Beard transplants are a growing trend among Muslims and Sikhs

THROUGHOUT history the hair on a man's face has conferred on him prestige and for some it's the human equivalent of a lion's mane – without it, you're not really a 'man'.

 

So, what about those poor souls who go through puberty and wake up to the nightmare of being follically-challenged on their chin area?

Celebrities showing off their beards

 

 There is a solution - a beard transplant - an increasingly popular procedure thanks to A-list celebs such as Ben Affleck, Ryan Gosling and David Beckham, all seen wearing their beard with pride.

 

Last month the International Society of Hair Restoration revealed that more than 4,500 facial hair transplants were carried out in the UK last year – making it three times as popular as nose jobs.

 

Eastern Eye has also found out that more observant Muslims and Sikhs, who are required to have beards for religious reasons, but have trouble growing one, are starting to fork out around £6,000 for beard transplants.

 

“I have operated on mainly Muslims who want a beard,” said Dr Asim Shahmalak, a surgeon at Crown Clinic in Manchester.

“Men from the Asian community grow hair traditionally anyway because of their religious and cultural setup. It's a growing trend because the awareness of transplants has grown.

 

“It's also fashionable these days to even grow a full bushy beard.”

 

Dr Shahmalak, who has carried out two hair transplants on Embarrassing Bodies star Christian Jessen, said he has seen a 25 per cent increase in the number of men taking the beard procedures over the last six-eight months.

 

During an eight-hour operation, surgeons take individual hairs from back of the patient's head and transplant the follicles one by one on the patient’s face.

 

“Beard transplants are more expensive because it's more time consuming. The areas of the face are generally quite soft and so planting the hairs is quite difficult.”
 

Men who grow patchy beards are also getting transplants to make their beards look more aesthetically pleasing.

 

Dr Raghu Reddy, Hair Transplant Surgeon at The Private Clinic, said: “We have seen a considerable number of Muslim and Sikh clients requesting beard transplants as they would like to grow beards as part of their faith.

 

“From what I understand, a practising Sikh prefers to grow a beard for religious reasons and when they are not happy with the aesthetics and have an option that works and is effective, I believe the decision making becomes easier.”

 

Dr Reddy who carries out 10-15 beard transplants in a year added: “For those who have always aspired to having a fuller beard, perhaps to make them feel more masculine, or indeed for cultural reasons, this procedure is the perfect option because the results are effective and natural-looking.

 

“Awareness of the procedure amongst men is certainly growing, while attitudes amongst men towards cosmetic surgery more generally are perhaps now more open than they were some four or five years ago.”

Three is the magic number

 My third year work anniversary just went by at Eastern Eye -and it's also been three years since I last posted anything on this blog!

Shows how busy I've been i guess ; D. I've had stories in over 150 issues of the paper, which I'm pretty chuffed about. Slowly but surely i'm going to start uploading all my stories on here for the whole world to see in its full glory.

Eastern Eye which was founded in 1989 (also the year i was born), prides itself in being the number one source of all news affecting and relating to British Asians. I've been in the paper long enough to also see it change from it's old red-top style to the more focused blue-top style. I prefer the old version myself.

The old Eastern Eye:

The current version:

I GOT A JOB AS A REPORTER !!!

Finally, i can safely say that i am blessed. Not only did i recently come back from my travels in the Indian sub continent but just in a matter of three months I've got a job!

April,18 was the first day at work. A month into the job and I'm still feeling a bit high.

I know it's not right but it's amazing how people feel psychologically when they have a job. You feel you have worth and responsibility and for some people it gives meaning to their life.

But what i will always keep at the back of my mind is that i am not here for this purpose. As a human being my purpose is greater.

Work is just a necessity but a lot people seem to make it their purpose in life.

The first taste of pain in BJJ

I am a big fan of martial arts. Currently I'm a Taekwondo practitioner (because it has the best kicks) and have recently started my newly found martial art, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Well actually, i knew about it ages ago but just haven't really bothered to take lessons, since i was already doing Taekwondo.

In a training session today i felt the pain of a deadly arm bar, with full extension. I'm quick on my feet and manage to escape a lot arms bars and locks but this one today just got me in a vulnerable position.

If any one doesn't what an arm bar looks like...well here it is, in all its glory. Trust me the guy in pink or whatever colour hes wearing, is definitely in pain. Only guys who are quite quick can get out of this position (namely me...mwahaha!!)

A quiet birthday

This is the day where people are meant to say happy birthday. But I got no presents, or happy birthday greetings, even on Facebook, yes even on Facebook, except from my little sister who said happy birthday as soon I woke up in the morning. After she came back from school she gave me a origami flower she had made. My family is in a habit of giving late presents anyway. Not that presents are the main thing...

But I’m glad. I’ll be honest, and without trying to sound like a hypocrite, I’ve never liked birthdays. For someone who believes in the afterlife, I’ve always thought the purposes of birthdays were really insignificant. I mean obviously, someone who doesn’t believe in a life after death, they will cherish their moments in life and thus will in most cases make a big celebration out of this day. But for me, the day only brings me a day closer to my death. So really it’s just a day where I cherish the life I have but also remember to thank Allah for all that he has given me, especially the extra day He has given me to live. The fact is, anyone can die at an moment, and this is quite scary if you think about it.

A lot of people nowadays say, life is short, so live life to the full. I also say life is short, too short in fact to enjoy the pleasure of this temporary world. To live life, without a purpose is to live life like an animal. They eat, sleep and procreate. We are exactly the same, if we don’t have any purpose. Things like working, eating, sleeping, playing etc. are necessary in order to live the life we are living. But we shouldn’t mix our necessity with our purpose of life.

So anyway, let’s just get back on topic. After having that theological rant, I feel like I’m getting old fast! Birthdays are something young children like and could be done for them just to show you care for them. But as we get older, we have to start setting our priorities straight. Rather than concentrating on making one day of the year special for that particular person in your life, we should try to make everyday special.

Yesterday's EDL protest was overhyped...what a relief!

Talk about relief! The streets of Luton yesterday were like that of a ghost town. Literally no-one was out. Even to go out for a pint of milk gave me second thoughts! Luton was officially in shutdown mode. Most shops in the town centre were closed, and even if they were open, it is highly unlikely they would have got any business.

The day saw two main protests; one of them being the English Defence League of course who numbered in the range of approximately 1500, much lower than speculated figures of 7000. The other protest was the United Against Fascism group which was attended by 1000 anti racism supporters. This was meant to be a counter demonstration which involved different groups of the community coming together and basically showing the EDL that their presence is not wanted.

I did have a drive around just to see the numbers of police officers about. I must say, there were probably officers in every street, going from Town centre towards Bury Park and beyond. Apparently the policing operation involved officers from 27 different forces in the country and has thus has cost the tax payer £800,000. Looks like EDL will gain more haters with this ridiculous cost.

On the day there were only seven arrests, and 19 people were treated for minor injuries. Frankly I’m glad no more people got hurt and that the day went by ‘boringly’ smoothly.

Tension in the air

I attended a meeting last night regarding the upcoming demonstration by EDL in St Georges Square, Luton. The meeting took place in Bury Park Community Centre with Cllr. Hazel Simmons from Luton Borough Council and Chief Superintendent Mike Colbourne from Bedfordshire police.

I've never actually been in the Bury Park community centre so I found it rather awkward going through a narrow corridor, into another narrow corridor and then finally finding myself in big open hall. I looked at the guests and the speakers and was surprised to see, that actually, not as many people had turned up as I had imagined. From an outsiders point of view this could very well show a lack of concern from the Bury Park community. I scanned the sitting area to see if any seats were available and quickly found a seat and sat down.

Colbourne started off the meeting, explaining how much police presence will be at the protest and reassuring everyone in the meeting that they're will be enough police presence to take care of the event. When a local resident raised the issue again of police numbers, Colbourne stressed: “We've got contingencies and contingencies and contingencies. We’ve got more police officers than ever before to deal with the contingencies we have. This will be the biggest single operation we will ever run. It will probably be the biggest policing operation run in the United Kingdom with regards to the EDL. We take it incredibly seriously.”

When asked about exact police numbers Colbourne wouldn’t give exact numbers. Instead he said: "Huge numbers of police and few in our back pocket. And that’s probably as far I want to go at the moment. I don’t think it would be wise for me say ‘that’s how it’s going to work’. In the interest of safety we’ve got to be able to have some degree of manoeuvre." To say there’s a 'few in your back pocket’ isn't really reassuring. I can see some of the guests, majority of them leaders of unions, communities and local residents, are more concerned about the actual number of people who are turning up on the day for the EDL protest.

One resident in the meeting raised his concerns regarding this and how it will add fuel to the negative publicity Luton will receive: “To have that amount of people to come into Luton, that’s why the media is here. They’re only here because it’s Luton. The paper will be full tomorrow with all the news about Luton. Nothing about your policing, but about Luton and that’s what troubles me.”

Simmons seemed to have been stressing the fact that, The Mall and Galaxy will remain open and people should go if they want to: “The Mall and the Galaxy will both be open. The entrances will be policed and they will be stewarded by stewards from The Mall." She added: “It’s probably a town that Luton residents will not recognise. There will be a lot of police. The atmosphere will not be wonderful. If people want to go shopping I don’t want anybody to feel they can’t go in their own town centre. It’s your town centre. If you want to go shopping, please do go. They’ll be a lot of police there to help you and support you, so if you want to go shopping please don’t be put off in any way.” It seems strange that any 'sensible' person would want to go shopping that day, except if they thought the EDL demo was a different day.

The EDL are clearly marching in St Georges Square as a symbolic mark to provoke tension. Quite a few questions posed by the guests were why the police couldn’t ban a march a like this which is clearly going to put people off coming to the town centre and just going about their business. Cobourne answered this questions quite a few times and said on one occasion: "We’ve got an absolute responsibility to protect protesting groups. Protesting in a way that is peaceful and a way that is lawful, that is a job that the police has got to take and it’s actually enshrined in law that’s something we have to follow through."

"We can police it in a very swift and in the best policing style we’ve got, which is firm when necessary. It will be the biggest thing that we’ve seen in our police numbers. This is a national event. A national issue that’s being played out in Luton. At the moment it’s Luton that has to deal with the issue."