Gettinold

..I went to with the guys from work, grabbed my hat in front of everyone, don't think I've ever felt so low, almost 1 month after my HT, balder than ever...talk about feeling like **** in front of co-workers. She's lucky she was hot.

hopefully mine

My post op instructions said that it was safe to go back to lifting weights and excersizing after 1 week, when the grafts are fully secure. I did, so hopefully it's alright.

Just read a post a few minutes ago talking about sexy bald men and hot women with bald men, etc....and it was meant to make someone feel better, but the simple truth is, not all guys can pull this off. Some dudes just look ridiculous with a shaved head. If I had a thick neck, smaller ears that don't stick out, and a non cueball shaped head, I woulda shaved it instead of just dropping a few grand on a HT, with the intent to drop more in the future. I don't consider myself a bad lookin' dude now but all my life I played in bands and had long hair that some women loved..when that started to go around 19, I felt like I lost the only thing attractive about myself. Shaving was never an option, as I would seriously look li9ke a fool or a cancer patient...not good at all. I hate all kinds of drugs, so off to surgery I went. Almost 1 month out, I can't wait to see results..

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Basically that whey protein concentrate could help the regrowth process, rather than whey isolate....makes sense, but I think his claims that noticeable results in 6 weeks are completely bogus. Honestly, I would never get cosmetic surgery or take cosmetic advice from a dude that looks like Ronald McDonald, but since I'm trying to go all-natural anyways figured I'd share results (if any) with y'all.

From my understanding, and I'm no doctor, that this produces blood flow and "good" testosterone, and it may actually decrease the effects of aging, such as turning that "good" testosterone into DHT. That is genetic, which is why many experts have said that people who start balding early in life may be more suseptible to prostate cancer, which can also be caused by DHT. There are plenty of supplements out there for males over a certain age that work with the body to produce this "good" testosterone, that due to lack of phyical activity, and the levels of garbage that our in our anything-but-natural foods that we all eat nowadays, to slow the hairloss, weight gain, and general unhealthiness that come with age and our bodies not producing enough testosterone. I also dont see how protein could cause that, since this has been known for years that protein intake is very healthy....the only thing that I can maybe see having an effect is that most proteins out there are whey protein isolate, which undergoes far more unnatural processing than concentrate, and it's most likely the effects of this processing that may have any adverse effects, and also the conjunstion of unhealthy, unnatural crap like sucralose that is in so many protein shakes and health shakes nowadays. That's why I switched to an all-natural brand. Just my 2 cents, I could be completely off my rocker..

I had been looking for a new protein shake that didnt have all the artificial junk and sweeteners (sucralose, etc...) that I didnt have to take out a loan for...and came across this all-natural "True Athlete" brand at The Vitamin Shoppe (I think this is one of their house brands) on sale. This contains whey protein concentrate, rather than isolate, which is Dr. Shapiro's claim to his hair shake. I'm almost 3 weeks out from my transplant, have had some shed, less that I anticipated, and not on any meds at the moment besides Saw Palmetto. I got 2 month's supply of the stuff and plan on sticking with this brand, so if ol' Shap is right, I should have noticeable growth by the time I need to restock..There are pics on my profile, and I'm not holding out much hope, as I use protein shakes as a workout supplement, not a hair supplement but still and interesting trial nonetheless...I'll be keeping my profile and posts updated..

My post-op instructions said I could go back to lifting weights after 7 days...which this is my 9th day and I'm taking a break from lifting as we speak . My donor area is still pretty tender, but my graft area is numb, getting the stiches out in a few days. I've heard grafts should be in place by the week, I resumed a normal shower on the 6th day and never had an issue. All the info that I looked up seemed to be mostly on par with my post op instructions so I wouldn't totally quit your life just yet..

I followed them to a T...and am surpirsed at how fast the graft area healed, so it's all downhill from here. Not going to obsess over it, or post any more updates until the month mark, maybe I'll be one of the lucky ones with minimal shed, but not counting on it and won't be dissapointed if (when) it happens...Have a great feeling about it and know when these next 6 months fly by, I'll be glad I did this. This site is great for support.

Thanks....so would it be overly and unrealistically optimistic to may be think that since there's no shed after a week, there might not be much of a shedding phase? Not counting on it, but does that ever happen? It could be all in my head, but I sware they feel slightly thicker than they did last week...

Probably update again around the one month mark, but just wanted to touch base here after 1 week. Getting my stitches out Monday, most of the scabs came off after resuming a normal shower yesterday, not really seeing any shed yet, it almost seems like they are growing...I know they aren't though Looking forward to excersizing again tomorrow...that's probably been the worst part of the whole process, I feel like a wet noodle after a week

"That place looks packed" or something along those lines...the first sentence is mainly what I was referring to..

You mean FUE? and off topic....I'm in NW Ohio and have an '04 GTO..what you got?

Will do, and will try to help anyone here out all that I can. This is an exciting journey..

This was posted on a friend's facebook, I took a screenshot..erased all names for privacy, but you'll see that instead of the celebrities in the pic (I believe it was a signing from the "Swamp Monsters" show), this was the first thing noticed in the first comment.

Thanks all...I'm so excited to see the results, heck, I'm just excited to start seeing growth because I'll probably have to use about a quarter of the Toppik I use now because there will actually be stubble there to hold it in place. Assuming this all goes well, I'll probably look into getting more in the front/top to stay ahead of the game...I can see how this can be addicting and "hair greed" can set in..especially after seeing that the operation itself is like getting a tattoo, not a liver transplant .

Where are people getting that $5500 won't cover 1400 grafts? I had a planned 1600 grafts, which, even including travel expenses (Dr. Charles offers a travel allowance for out of state customers), I didn't hit $5k. If you are willing to do some leg work and research on the travel side (hit up ALL the travel sites for package deals and discounts), then I can see that being totally doable. Now I, of course, can't speak of results since I only had my surgery a few days ago, but I'm not worried as he has a great reputation. There were even cheaper options out there, which I had decided against, but the norm seems to be $3-5/graft, I think that he should be able to be in good shape.

First thing’s first…..I survived the procedure J Actually, I don’t think it could have gone much better. I was very impressed with the office. It was very clean and welcoming. I was there about 20 minutes early, as the staff was filtering in. The staff consisted of women (good lookin’ ones I might add, which definitely added to the ambience), who were all very friendly and personable. Before Dr. Charles arrived, Jenny took me in a room to snap some pictures of the areas I wanted done, and talked me through some things, and really made me feel at ease. Dr. Charles came in soon after that.. high-energy, personable, and had a great sense of humor, as did the rest of the staff. We discussed the game plan for the surgery and he gave me some antibiotics and some pills to help me relax, when he asked me if I was nervous, I simply said “Yes”. We talked for a little bit and then sat me in front of a mirror. I told him I was only interested in filling in the crown today, which he was fine with because my hairline isn’t too bad. He did make some suggestions for future work on the hairline, but didn’t try to pressure me. We decided on 1600 grafts, I paid the balance (I had put a deposit down earlier to save the appointment date), and the travel allowance absorbed almost all of my travel expenses..when I say all, I mean flight, hotel , car rental, and most meals (of course I went out every day)..thank God for Priceline and Expedia. They took me into the surgery room and I changed into a gown, and they let me pick a movie to watch..Talladega Nights. The surgery began, and I have to say the worst part was getting the anesthesia, but they gave me foam balls to squeeze for pain. It was over quick though. The rest of the surgery took about 5 or so hours and I felt very little discomfort through the whole thing…in fact I fell asleep for a little bit. Dr. Charles and his staff would talk and joke with me through the process and they would often put their hand on my shoulder, which that small gesture really helped me to truly trust everyone. They all knew that this was my first surgery EVER (aside from something small when I was a newborn), and they really did their best to make me feel comfortable. They even bought me lunch when we took a break, and I was able to get up and walk around for a little bit. We ended up doing 1693 grafts total. After the surgery, Dr. Charles went over the post-op instructions and gave me some sprays, an antibiotic and some Propecia samples, along with a prescription for Vicodin. I drove to the drug store and back to the hotel with no problem, even went out to eat afterwards. Dr. Charles called me that night also, just to see how I was doing. I thought that was really cool. My patient advisor, Maureen, also called to check on me today. Sleeping wasn’t too bad that first night, I just put a towel down, bunched up a few pillows and slept on my side with the top of my head hanging over the pillow. I woke up a few times through the night, but never felt enough pain or discomfort to make me want to take a Vicodin. There were only some very faint blood droplets on the towel when I got up this morning. I was even able to take one last walk on the beach before having to check out of the hotel and turn in the rental car. So, so far so good….now comes the waiting game. I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated on my progress, hopefully I’ll see something here in a few months. As for now, I would have to say that my experience with Dr. Charles was great and I would definitely recommend him. Here are a few photos..the firs one is pre-op, the secdon is immediately post-op, and the next 2 are the day after.