’t do anything that he had to do where he was not allowed to wear a hat. So that’s how bad it affects people. And I get it. I understand it because I lived it.

Kevin Rolston [00:06:26]: But the great thing about this show is that we’re not just talking about the bad experiences. We want to give you hope. There are so many ways that you can get your hair and your confidence back. The hardest part could be taking that first step. And the thing that I find with so many guys today and ladies that are out there, especially who I don’t think can be or feel they can be as open as a lot of guys talking about their hair loss is where do you even go? You’re kind of lost. And at that time, I didn’t know what hair club was, and you got into it a lot earlier than I did. But I want to talk to a lot of people out there about the misconceptions because so the perception in my head was this was something for dudes in their sixty s or seventy s that they would slap a rug on top of their head, and it would be black, and the sides of their hair would be gray. And then they would think that they looked better, but they didn’t really look better.

Jeff El Zenny [00:07:22]: At 21 years old, I was dating a hairdresser and we had a conversation and she said, hey, there’s this guy that comes into my place and he’s a member and he looks really good and maybe you should look into that. So at that point, I did. Ended up becoming a member not too long after and getting my hair back. And man, like I said earlier, it was a life changer.

Kevin Rolston [00:07:45]: No two people are going to have the same hair loss journey. And I feel like I’m one of those people that I really went through it all, everything from the Rogaines and minoxidils and laser caps and finasterides and all that kind of stuff that is out there. That’s the one thing I did discover, is that there’s not going to be one solution that’s probably going to be awesome for everybody. You got to go and figure out, first of all, what is a great solution to get you to where you want to look, because not everybody wants their hair to look the same. And my first moment of skepticism when I got out and I said, okay, it looks great, but can I live my life with what I got going on? And I know you’re an active guy, so one of the first things we did just for fun, too, with the show that I do was we want to try this thing out. So I get into a jeep, we rip the top off of it. I stand up. They’re blaring this thing right down a fast street.  I’m hanging out of it. Hair is holding on. I’m going off the high dive. I’m at the pool, and I’m like, will this thing stay on and be cool if I go off the high dive? No problems. I then go into a hurricane simulator that they have at the local science center, and we crank that thing up to a category two hurricane. And I got video of me with this thing holding on my hair. Yeah, it’s getting tossled, but it is still there, and it’s fully intact. I know you’re an active guy. Tell me about just what it’s like with you and how it doesn’t slow down your life and how you’re still living life.

Jeff El Zenny [00:09:06]: Yeah, that’s a great question, Kev. And I am super active, right. So that’s something that many people commonly ask, can I do all the things? Can I be active? Can I work out? Yes, you can. You could do all of the above. Right. So I’m in the gym five days a week, saltwater pool at the house, avid boater down here in South Florida, where it is hot and humid all the right. So, like, people have those questions, like, can you live in that environment? Absolutely. I go in and get my hair cut every three to four weeks, keep me looking good, keep me fresh, keep my hair looking 100% natural. But I’m able, in between those appointments to do every single thing that I’ve done my entire life. It does not slow me down. The only thing that’s really cool about it is now I look a lot better when I’m doing those fun things.

Kevin Rolston [00:09:51]: Well, Jeff, you are kindred brother to me in that fact, and I’m so happy that you found great success. Having conversations like this really helps break the stigmas of the things and the perceptions that you and I grew up with. And that’s why I really love having these conversations is to open people’s eyes so they can truly see that there’s a solution for them out there. You don’t have to suffer from that lack of confidence. You can just jump and do what we did. Jeff, always good talking to you, bud.

Jeff El Zenny [00:10:18]: You too, man. Great talking to you.

Kevin Rolston [00:10:28]: At Hairpod, we’re telling the unseen, untold. Stories of hair loss. Join us as we break the stigma uplift each other, and most importantly, let you know that if you’re dealing with hair loss, you’re not alone in this. Whether you face your own hair loss struggles like I have, or you’re just interested in the human experience, our guests’ incredible stories will motivate and inspire you to reclaim your story and your confidence. Subscribe to HairPod today and tell somebody else about the movement we’re starting.