Bermudian trichologist and physician Kyjuan Brown has expanded his hair restoration practice, Dr Brown’s Group, to include “the most expensive mile” in Africa.

He has just kicked off the development of a clinic in Johannesburg in Sandton, a neighbourhood known for its billionaires and banks.

He has also founded an education-focused institute in Cape Town, South Africa, modelled on the success of his work in Bermuda.

“I first visited South Africa last year and just fell in love with the country,” Dr Brown told The Royal Gazette.

Just walking around he noticed people with hair and scalp disorders. He was shocked to learn that in a country of 65 million people, there were fewer than ten practising trichologists.

Trichologists are specialists in the study, diagnosis and treatment of hair and scalp health issues, such as hair loss, thinning and dermatitis.

While many of the hair and scalp problems Dr Brown treats in Bermuda, such as androgenic hair loss, also occur in South Africa, he has identified traction alopecia as a particularly acute problem there. He believed this was driven, in part, by cultural styling practices.

“In South Africa, people start braiding hair practically from age zero,” Dr Brown said. “As a result, they are causing damage. So part of it is education and making some cultural changes, and the other part is figuring out how to effectively treat these people and give them the options that we have on this side of the world.”

He saw a strong business opportunity for the model he had refined in Bermuda: medically informed treatment of hair and scalp disorders, paired with education and proprietary products.

Dr Brown hopes to have a 5,000 sq ft hair and scalp treatment facility completed in Sandton by October.

He is building an “ecosystem” that includes clinical care for hair and scalp disorders, professional education and accreditation, regulated product lines and partnerships with medical providers.

The education side of things has moved particularly quickly. During his most recent visit to South Africa, he hosted a five-day masterclass attended by 25 hairdressers and salon owners, including participants who flew in from Nigeria and Botswana.

“As I said, there are less than ten trichologists in South Africa and we now have 25 in our programme,” Dr Brown said. “That is doubling the numbers already. We are also training two doctors and some nurses to build a whole medical team and infrastructure.”

His long-term goal is to create a pan-African network of allied practitioners using standardised protocols, products and documentation tools developed through his work in Bermuda.

Dr Brown is also rolling out several of his hair and wellness products for the South African market.

He expects items such as his daily clinical nutrient pack, and DHT Blocker aimed at people with androgenic hair loss, to hit the South African market in May.

This is not the Dr Brown’s Group’s first project outside Bermuda. The business also has an outlet in Atlanta, Georgia.