HairClub history

The commercial that made his career first aired in 1982.

In 1984, at the age of 26, Hudson founded Newcourt Credit as a medical equipment leasing company, but soon turned it into a major lender with about CAD $24 billion under management.

The hair treatment Rogaine became available to men in 1988, doctors started prescribing the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra a decade later, and today there is a wide and varied market for “hair wellness” treatments.

Hair Club for Men swelled to 40 franchises by 1991.

By the end of 1993 Hair Club had 40,000 clients and topped the $100 million mark in system-wide revenues.

Regis viewed the Hair Club acquisition in a similar way to its 1996 purchase of Supercuts, which provided a base from which to grow both internally and externally to dominate the salon market.

At the age of 41, however, he seemed to have lost his touch when, according to Canadian Business, he nearly "botch[ed] a crucial 1999 merger with US-based CIT Group Inc." He was forced out of Newcourt and subsequent ventures did not perform well.

In 2000 Les Martin, the owner of a Toronto-based hair care product wholesaler that supplied Hair Club, was interested in making a bid for the company, which he hoped to one day leave for his son to run.

Hudson and EdgeStone then sold the business in December 2004 to Regis Corporation for $210 million.

With the deep pockets of Regis to support growth, Hair Club in late 2005 returned to nationwide television for the first time in three years, launching a new advertising campaign to tout the company's greater range of hair replacement options.

Sperling said in a 2007 documentary, “Roots: The Hair-Raising Story of a Guy Named Sy.”

Ltd. purchased the company in 2014, according to the website.