Night before/day before......it was a busy day on-site photographing today (im an interior designer and photographer) so it kept my mind off of things. On the night i felt quite a bit more nervous worrying if i was doing the right thing: what if it went tits up and i ended up looking like shrek and did i really need a transplant afterall and it took me a while to go to sleep so i downloaded a youtube sound of meditation, guaranteed to send you off in 9 minutes....which it did!

Day 1 operation....On the morning i woke to the realisation that today was the day, i styled my hair as usual and thought right thats the last time ill be doing that for a while.....until next time long term friend! My hair had been what classified me as me. I loved it, styled it everyday and it was going to be really hard to let it all go in a 5 minute shave...to say i was vain about it didnt even touch the (bald) surface!!!:-) i got dropped off at the Farjo clinic on Quay street in Manchester but went to Maccy D's for a brekky before hand as instructed on their pre-op care sheet (you need to eat within 2hrs before) and arrived at 7.40am. Mick was there and welcomed me into the nicely decorated consult room. Took payment and i waited for Dr. Jose Lorenzo.

When Dr. Lorenzo arrived he greeted me and remembered me from the initial consult, he took some before photos and then got his assistant (forgot her name but a lovely woman) to take me through the sign your life away form....sorry consent form! She told me she would administer a muscle relaxant in oral form for the long time in the chair to ease my muscles/back and some tablets for swelling reduction. She then took me upstairs and i met his team of assistants. All lovely people and made me feel at ease instantly. I was given my own room for the day kitted out with some soft tub chairs, magazines etc and given a menu to order lunch....10 or so different varieties on offer so no complaints on the half time refreshments! I was then greeted by Harry one of Lorenzos assistants and he gave me my gown to get dressed into. Luckily i could keep my jeans on so no worry of my balls and ass hanging loose during my many hours in surgery! Harry then took me into the surgery room and Lorenzo came in to check out my hair. He asked Harry to wash it then Lorenzo himself shaved my head. I realised over the 2 days that he likes to do things himself which is very personal and made me feel like i was in very capable and caring hands, he also noticed a benign cyst i had on the back of my head from an early age. It had always bothered me and sometimes bled if i caught it with my nails etc and without hesitation or me prompting him he said he could remove it for me if i would like...i knew straight away that this man was more than just an hair wizzard but a man that ultimately cares about how people feel and look!

The head shave......without a doubt this was the point in my life i had always dreaded and i mean dreaded.....the hair shave!!! Vanity doesnt even come close to describing how i felt about having hair on my head, styling it and the thought of losing it all that day. My friends now at my age are mostly bald or shaven and its never been a look i liked or wanted or even remotely thought i would suit. i have what i would describe as a peanut head! The thug look wasnt what i wanted or desired and now my hair that ive taken so much pride, care and attention to styling over many many years was dissappearing before my eyes onto the surgery floor!!! Once complete Harry asked me if i wanted to look at my new Duncan Gudhew...i said no thanks! I even left my contact lenses out for the day on purpose so i didnt catch myself in a mirror, a first for me ive got to say as even my best man said at my wedding that im the only man that checks himself more in the mirror than him on a daily basis! It turns out that when i did see myself in the mirror later that day i wasnt too shocked and hand on heart i dont know what the worry was about all these years....i didnt look 3 bad without hair...and you know what? You wont either!!!!

Anyway back to the start of the OP, Lorenzo had been to a conference recently and had witnessed a patient having their extractions done sat up so he wanted me to be his guinea pig. The part i had been dreading came fast...the word anethesia, many times indeed. I was injected in many parts of the back of my head until numb with the help of a vibrating plate too to ease any discomfort then the extractions started. I didnt feel a thing and even asked if they had started extracting, that was 20mins in! The were times when he hit a spot where the anesthesia hadnt fully hit and i felt a sharp pain, all i needed to do was raise a hand say 'pain' or fuck me!:-) and he hit me with a couple of injections again followed by bliss pain free extractions again! We moved to laying down extractions after 30 mins (he was building up his and his assistants time on this i assumed until they can do longer and longer in this position). I think the sat up way makes it easier on the patients comfort but harder on the surgeon and assistants hands keeping the head still....patient first as always as i came to realise! Near the end of the extractions he asked again if i wanted the cyst removed i said yes and some 5 mins later and 6 stitches he showed me my long time enemy.....in a petri-dish. Roots and all about the size of a 20p peice!!! 3 or so hours in and i was done, 1700 follicals extracted and time for a quick 20 minute lunch then back to the chair for the sketching of the new hair line and then the transplant!!!

During lunch i took some selfies (ive finally joined the 21st centuary at this point using a new word from the new Oxford dictionary!!!) and even mailed them to close people to me to say look at my bald head....yes i wasnt ashamed of the peanut anymore so far i was embracing it!!! They text back saying doesnt look bad at all and good luck for the rest of the day. Before i knew it i had eaten my sandwhich, had a cuppa of Yorkshires finest tea and back in the surgery room. It turned out that Lorenzo doesnt break for lunch or drink, hes a machine thats totally dedicated to his work scanning my donor hairs whilst im lunching and working his assistants hard to make sure they're ready for that next important step!

He sat me up and started sketching on the hair line, rubbing out like an artist where needed and lining it all up with a laser line so it was nice and even. He then showed me where the hairline he thought should be. I agreed on the conservative approach as from the initial consultation as id always had a decent sized forehead even whilst young so a low hairline was never me and i didnt want to change my look too much....i just wanted more of what i had! He also said that he had scanned my follicles and that i had nearly 2.8 per graft meaning i would get excellent density once implanted and that he was going to go further back than discussed with the donors (into areas that still had hair) to combat further hair loss and thicken out the middle top of my head! Good news indeed as i didnt even think i needed any there but Lorenzo was planning for my future too!

So now im sat there all excited about my new drawn on hairline but nervous of the next part and even more anesthesia. Lorenzo is quickly learning English and his pronunciation of anesthetize is so funny and me and his assistants had a laugh with him whenever he said it correcting his version of it...i even called it his Chinese version. Yes even during your moments of dread and anxiety you can still have a laugh!!! Anyway he explained that he needed to inject my front forehead and hit the nerve above the nose where it numbs the forehead and told me to deep breathe for these babies as they would hurt. I breathed in and shit they did hurt but a minute later the implanting started and i didnt feel a thing apart from the pressing in, no pain. There were times again when he hit an area outside of the anesthetic catchment aea and i raised an hand and said pain...or even fuck a few times. He then hit me with some magic juice once again and i was fine and dandy. Today i would receive 1700 donors to the top and right receding side leaving the left receding side (1000) donors until tomorrow. He had 2 assistants at the side of him constantly loading the grafts into the needles and he worked like a robot! He would take a needle from their little work table without breaking his stride, inject it in, put it back empty then grab another fully loaded one! He had a little completely manual production line going on right before my eyes. His assistants working tirelessly for hours loading up the implanters, calling out singles, 2', 3's, 4's, de-cap etc so he knew what he was placing next! It turned out that singles were used along the hairline to slightly break up a perfect hairline so it looked as natural as possible as well as in the areas where i already had hair to add extra density on future thinning areas along with 2's. Towards the end of 4 hours ive got to admit i was calling out the word pain a few more times, i think this was because it was getting sore and the anesthesia was dying down but it was always followed by another hit of the magic juice to numb the pain....the words 'last one' from Lorenzos assistant was music to my ears...the day was over!!!! Anyone who thinks it doesnt hurt must be LOCO (you see his Spanish is rubbing off!) because im no shrinking violet when it comes to pain but yes there are times when it hurts.....but no pain no gain hey!!!! The worst pain is in the form of the anesthesia injections for sure, the rest is negligible!

Lorenzo showed me in the mirror my new hair grafts and i was well pleased and couldnt wait until tomorrow for the final part. ***You can see here the first days implants and how far i had receded on the unplanted left side***. He said that ive got great density and Mick from Farjo will confirm the exact amount per sq centimeter im sure but it all sounded like a great result all around.

I left the clinic with my bald head uncovered....yes i said uncovered as my initial dread was to be seen with a bald head but i walked out as proud as a peacock slighltly liberated at what had been achieved. My girlfriend was waiting in the car and she even said i suited the look and i realised that all that pre-op worry was for nothing!!! That night i'll admit i didnt sleep well at all. They had given me some saline spray (to keep the recipient area moist every 1.5 hrs) and paracetemol for any pain but the stitches from the cyst i had removed were uncomfortable and thus interrupted my sleep. They did give me an over pillow case too which would blot up and blood clotted from the donor site on the back of my head and in the morning it had served its purpose of just that with slight stains of blood on it.

Thats all for now folks but i hope youve enjoyed day 1, day 2 to follow next....