The most important advice would be to always listen to your gut feelings and don’t hesitate to pursue your goals. Many people delay or put off their desires and miss opportunities in life as they get used to not listening to themselves. Especially after the age of 25, it seems like we have built up enough knowledge and experience to know what we want and what would be good for us. As we age, it becomes easier to follow our instincts if one knows how to listen to them. Otherwise, the opposite is true if we learn to ignore them. Many people overthink, using their heads, which can sometimes be limiting.
As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tamim Hamid.
The inventor and CEO of Theradome, scientist Tamim Hamid began his career at Kennedy Space Center (NASA), where he designed various cutting-edge biomedical technologies including designing and implementing laser systems. Prior to Theradome, Tamim was Senior Vice President and the leader of the Worldwide Medical Division for Sanmina.
The Theradome helmet uses laser hair regrowth treatment known as Laser Phototherapy (LPT), the most powerful and effective treatment for hair loss. Unlike Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) devices, their laser light targets the stem cells at the base of hair follicles. This allows the formation of a new photonic pathway that can restore hair to a healthy state. Easy-to-wear at home or at the office, it contains 80 laser diodes, cool airflow and auto-scalp detection in a full coverage helmet. FDA-cleared, the helmet is recommended by 4 out of 5 hair loss experts such as Bosley, Hair Club and other prominent medical clinics from all around the world.
Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
It started at NASA, Kennedy Space Center, working on LASERS as a biomedical engineer. We designed and implemented many leading-edge LASER technologies for the Space Shuttle Program and astronauts. Some LASERS were used to cut metal and other materials and some were used to measure, so they were as harmless as a grocery store barcode scanner. Therefore, after having about 30 years of LASER experience, I came up with a brand-new type of LASER. With my bio-medical engineering degree, I saw a huge opportunity to transfer my knowledge of LASERS to help people with hair loss.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I have always been a huge fan of ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and Barbara Eden. During my teenage years, it was my dream to be just like Major Anthony Nelson and work for NASA and become an astronaut and live in Cocoa Beach, FL. I lived in Cocoa Beach, worked for NASA and met my beautiful wife. I just stopped short of becoming an astronaut. However, the ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ connection didn’t end there! After NASA, I created Theradome, a laser device that helps people with hair loss to grow new hair. One day, I received a call inquiring about our device for Ms. Barbara Eden. Of course, I was shocked! I responded immediately by sending my Theradome device to her.
It didn’t end there! I finally met Barbara in person when she presented me with The Innovation Award at the renowned Hollywood Beauty Awards in 2018. Everything came full circle. I met the person who inspired me to go to NASA and now I am helping her with her hair condition.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
I strongly believe that experience, knowledge and just plain good luck can make someone pretty successful. But, in the end, it really is about people because products, processes and tools are easy to solve. Finding great people is one of the most difficult challenges for any company. Good people cost money but they can make things happen.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There were many great leaders and colleagues in my 30+ year career that inspired me, but the ones that stood out the most were the ones with passion and the ability to lead by example. I would say the best Project Manager I have ever learned from was at Kennedy Space Center. She really knew how to manage all aspects of a project and get the respect from everyone involved. She would go into a room with many people with different and opposing viewpoints and in the end she would find commonality amongst all of them and redirect them towards a common goal. This was amazing to watch.
The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
We are in the midst of a third wave of a technology revolution. The first was the industrial revolution, the second wave was all technology and now the third wave has to do with applying technology to the human body. Applying, for example, non-invasive photonic energy to stimulate the mitochondria. This will be the ultimate feat in naturally stimulating the body to repair and wake up cells and will become the next beauty frontier. Today, we are just cutting, removing, and adding materials to enhance the body. The next wave will allow us to modify the body without damaging it.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
The Hippocratic Oath stipulates to do no harm, and this is something that Theradome technology offers; it has zero side effects and in fact, this is one of the only reasons I pursued this technology as I believe that this will be the future. For example, light is very necessary and without light, no humans would be able to live. The right light stimulates and visible light is very healing. Therefore, it is essential to understand and utilize the visible light spectrum to our advantage since our bodies are optimized to process light for maintaining our lives.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
- Beauty tech is in its infancy as physics will solve many biomedical issues. Unfortunately, today the beauty industry does not have many physicists working in it. Physicians and chemists have reached their limit with their tools.
- We are excited that the next generation of beauty tech tools will be mostly at-home products and the quality and efficacy of these products will improve substantially.
- Integrating medical grade at-home devices with apps will allow better relationships with clinicians, stylists, friends and family. This will allow better management and outcomes.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
- It concerns me that unscrupulous medical and non-medical professionals promise clinical benefits with very little proof or evidence. This should be addressed but unfortunately money talks and gives some professionals too much authority.
- Products with little or no benefits along with too many claims. The FTC/FDA and others are trying to combat this but they have a long way to go because professional sponsors are paid well to promote these types of products.
- Consumers can be easily fooled and driven to medical procedures based on very little information. Sometimes these procedures and solutions are very risky. There should be strict guidelines for submitting procedures that have gone wrong to an independent organization as well as strict oversight.
You are an expert in science and technology. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful” with tech? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Always try to go to higher altitudes, the higher the altitude the better it is for your body. The body works much better when there is a lack of oxygen, it actually has to work harder. When it works harder it becomes more efficient. There are many clinical studies showing that lack of oxygen (hypoxia) actually increases well being and people living in high altitudes live longer than people living at sea level.
- The human body was meant to keep moving, the more we move the less we age, always keep moving. Stagnation brings negative thoughts, one has to be fluid in life and moving helps with feeling beautiful.
- The two absolute best exercises to keep young and beautiful are yoga and swimming. Yoga helps with oxygen and breathing, and swimming has no impact on joints. Both stimulate every muscle, tendon, ligament, tissue in every part of your body, including one’s face!
- Everyone should be using a steam spa as this allows the body to open up as the skin, sometimes referred to as the third lung. Most people do not realize that the body’s lymph system needs to be flowing to allow proper blood flow.
- Try the new red LED beds, these are similar to the tanning beds where one lies in a full length array of LED lights. The benefits of red light have been proven for many cardiovascular conditions.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
The concept of saying hello to people in real life. This is a lost art. I believe that this has to be one of the most essential ways of communicating with each other. A simple hello when seeing someone walking down the street or when someone opens the door for others or just anytime it should be said. Sometimes it might not be practical but it is amazing what can come out of saying hello to someone. If more people said hello, I believe we would go back to socializing again and learn how to communicate with each other as it always starts with just saying ‘hello.’ You never know what it can trigger!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
The most important advice would be to always listen to your gut feelings and don’t hesitate to pursue your goals. Many people delay or put off their desires and miss opportunities in life as they get used to not listening to themselves. Especially after the age of 25, it seems like we have built up enough knowledge and experience to know what we want and what would be good for us. As we age, it becomes easier to follow our instincts if one knows how to listen to them. Otherwise, the opposite is true if we learn to ignore them. Many people overthink, using their heads, which can sometimes be limiting.
How can our readers follow you online?
https://www.instagram.com/theradome
https://www.facebook.com/Theradome/
The Future Of Beauty: “Lasers That Can Help Grow New Hair”, With Tamim Hamid was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.