At hair shows, products that require the buyer to travel and get corresponding certification aren’t usually hot items.
Yet, at the recent International Beauty Show in Las Vegas, a steady stream of stylists and salon owners came to the Kerrie Capelli booth to sign up for just that.
“Today’s been nonstop. It’s been so hectic,” said Jordan Wroth, co-owner of the U.K.-based extensions system for clients with hair loss. “This is our first U.S. show and we’ve been stacked for two days.”
Though the brand entered the U.S. market fairly recently in 2022 — when two Kerrie Capelli Hair Extension and Hair Loss Clinics opened outside Kansas City and Salt Lake City — it has gained immediate interest from hair-care professionals seeking solutions for clients who can’t wear regular extensions.
At the International Beauty Show, stylists and salon owners signed up for the training to become Certified Mesh Technicians for the integration system, which uses a custom mesh cap as the base for extensions.
Laurie Reasoner was on hand to share her perspective as a client. She had come with her best friend, Toni Heflin, who owns one of the brand’s three U.S.-based training centers (the third is in Idaho), plus salon suites for mesh extensions specialists.
Heflin discovered the Kerrie Capelli system when researching solutions to help Reasoner manage profound hair loss due to medical issues.
“I got this new look after 14 years of hair loss,” Reasoner said, showing off her shoulder-length buttery blonde locks. “It has made a huge difference in my life.
“I tried everything. I tried the wefts without the mesh system and they won’t stay in,” she said. “My best friend is a hair stylist and had been looking for something for me, and that’s how she came across Kerrie Capelli.
“She was so impressed by them that she decided to get into the business of training and certifying other stylists.”
For the first time in years, Reasoner felt like she had her hair back. The extensions system felt comfortable and natural, and she could wear it while sleeping, showering, swimming and exercising. Its breathable mesh cap acted as a protective barrier for her delicate natural hair, letting it grow back healthier.
“This has been a wonderful godsend to me,” she said. “People have no idea this isn’t my natural hair. It looks like the hair I had before — only better, honestly.”
Though the system is relatively new in the U.S. it’s long been popular in Europe, where Kerrie Capelli, a U.K.-based extensions specialist, perfected it over a period of six years.
Capelli herself had experienced hair loss and a resulting blow to her confidence and self-esteem, sparking a determination to find solutions for others.
Like Capelli, Reasoner also experienced depression and isolation due to hair loss, and it affected her personality more than she even recognized at the time. “I went through a major depression," she said, "and I didn’t even realize how bad it was until I got my new hair and I got my self-esteem back.
“People saw right away how much lighter and happier I looked," she recalled. "I had more energy than ever, and I wanted to go out and do things, live life again.
"My old self came back.”