ChristopherJ

Amazing. By the way, does Dr. Koray demand that people take propecia? I'm looking at getting work done by him but I only use minoxidil.

Any other input fellas?

Thanks for the feedback. I've had my eye on some of the Turkish FUE wizards. It's just a matter of making that commitment and trip all the way from Canada.

I am currently buzzed down below a 3. I buzz down to a 1 every week. That photo was taken less than a week after I buzzed down to a 1.

I have been on minoxidil for several years which has maintained by crown fairly well. The pattern on my crown has not changed since I was 22-23. Unfortunately finasteride had side effects which forced me to stop using it. Knowing my crown loss has slowed, do you believe I'd be a candidate for FUE?

I'm a 27 year old male headed for what I believe is a norwood 5a? Would you guys agree? How smart would it be in your opinion to get a FUE procedure done at this stage? How many grafts do you believe it would take? My hope is to keep my hair buzzed so density isn't as great a concern for me as it may be for others. My hair in these photos were buzzed at a 1 last week.

I have a really embarrassing/funny story to share with you guys. A quick back story first though. I've been seeing my girlfriend for a year now and she has no idea I use toppik daily. We live together and she hasn't noticed anything. It doesn't come out in my pillow so that hasn't been an issue. I also never let her touch my hair which she finds odd, but mostly just humorous and an accepted part of my neurotic personality. However, for the first time in our relationship it became pretty obvious that I have something in my hair. Usually when I put toppik in my hair I will have to shake out the excess fibers once or twice before the proper level of toppik is blended into my hair. But this time I didn't do a good enough job I guess. Anyways, so here's the story. When she gets out of the shower I always have the privilege of rubbing lotion all over her body. Sometimes I will go a little farther than that depending on how much time we have. In this case, I decided to pay a visit down there.. if you know what I mean. I've done this literally countless times with her and it's never been a problem, but I guess the combination of the position of her legs/my head, the lotion, and the excess toppik, caused quite a mess. After I finished I look up and the entire inside of her legs are covered in brown toppik. She was so confused. Finally, after what seemed like eons, she asks, "do you dye your hair?" I never thought I'd be so relieved to hear that question. I told her that I saw a few grey hairs a week ago and bought this cheap hair dye. She thought it was the dumbest-cutest thing ever and we haven't talked about it since. But seriously, that was like my 'worst toppik nightmare' come true. I'm just not ready to admit the extent of my hair loss with her. The good news for me is that she knows I use rogaine so she knows hair loss is in the equation. And she's also told me she'll love me no matter what which should go without saying when you live together with someone, but it's still very comforting to hear. So there's my little story. I find toppik more and more difficult to apply. I think it may be because my hair is longer than in the past, but it may also be a simple matter of having less hair and therefore using more of it. I've ordered Dermatch so I am going to try that as well.

Hi there, 1. I've just ordered rogaine foam. I've read conflicting reports on whether taking it once per day rather than the recommended two times a day decreases the affectiveness of it. Apparently is has a half life of 22 hours so taking it once a day should work just as well. Tell me where I'm wrong... 2. I took propecia for over a year and started getting weaker erections/difficulty maintaining erections. If I were to cut my dosage in half, and/or take it once every two days, do you think that would decrease the chance of side effects? Anyone have any experience with this happening?

Aren't you supposed to apply it twice a day?

I've decided to give the rogaine foam a go. I ordered it through amazon -- is there a more cost affective method that you guys know about? The one major nuisance I foresee other than the daily maintenance is how I'll work around the toppik. I guess I'll shower in the morning, apply the rogaine and then the toppik. Then apply the rogaine again at night with the toppik in? I don't want to shower multiple times a day, but then again, would the toppik block the minoxidl from reaching my scalp? This all comes back to not being comfortable around anyone without toppik. I don't want to take the toppik off, especially around the girlfriend. Perhaps this will become unrealistic if I use rogaine twice a day, but I'm hoping I can just apply it over the toppik. Thoughts on how affective that may or may not be? I'm also fairly certain I won't be combining both. The side effects of propecia, whether medical or simply psychological, was simply not worth the stress.

Hey everyone, Just a short update. I didn't go through with the hair transplant, thank god. I really appreciate the advice given to me on here because it definitely made the difference. I was three days from going through with a transplant that would never have worked because I'm still losing hair. Because I still continued to lose hair, coupled with some sexual side effects, I've gotten off propecia starting about two months ago. What has helped me is that I guess abooouuut nine months ago I started using toppik. It's been a wonder in helping me get over the psychological burden of balding. It appears as if I have a moderately full set of hair, even though I don't at all. Of course, there are problems with this. I really don't go anywhere without it, unless I'm wearing a hat. I have a new girlfriend, who I've been dating for 9 months, and she has NEVER seen me without my 'toppik hair'. She assumes I have a lot more hair than I do. We're moving in together in January and we've agreed to move from Vancouver to Ottawa (from western to eastern Canada) for her school. What stresses me out is that the hair loss has escalated. I don't dare pull at my hair because I know I'll grab one or two strands every time. And of course, as you may have already predicted, I'm very worried that she will in short time find out I'm going bald. That scares me. We love each other and I assume nothing will change. But at the same time I'm only 23 and I don't look good bald. If she isn't attracted to me physically anymore will it work out? Girls say confidence is what really matters, and on the outside I have a confident personality, but on the inside this is slowly eating me alive. I can only dump so much toppik on my head, ya know? I guess my update is more a search for advice. If you're in my situation do you just tell the girlfriend "hey, I'm going bald, deal with it". Or do I not risk it and just maintain the illusion as long as possible? Here's a pic of me with my toppik hair attached.

Your rationale sounds more logical by the hour. Thanks for the response and the honesty, I will definitely consider all your guys input. I'm very strongly leaning to the 'just deal with what you got' side of the fence at this juncture. We'll see how things are in the near future.

Really appreciate the response. I actually did contact Hasson and Wong, and met with Doug and Dr. Wong. They said I was an ideal candidate because I had thick density, lots of donor hair, and I was realistic and conservative in my expectations. Having said that, I only met with Dr. Wong for about 5 minutes and I never truly felt comfortable in their assessment. It's not really their fault, I did tell them propecia had worked to stall my hair loss... however, to be honest, I'm not entirely positive of this. It has definitely slowed down the process, but I still lose some hairs... I haven't been able to conclude one way or the other whether my hairline has still receded since propecia. But you and others are likely right, I need a longer period of time to truly judge its effectiveness. I have not looked into FUE. I understand its benefits, but I know Hasson and Wong have proven results using the strip method. I don't really have the capacity to travel too far to search out these places, which is another reason I like H&W -- I live a 10 minute drive away. But I can definitely see the benefit of FUE, I just have no idea where to begin looking within Vancouver. I've admittedly come off as pretty naive about the scar issue. You don't come off as condescending at all, it's something I'll have to look into later on. I guess the idea of a scar hasn't concerned me since I already have a prominent scar on the back of my head, and was never bothered by anyone about it when I had my hair buzzed a couple of years ago. And the plan is to have hair, right? So I guess the scar issue never truly crossed my mind, although in hindsight, perhaps it could be a factor later on down the road. And nope, I have not tried minox... it's something I really don't want to try, but who knows, I may become desperate enough. It's just a very high maintenance product, and I have pretty sensitive skin as it is... I just don't foresee it working. And after using a bit of toppik around the thinning portions of my corner hairlines I guess it doesn't look that bad.

I appreciate the response. What do you suggest I do? The thing about waiting until my hair loss pattern shows and taking propecia is that they contradict one another. If I take propecia it will stall my hair loss and therefore only mask my natural hair loss pattern. So I don't understand when the 'right time' is for a hair transplant? And I'm not miserable, that's a silly exaggeration on my part. But I am quite frustrated. In a moment of madness I buzzed my hair but I've masked it fairly well with longish hair. It's just a lot of work and very tiresome sometimes.

Well, I'd argue that I'm not wasting money. Like I said, if worst comes to worst I genuinely do not care having a scar on my head. There's also scar reduction surgeries. Furthermore, I've already acknowledged the fact that I could likely lose more hair post transplant, but I'd like to have a hairline in my 20s while I can. Your idea of waiting out my pattern seems llogical to some extent, but it's almost like pick your poison. Either I continue to rock my receded hairline and feel bad in my 20s and then get a procedure in my 30s, or I get my transplant and feel good about myself and then face whatever challenges that come along as they go. The bottom-line is that life is short and I'd rather feel good while I can. Having said that, I have stilled prepared in a conservative fashion for future hair loss, and if I have to shave or buzz my hair I honestly don't care about a scar. I already have a large scar higher up on the back of my head and I haven't cared in the slightest about it showing when I've had my hair buzzed previously.