How Bill Edwards Keeps Hollywood Hair Looking Lush

Celebrities don’t mind telling you “who they’re wearing” on the red carpet. Ask them about their receding hairlines, and you’ll get a much shorter conversation.

It’s understandable.

Appearance is everything for the vast majority of actors. Stay thin, keep fit and, by any means necessary, cling to your youthful looks.

That’s where Bill Edwards comes in.

Edwards is the Founder and CEO of Regenix, a Calif. based company offering hair restoration services to everyone from your neighborhood baker to … A-list stars like Matthew McConaughey.

Founded in 1993, and headquartered in the Cedars Sinai Medical Office Towers in Beverly Hills, the Regenix Hair Research Clinic offers a non-surgical, custom treatment plan for hair loss, Dermatitis, dandruff and Psoriasis. The treatments address target both above and below the surface of the scalp.

Edwards got in the business by chance. He was working in the nutrition field in Canada when he met someone at a party who worked a hair product laboratory. The gentleman needed someone to “babysit” the company while he traveled, and Edwards grabbed the gig. When that man retired, Edwards assumed his position.

So how did he end up near Hollywood, the Mecca for folks seeking the Fountain of Cinematic Youth? Edwards says being an ex-jock with bad knees convinced him to seek a warmer climate.

“L.A. seemed a logical place,” he says. “And being more nutritional and appearance conscious, Hollywood just discovered us.”

Edwards’ company helps a number of stars maintain their follicular health. Older stars. Up and coming players. Men and women. Edwards protects his clients’ privacy, so he won’t name names. Most would rather not share how they’re retaining their locks.

Sharing His Hair Story

One client, though, didn’t mind singing the company’s praises in public. That took even Edwards by surprise.

McConaughey name-checked Regenix during an late night interview as well as with morning show host Kelly Ripa. He shared how his hairline started to head south in his 30s, and the steps he took to reverse the trend.

“That’s the type of guy he is,” Edwards says of the unaffected star. “He just spit it out.”

McConaughey is the exception that proves the rule. In an industry as youth obsessed as Hollywood, it’s hardly a career boost to admit you’re getting hair treatments.

A New Kind of Equality

These days, Edwards is just as likely to apply his firm’s custom treatments to men as women. That wasn’t always the case.

“Back in the old days, it was a rarity for a woman to come in,” he says. “Today, over half of our clients are women.”

So why do we lose hair in the first place? Blame several factors, including a genetic component. And it has nothing to do with the old saw that it’s from your mother’s side of the family.

“You can inherit a susceptibility to the problem that leads you to hair loss from either side {of your parenting lineage] up to seven generations past,” he says. “It can skip a generation and suddenly appear.”

Stars have been fighting hair loss in a variety of ways over the years. The classic combover. Toupees. And, more recently, hair transplant surgery.

Regenix works with some actors undergoing the latter process. The company’s custom treatments “strengthen the hair around the transplanted hair,” he says.

Edwards’ clients can help his company’s treatments along with some common sense tactics. A healthy diet never hurts. Reducing stress also can positively impact hair loss. Not just the sudden stress you might experience from a traffic jam mind you. We’re talking longer-lasting stressors.

“Stress will cause a tightness in the scalp,” he adds.

Thank (Or Blame) Your DNA

Once more, biology plays a key role in how much hair can be restored.

“All things being equal, some people respond better and faster than others. It’s impossible to predict where we’ll end up with an individual,” he says.

Chances are, though, audiences may see the results on screens big and small. They just may never know it.