As an immigrant, Garcia learned early that success in America meant hustle, charm, and an unshakeable belief that tomorrow could be better than today. Charlie took a job in sales before opening his own store with his brother on the Gables’ Miracle Mile. Then came Sartori Amici at International Mall more than thirty years ago, followed by a second location at The Falls in 2015. Today, his sons Sebastian and Charlie Jr. work alongside him, carrying forward a family business built on quality, trust, and the kind of old-school service that feels increasingly rare.
But a few years ago, Garcia noticed something that gnawed at him every time he caught his reflection in the store's mirrors. Clear spots. Thinning hair. The slow retreat of his hairline that no amount of confidence could mask.
"I wasn't happy with that," he says plainly, in the direct way of someone who has never had the luxury of pretending problems don't exist.
When Friendship Meets Innovation
In the interconnected world of Miami entrepreneurs, Garcia's circle included Carlos Piña, a businessman who had his own interesting story with hair loss. Piña had undergone hair restoration surgery himself years earlier, working with renowned Miami surgeon Dr. Bernard Nusbaum. But Piña saw something the surgery couldn't fix alone: the need for a convenient, effective, non-surgical solution that people could use at home.
So Piña invented one. His first device, Capillus, pioneered the wearable laser cap for hair restoration—a revolutionary approach using low-level laser therapy to stimulate hair growth. By 2012, he was running the operation from his garage with his wife and daughter, building something that would eventually serve thousands of patients.
"One of my good friends is the guy who invented the first cap," Garcia explains. "By being a friend of his, I was lucky enough that I have hair now."
That friendship gave Garcia access to technology that changed more than his appearance. It changed how he saw himself.
The Second Act
But the story doesn’t end there. By 2021, Piña had left his original company in the hands of partners and returned to what he does best: innovating. The result was Xtrallux, a new family operation based in Miami that pushed the technology even further. More lasers. More power. Less time required. So Charlie switched from Capillus to a better device: Xtrallux.
For Garcia, this meant an upgrade. “He invented another one that is even better, so my hair has got even better than it was before,” Garcia says. “This one has a lot more laser and it’s much more powerful. I don’t have to keep it on for half an hour, just like six minutes a day.”
Six minutes. That's all it takes. For a man whose days are filled with clients, fittings, the endless motion of running a retail business, efficiency matters. "You know how hectic life is in this country," he says.
The technology behind Xtrallux is FDA-cleared low-level laser therapy—red laser energy at 650 nanometers that stimulates follicles and increases terminal hair counts over time. The devices use what's called SMT VCSEL technology, delivering clinical-grade treatment in a baseball cap you wear while checking emails or watching television. It's the kind of elegant simplicity that masks sophisticated engineering.
But for Garcia, the science matters less than the results.
The Technology of Second Chances
What Garcia stumbled into through friendship was something larger: a new generation of hair restoration technology that represents decades of evolution in the field. Carlos Piña's journey from patient to inventor to CEO mirrors the trajectory of an entire industry—from surgical solutions to pharmaceutical interventions to photobiomodulation therapy that you can use while watching television.
Xtrallux's devices range from the Alpha with 136 lasers to the TurboPro with 316 lasers, all the way up to the Extreme RX with 352 diodes delivering laser density previously available only in clinical settings. The company's roots run four decades deep in hair restoration, but its approach is distinctly modern: family-owned, Miami-based, focused on quality and service in an industry that too often prioritizes volume over results.
For Garcia, the specifics of laser counts and output power matter less than the simple fact that he looks in the mirror now and likes what he sees. That he walks onto his sales floor with the confidence of a man who knows he looks good. That clients comment on how young he looks, how great his hair is, and he doesn't have to deflect or make excuses.
"So I'm very happy about it," he says.
Garcia still works the floor at Sartori Amici, still sizes up clients and suggests the perfect fabric, still tells stories that make people laugh. But now he does it with hair that, as he says, is "got even better than it was before."
