Man with hair loss solutions gives help, healing with products

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- When he started balding at 21-years-old, Tom Magliaro knew he needed a hair solution.

"At the time I was trying to find something that would look natural and would give me something to be active with if I was wearing it," explains Magliaro.

He wanted a nonsurgical semi-permanent solution and couldn't find it, so he created a handmade, lightweight hair system made out of human hair that could be secured with or without medical adhesive. Magliaro was so happy with his product that he decided to open his business - Tom Magliaro's Hair Additions.

"We'll deal with any kind of hair loss -- medical or non-medical," adds Magliaro.

Magliaro and his team see about 55 clients a day -- a lot of them are going through chemotherapy treatments. Eleven year-old Eden Green is one of those clients.

"We got put in this room, and my doctor said, 'You have cancer,' and we all started crying and stuff," recalls Green.

She was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer in the summer of 2015 and since then has gone through several rounds of chemotherapy while watching her hair fall out.

"I didn't look in the mirror for several days. I'd brush my teeth and look down. I didn't look in the mirror," says Green.

That changed when she visited Magliaro.

"He helped me by helping me get a wig and design it and pick out the colors and curl it or straighten it. It felt really good," adds Green.

Five months ago, Magliaro received his own cancer diagnosis: Hodgkins Lymphoma.

"To hear that you have cancer, it's frightening," says Magliaro.

He's since completed six rounds of chemotherapy.

"When I stepped in front of the mirror and saw myself without any hair at all, it was a tearful moment. I realized, I definitely have something wrong with me. This is a real point of reckoning. When we put my hair on, I felt, 'Okay, Tom is back again,'"" Magliaro recalls.

It's a moment that will forever change him.

"I had compassion, but this experience has given me so much empathy. I had no ideas how important hair was in their recovery," says Magliaro, and he now has a renewed focus.

"The emphasis now is more on relationship than it is the product itself," adds Magliaro, which is why patients like Eden drop in to say 'hi,' even they don't have an appointment.

"He's a part of your family. He works his way in, and it feels really good," says Green.

Since shooting our story, both Magliaro and Green finished their chemotherapy and had cancer scans showing that they are both cancer-free! Green is recovering from a major hip surgery, so our thoughts are with her during her recovery.