realquiet

Thank you Spanker. I think we are very similar in age and NW status for our procedures. The main difference is you had amazing growth in less than 6 months; where I had a combination of shock loss and no growth until around month 7. It took a few haircuts for all of the hair to "line-up" the same, and then one day everything just came together. I still have hair maturation happening even to this day, so you can look forward to that. Your hair looks amazing by the way.

Cant decide, Thanks for the compliment. My intent wasn't to make light over how someone feels about their hair. I don't think it matters if you are NW6 or NW2, it can be quite harmful to one's mental health and body image. Believe me, I know how obsessive it can become and know that feeling all too well.. As far as I know, none of us "need" an HT. It was part of the realization that occurred after I had my procedure. Now, I see it as a purely cosmetic surgery (one that I'm willing to do again), not something that is going to prevent me from living life. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

Hi everyone. I feel I owe it to Dr Keene to post my results exactly 20 months after my hairline was restored. To be perfectly honest, I have been busy living life and not thinking about hair (what a concept, right?), so I haven't been lurking on these forums as much as I used to. I hope everyone on here can reach that point somewhere in there lives- even if they don't have any procedures done at all. I also feel very silly now about how much I used to obsess over my hairline, which was never that terrible to begin with. I mean, I am a 32 year-old grown ass man after all, and should expect to have a mature hairline for my age. In fact, over the last 2 years I realize how good some people look with slight recession in their mid-thirties like me. I am even worried that my hair looks too good for my age sometimes.. I am sure it's all in my head as we humans are never 100% happy. So yes, I went through with the HT and it was completely worth it; however, I feel like I've mentally grown since the procedure and would be totally fine today even if I was completely bald. I think we (men) make it such a big deal when it really isn't. If you are in this for the ladies- stop. Women could honestly care less how a man looks. I know it sounds cliche, but it's all in your confidence and how you carry yourself. I feel like my hair was a convenient scapegoat for my current or future failures (ie: my hair isn't sitting right so I'm not going out tonight). Pretty pathetic and cowardly. That being said, my hair was my confidence for a long time, and only through this process was I able to realize the silliness of it all. Without hair being a second-thought, my career has never been better (received multiple promotions), dated many beautiful women, and have been able to just 'be myself' around people. I can say I'm more social now then I've ever been in my entire life. I Don't have time for TV, games, or even posting this. So really, it's the chicken or the egg analogy. If my hair was gone tomorrow, I'm comfortable enough now where I would just laugh and move on. Would I be looking at my life the same right now without going through with the HT? Who knows. Sorry for the philosophical rant, but I think everyone who visits this site feels something similar. As for my hair plans; I would still like another procedure to touch up some slight imperfections that aren't very noticeable on my left temple, along with bolstering behind the hairline where it's sparse. Those imperfections are only visible under intense direct light, so I'm planning for an FUE of about 500 grafts and I should be all set. If anyone has any questions please ask. Oh, and Dr Keene is amazing, go see her in Tucson!! (shameless plug). Hopefully, she does FUE now.

Well, here's the thing- you are going to look aesthetically better in the next 6-12 months right? You might as well work on some other areas of your life that need attention. It doesn't have to be physical or superficial either; just use some of that energy that's been spent on worrying over your head on a project that you've put on the back burner at home or at work. A lot of guys like to hit the weights or get in the habit of doing regular cardio. You can drop a few pounds or tone up the old body and make a serious impact by the time the hair starts to mature. It sounds rather superficial, but it does synergize within the HT timeline, as 6 months of exercise can be significant. If you track your HT progress with monthly photos; you could even track your physical progress with photos. Something to think about. But, like I said, if you already are in great shape you might as well address the other opportunities in your life (everyone has some).

I would recommend a volumizing shampoo like the one from American Crew. It thickens up the shafts and works very well with my fine hair. Another option is a leave-in volumizing mousse if you use product to style your hair. The nice thing about volumizing shampoos on fine hair, is that, because we have more hairs on our heads compared to those with coarser hair; there are more shafts to be thickened and it ends up being quite noticeable. You get the added benefit of a thicker crown as well. And the final option would be a concealer like Topik. This is more invasive, but if you haven't heard about it I figure I might as well mention it.

Assuming the propecia has stabilized your hair loss over the last 3 years, adding density to your crown at your age with your hair loss history seems completely reasonable if it's bothering you. The good news is with your wavy hair there's a chance you might not need quite as many grafts as someone with straight hair. But my unprofessional opinion is it looks to be somewhere in the 1500-2000 range. If your donor area is as thick as you say, it should work out quite nice for you. As far as the crown docs go, I would go as far to say that any of the recommended docs do great work. I've seen awesome results from all of the usual hairline suspects like H&W, Rahal, Alexander, Keene, etc... I don't want to downplay the crown, but it's just harder to judge artistic merit where most people have a blob of hair.

For the first 3 months I was just taking the standard 1mg daily of finpecia in the morning. Now I'm doing half of a generic finasteride pill (5mg) every other day, and I really like this better. I like not having to take the pill every day, and results have only gotten better as the months have gone by. It's been about 5 months now; the hair on my frontal third and crown are so strong and healthy compared to when I first started. Even the side and back of the head are thicker. Of course, what I feel means nothing. If you want, you can search my surgery thread for pictures taken just 3 weeks ago to see some real proof. Granted, the pictures are post-op, but my hair looks very thick and dense all over my head. Comparing the hairline to the old photos I can see a pretty big improvement. We'll see what it looks like in a few more months, but so far, I'm pretty happy.

Well, the pictures above are from Finpecia, a generic form of Propecia that isn't sold in the US... yet (I think we get it in 2012). Other countries have been manufacturing generic Propecia for awhile now, so you can get it through an online pharmacy with no prescription. A better way to do it (the way I do it now), is to go see a dermatologist and get a prescription for generic Finasteride. It's like $10 for a 4-month supply at Costco or Walmart! The dermatologist will probably charge you $50-75 for the visit, but the prescription will be good for at least a year. If you want to go the online pharmacy route, Finpecia will cost around $70-100 for a 4-month supply. The wait time to receive your meds will be around 3 weeks because of customs. This can be a pretty big issue as sometimes it just won't make it through customs (pretty rare), or be heavily delayed (common). You need to make sure you are ordering from a solid site with a good reputation as well. The last thing you want are counterfeit pills that set you back even further! The site I ordered my Finpecia from was Pharm4all.com after doing quite a bit of research. Just make sure they tell you which company produced the pills (the big ones are Cipla and Dr. Reddy). I'll leave it to you to make the decision on how you want to do it, but definitely do it!

Futbol, don't worry about using distilled water for rinsing. Tea tree shampoos are known as clarifying shampoos that strip other elements and products from from the hair and scalp. Many women use a clarifying shampoo at most once a week because of how dry and damaged their hair would be if used daily. If you really want to PH balance your hair and scalp, I highly recommend a vinegar rinse once every 2 weeks or so. Using apple cider vinegar is actually very common (google this), and helps remove mineral deposits from hard water (sounds like you have this), and also things like chlorine build-up. Like I said, the shampoos that we use on this site are very good but very potent. That's why keeping your scalp and hair conditioned is so important!

Hey man, you can see pics of my hairline in the thread "positive finpecia results 2 1/2 months in" as well as my recent HT thread with Dr Keene. I'm posting from a phone or I would link you to them myself.

Hi Futbol, It sounds like your scalp could have a mild case of Psoriasis along with the standard flaky dandruff. This isn't something that a shampoo will fix in a day or two; you need to be patient and stick with a good routine that will get the inflammation down and also kill any potential fungus that might be present. I recommend rotating T-Gel or Nizoral with a Tea Tree shampoo. Look for a tea tree shampoo that has things like eucalyptus and peppermint oil built-in. Don't worry about the coconut oil, get yourself a high quality leave-in conditioner that stays on your scalp throughout the day. A lot of guys aren't familiar with this, but it's critical for halting inflammation long after the shower is done. You will still want to use a conditioner in the shower as well, but make sure to focus on the scalp and not the hair (don't follow the directions!). Look for soothing oils in both the standard conditioner and the leave-in. Yes, your hair will be a little flatter than normal, but your scalp will be nice and moisturized, and it's only temporary until your scalp is back to 100%. If you shampoo daily you might want to consider an EOD routine instead. I like to condition on "off-days" without using shampoo, mainly because these are very potent shampoos that we are discussing. Allowing your hair and scalp time to build its natural oils is important. Once again, this could take a month or two before your flakes/scales are gone for good so be patient!

Yeah, my pre-op hairline doesn't seem so bad now that I'm in my 30s, but it had originally matured when I was 18 (maybe 17) and its always bothered me greatly. I was patient, did my research and knew I was too young back then without knowing what type of MPB I was going to develop in the future. Of course, I could still go completely bald in my 40s or 50s too! You just never know. However, if you think long-term and accept a long-term plan, you can never go wrong with establishing a natural hairline and keeping it conservative! My forehead is still big enough to give me a mature look without doing the exaggerated "U" shape and a larger widow's peak. I felt the contoured look would frame the face more appropriately in this situation. Everyone is different though. Dr Keene is a conservative and very honest doctor, so I felt good that she thought it would work too. She was also adamant about knowing what type of meds I was taking and if I planned to continue, etc... I still think her work on other posters like "Gorpy" show her hairlines are very natural and artistic, it's what won me over.

Updated with results. Also, on day 4 most of the deep redness is gone. I'm religiously keeping the grafts moist with the recommended saline solution and it seems to be healing fast when I compare with other patients. The only trouble with the longer hair is applying Neosporin to the donor scar without making a mess. Blood also tends to dry on the hair constantly, so keeping the back of my head shampooed and clean is a must. The grafts are tightening up and starting to scab (in a good way). It's reminds me of a scrape on the arm that's almost healed. Absolutely ZERO swelling on my forehead, eyes, or face in general; just a lump in the donor area. The longer hair positives are vastly outweighing the negatives. I'm confident I could sweep my bangs over my forehead and do my daily errands outside undetected. Wearing a hat is also relatively safe because i can rest the brim on my hair and not have it touch the grafted area. I'm happy I didn't shave my head for this, even though I expect it to look awkward in a couple months or so. I'm starting to think transitioning back to work next week is going to be easier than I thought.

I take a separate multivitamin for non-hair related reasons, but biotin does help foster healthy hair. It has nothing to do with mpb; however.

Hey everyone, I just got back from Tucson, AZ after a long (but fun) drive from Southern California and couldn't be a happier guy. I know there have already been a lot of threads praising Dr. Keene as a top 3 or top 5 doc on the forums here, but I'm here to add to that. Right now I'm on Day 3 post-op! I would also like to say that although my case is not unique, I don't see too much of it on the forums here, so hopefully those of you with my characteristics will follow my progress! Here's my story: I'm a 30 year old (almost 31) with temporal recession and around a NW2-3. Complete baldness does not run in my family, yet all of the men have gigantic foreheads and temple recession (not a good look!). My hair type, however, is very unique though. I have baby fine hair that is extremely fair (light blond). No crown loss but miniaturized hairs that force me to comb my hair forwards (just like fellow poster corvettetester) to hide bald temple spots. And yes, I have a huge head with lots of real estate on my forehead. I am also a fair-skinned, pale individual. My goal: To frame my face with a nice conservative, contoured, and symmetrical hairline with restored temple points. NOTHING CRAZY. Nothing aggressive. I just want to keep what I have and get the option to style my hair differently with parting, spiking, or just plain cutting it shorter. Something maybe you've always wondered? My hair is quite long, and all of this "shock loss" talk was something that had me concerned. After apologizing for my hair length multiple times, it was clear that Dr. Keene and her staff were completely un-phased. Not only were they efficient at working around my super-annoying long hair, I suffered very minimal shock loss (if any). But how would I look going back to work with long hair and a pink fuzzy hairline? Read on. About Dr Keene and Staff: Um, what can I say here, she's an artist. I had a whole page of terms and lingo prepared in advance to convey what I wanted, but I didn't need any of it (plus I left it at home!). She instantly designed a few different hairlines that were close, but not quite what I wanted. No problem, she understood my conservative nature and designed the perfect hairline. It was EXACTLY what I failed to place into words. After a few questions, she just knew what my needs were. Plus, she was brutally honest with me on several points, and I love that. Her staff, (especially Nicole!) were all so friendly when they needed to be (when I was nervous), but once work was underway they became machines who take their job very seriously. It was impressive watching them go from comedy relief to complete professionals. They were also very polite with their voices while I watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" and made sure that I was comfortable at all times. Oh, and Dr. Keene oversees EVERYTHING herself, if you were wondering. She is constantly having the assistants relay medical info, posting data by the 1/2 hour to a white board, sending anything less-than-perfect back to be adjusted. Her fun-loving assistants clearly respect and understand they are working for a perfectionist. When the doctor started speaking, they listened. When she was joking, they knew it was informal invitation to have a little fun during a quick down-time. This level of quality-control is something that I appreciated. But after speaking with her about random topics and current events, it's clear that she's a hobbyist. Yes, hair is her hobby. I was hearing all sorts of info from her regarding FUE procedures, what regulations need to be in place for what, what new tech is on the market for incisions etc.. I also realized how damn smart this woman is. We geeked out on many topics ranging from anthropology to sharks. She would also calmly let me know when it was time to get down to business without interruption (due to counting during incisions). The assistants were buzzing everywhere; monitoring my pulse, oxygen, and blood pressure levels. Everyone always fixed on the clock: when to re-medicate me, when to moisten the grafts, even when to adjust the blanket under my legs! Pain: The only pain you will have the day of the surgery is when the local anesthesia is injected. Personally, I had just a little sting in the donor area before the strip was cut, nothing major. You feel absolutely NOTHING when the strip is being cut, in fact, I even joked about how the most painful portion of a FUT procedure is not even felt. However; I will warn anyone getting a hairline restoration like me, you WILL feel the worst pain when they inject your temples with anesthesia. The assistants mentioned that the temples are one of the most sensitive areas in the body, and I admit I cringed and made that sound Peter Griffin did when he stubbed his toe on Family Guy. Results: Ok, so now I've explained how great I think Dr Keene is as a person, now lets see why I think she is easily the best doc on the West Coast. Here are some pictures I've shared before on the forums here. I promise to put up a blog real soon to track progress though. The doc has my "official" before pictures at her office, so I might ask her for them (or maybe she'll read this), but after a few months it will make more sense to compare them. And now my Day 1 post Op results (Dry and Wet): Day 2 (went from blood red to light red overnight): Day 3 (combing bangs forward and going outside just 3 days after my HT) Anyhow, I can't thank Dr Keene and her staff enough for their efforts. And for anyone who shares my hair characteristics and desire for hairline work, this post is for you.