Lisa Akbari

The World Trichology Institute operates from a 12,000-square-foot facility at 1288 Sycamore View in Memphis. The building houses a treatment clinic, a salon, a hair nutrition store, a children's clinic and a hair replacement clinic. An education and outreach area hosts seminars, workshops, classes and memberships.

The institute is led by Lisa Akbari, who began in hair care as a licensed cosmetologist and aesthetician and later studied trichology, the study of hair and its connection to the scalp. She is a board-certified trichologist with more than 30 years in the hair industry. She also co-directs Hair Nutrition and Research in Memphis, which focuses on education, research and analysis of hair and scalp. Her research includes a study called Scalp as Skin. She is the developer of the Hair Nutrition System and the author of two books, The Black Woman's Guide to Beautiful Hair and Every Woman's Guide to Beautiful Hair at Any Age. The business describes The Black Woman's Guide to Beautiful Hair as the top-selling Black hair care book according to Nielsen ratings, and describes her as a hair care pioneer. She is informally known as The Hair Doctor and hosts the Ask The Hair Doctor video series and radio show. Her media appearances include WHBQ-TV, WLOK Radio, Grace Magazine, JET Magazine and Cosmopolitan.

Clients usually begin with a hair and scalp analysis, either as a virtual one-on-one session with Lisa Akbari or as a strand reading, where hair samples are mailed in for review. Analyses look at hair porosity, strand condition, possible causes of hair loss and early indicators of Short Hair Syndrome. Each analysis ends with treatment options chosen for that client. Virtual sessions include a copy of the session available through a private YouTube link. Treatment patients need to log in to reach the full online store.

The online store sells the Hair Nutrition System, shampoo, conditioner, hair vitamins, support products, setting and sculpting products, scalp treatments, books and gift cards. Orders placed before 4pm qualify for free same-day pickup, and delivery orders received before 6pm CST ship the next business day via UPS ground, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. International orders ship by USPS, with prices based on destination and product weight. Unused products may be returned for a $15 restocking fee, but used products cannot be returned. The Get the Length yearly membership gives a discount on purchases; cancelling early means the discount already given that year is owed, and the card is charged at the time of cancellation. Appointments are booked by phone at (901) 380-4445. Products are also carried by independent retail stores and salons in several US states and in Ontario, Canada.

Lean on analysis first, then tailor treatment to what the hair and scalp show, with education and research central to the work.