Hair Today - Gone Tomorrow: Can iGrow Succeed in a Growth Market?

If ever there should be a "growth" market, it ought to be laser-based hair rejuvenation. After all, there are millions of adults who have experienced hair loss in one form or another and relatively few can afford the services of hair transplant surgeons who have treated the likes of Wayne Rooney and Shane Warne.So could this innovative product make inroads into the hair restoration market?

Priced at about £650, the iGrow helmet would make for an interesting choice of Christmas present for those, like me, who have lost the odd strand of hair over the years. I'm convinced I am one of the target customers for iGrow. The last time I visited my local hairdresser, she tried to charge me a search fee...

The iGrow helmet promises to deliver significant hair re-growth for people suffering from thinning hair and hereditary baldness, as well as other related hair loss conditions. The makers recommend that it should be worn for 25 minutes at a time and it even comes with headphones and a built-in Ipod and MP3 interface to help you pass the time. Results are expected after about 6-9 months.

I wonder whether the helmet might also pass safety standards and could be used a bike helmet? On second thoughts, probably not.

What about that price point - £600+ Might that be too much to put off potential customers? How does it compare with the alternative treatments?

Purely for the interest of this blog entry, I did a quick bit of secondary market research. I discovered that a hair transplant can cost between £3,000 and £7,000 depending on the hair transplant technique used. In theory a hair transplant should achieve a more significant impact on hair restoration and quicker too. But is it worth paying 5-10 times more than a laser product like the iGrow.On the other hand, what is he laser treatment proves ineffective? Is it a risk worth taking with what is still a substantial amount of money.

Of course, the other option is to pay nothing for hair restoration and simply ask for a good quality beanie hat for Christmas...