Shampoo

This is my first post here. I finally took the plunge and got about 2,200 frontal grafts via FUT. So, now I don't know what to do. I didn't tell anyone I was getting HT and am kind of worried about going back to work in a week or two. So, what can I do? I just don't know what to do to keep the HT not obvious. I clearly didn't do my research and thus didn't realize all my existing hair would be shaved before the procedure.

I can relate, because I too was worried about all those same things, but I think most patients have two choices. #1. Don't tell anyone, and people find out or at the least know something is up anyway, or #2. be open about it and people find out. But notice either way they find out.

I think it's best to be pro-active, bite the bullet, and just tell people...."this was important to me, I thought about it a long time, finally took the plunge, and in a few months I hope it turns out well". Questions will be more about "is that your hair?"...."how much did it cost?"..."did it hurt?"...You'll be surprised how quickly the whole matter fades away in 99% of everybody's mind. Look people have busy stressful lives, they really are not going to spend much time thinking about your hair. They are dealing with tons of stuff in their own lives.

I have been very open and up front about it and thus in my mind greatly reduced the "whispers". Coworkers, friends, relatives are not whispering "what did he do?"....because they all know what I did. They know I am not trying to hide anything, they know I kind of embrace it, am not ashamed, and am kind of proud that I decided to make a change for the better. Heck most adults have something about themselves they'd like to change. Cosmetic surgery is more common today than ever before. Everyone knows somebody that has had work done....it's really no big deal when you think about it. I honestly believe it's harder on the patient attempting to hide than just face everybody and embrace it.

In my opinion "hiding" only breeds curiosity and awkward moments.

I suppose some patients that can wear a hat all the time, including at work could "hide" pretty well, but if you attend church or have to go to a funeral, that's not going to work. Plus most people can't wear a hat at their job and even if you could it might look odd to have never worn a hat to work then all of a sudden wearing a hat every single day.

ps: Although it does not fit your case, I advise going public BEFORE the surgery as well. Before the surgery you are not as self-conscious, you are not swollen, you are not red, you are not dealing with the post-op issues...so I highly advise not only being open, but do it before, so that way there is even LESS SURPRISE when you get back to work. People like being "in on the secret" when in reality it isn't a secret because you are telling them. Get it out of the way before while you are 100% and it will be even easier to come back to work.

dude don't be a lack of growth cry baby at 6 months

sure some get early results

most don't

it's ridiculous

our society demands instant gratification or OMG "something must be wrong"

check in at 12-18 months

Horsetail?? That's a new one.

Doc maybe it's related to this?

Ok mahhong that's cool...thanks.

SMP looks good but what happens when your hair turns gray? the black dots will look strange right?

Or do you plan on coloring your hair forever? Just wondering.

Qneedhair good question....I am not sure how SMP deals with graying hair and

I've also wondered how concealers like Nanogen deal with graying hair in all colors?

BTW has anybody ever tried this concealer?

It looks effective, but also appears very pricey.

http://www.haircubed.com/gallery

noobineub....going by the pictures you provided that mimic your crown loss I would think you would be quite pleased with 1500 -1800 grafts into your balding crown. And since you anticipate further crown loss a 1500-1600 graft session now should hopefully leave enough donor hair to possibly have another crown procedure in 10 years when you are in your fifties. Thinking ahead you do have to consider that even-though you've already had a frontal procedure....ten years from now without meds it is likely the frontal area may need more grafts to thicken things up again. So save enough donor grafts for frontal and crown "touch-ups" in your fifties.

The difference with finasteride is that it can permanently destroy your mental, physical and sexual health.

And it can work both ways.

taking Propecia can help you avoid mental, physical, and sexual health problems.

Balding can easily lead to depression

Depression can cause mental, physical, and sexual problems.

So by taking finasteride (and not going bald) it's possible to lessen/prevent health problems

With any kind of cosmetic surgery patients have to become somewhat immune to what certain family, friends, co-workers think and say. A large segment of people are just "not going to get it" and no amount of discussion will convince them or result in their approval.

Cosmetic surgery is certainly not for everyone. It is just not on some people's radar. But that's true with many things. I enjoy great seats at rock concerts. Some friends, family, and co-workers think it is "dumb" to spend money on such endeavors. Who cares what they think if I enjoy it? We all have our own desires, hobbies, and goals that are ours and ours alone. We shouldn't need other's approval to pursue what is important to us.

Of course I know that some of my friends, family, and co-workers may think me having two hair transplants in the last 4 years is "a waste of money", "vain", "you don't really need it". But who cares what they think....as long as I am doing what is important to me? I might think them buying a neon yellow car is "dumb", but who cares?....if that's what they want to do.

Almost all adults have something about their appearance they would like to change if they could. So believe me if a few are openly critical of you considering a hair transpalnt, many others are quietly saying to themselves "gosh I wish I could have bariatric surgery", or "I wish I would get my nose fixed", "I wish I had white straight teeth", or "I wish I could get a face lift for these wrinkles".

I wrote a post about this exact thing a year or so ago and didn't get much response. To be honest this was one of my main reasons for getting another transplant. I was using a lot of hair fiber almost everyday. I started having concerns about breathing the hair fibers over a long period. If you only need a little it may not be that bad. The hair fiber concealers work great, but after seeing the residue on my bathroom counter tops I started wondering how healthy it is to be breathing all that day after day? I wish there was a study available about this.

Maybe we can get David to chime since it looks like he combined a transplant and SMP with what looks like very nice results:

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/173165-dr-hasson-1755-grafts-front-smp-crown.html

I have coverage in my crown but it's thinning and this discourages me from growing my hair longer so I clip my hair with a #2 (and my thinning crown no longer bothers me)..

I wonder since you are keeping it short and your crown is thinning if some SMP might be a "piece of your puzzle"? Once my latest transplant grows out and if my crown is still a bit thin I am planning on further investigation of SMP for my crown as one "piece of my puzzle".

Like this picture of crown SMP looks "too good to be true",

but even if it was half that good I might be interested.

Scalp MicroPigmentation Melbourne - Face and Hair Clinic

It is silly to think that people only see you from the front. That is so dumb to even suggest that. Of course the crown is important! People DO see it.

Dr. Lindsey is anything but dumb.

In hair transplants many times you have to make hard choices.

In many cases there is not enough donor hair to cover everything.

So doctors suggest where they can be more sure of a long term successful outcome.

Respected doctors feel when people are face to face they obviously see the other person's face. Most in person important discussions with other human beings is face to face.....so doctors knowing they can have great success framing the face with a hair transplant usually advise doing a "home run" of framing the face at least first. A crown many times can be less predictable and be a larger area to cover that keeps growing and eating up lots of donor hair.

So sure the crown is seen, but most doctors I have studied feel that long term a patient will be happier with a framed face vs a solid less predictable crown, but even Dr. Lindsey states he does do the crown if that's what the patient prefers after being educated to what that really means.

How old are you now?

How much loss do you have elsewhere?

Do you have good donor supply?

How large an area is thinning that you are calling the crown?

How many grafts roughly do you think you need?

And remember without meds the non-transplanted areas

of your crown will most likely continue to bald.

Any chance you can block your face but provide a crown pic and the overall head so better advice can be given.....

or if you dont wish to post your pics, maybe find a similar guy with roughly the same hair loss on one of the dr sites?

honestly it's difficult not seeing anything.

I will agree that concealers like Nanogen are very addictive because they work so well!

I don't believe it is always an either/or hair-transplant=no concealer.

Each patient is different, each patient has different economical factors, each patient is in a different age bracket, each patient has certain density and donor hair availability.

So yes in an ideal situation a post-op healed patient may not need concealer any longer, but there are many situations where a patient after a successful hair transplant may still decide to use various amounts of concealer.

I have a close friend that has limited funds, he got a transplant and got his front done, but he still has a small area in his crown that is thinning bald. He is very happy with his transplant...his front looks great, but he also sprinkles a few shakes of Nanogen on his crown before he leaves the house and he is totally "good to go" and it is totally undetectable...he looks great and ten years younger.

Don't you worry about a woman putting her hands through your hair and getting some of the stuff on her hands? I was never interested in being fake.I can't do it. I can't let a woman think this is who I am when it's really not. That's just me I guess.

When that very same woman running her hands thru your hair uses make-up herself? You are "not interested in being fake" but do you date women that wear makeup? Is it "fake" when the vast majority of women put on make-up every day before work or before you pick them up for a date? I've always found it kind of ironic that the "fairer sex" are the ones that feel the need to cover their faces in war-paint make-up and bling jewelry. Certainly if you do not wish to wear concealer or fibers like Nanogen you shouldn't do it, but to slight those that do seems rather odd, when really we all in some ways try to cover our liabilities and expose our strengths.

Ooops I missed your age. Personally I would not advise anyone under 30 to get a hair transplant, but I see more and more doctors doing it. In my mind as far as transplants a person basically has about 3-4 times "at bat" over a lifetime. Normally someone in their twenties has no idea what the real long term pattern of their balding will be, so by committing and using up your "at bats" so early in the game, it could greatly limit how successful transplants could be later when you might really need that donor hair. A guy "freaking out" over some minor thinning in his twenties, has no idea what he may face at 40. Once a lot of territory is bald the game-plan changes as far as how to cover the most balding area with the best coverage. So by getting hair transplants so early on what are in fact "minor thinning areas" in the twenties can come back to haunt you when you are still relatively young in say your early forties. And hair can actually mean more in your forties because in your forties and fifties other aging problems like skin, wrinkles, can start creeping in, and so hair can be a great thing to have at that point in your life.

You can't go wrong with both these clinics being some of the best in the world. I am biased but I think Hasson-Wong is THE place to go the larger the session.

I would think you would be fine as long as you kept your head above water. BTW...as a former hot tub owner who will never own another hot tub I would suggest never putting your head below the water of a hot tub with or without a hair transplant.

to be honest I would think a crown should never be done on someone 27-28 years old

you have way too many unknowns and way too many years to define what your balding pattern will be

I wouldn't touch your crown for at least 10 years

How is your crown?

Some guys may find these videos educational.

I think they are pretty well done and easy to understand.

Interesting advice about heat (instead of ice) to forehead to lessen post-op swelling.

Post-op advice:

How many grafts?

Us bleaters only want guys to have the facts we wished we had ourselves before taking it. It's then up to you.

Fair enough Scotsman....I agree.....there should be full disclosure and there should have been for you when you started taking it.

Being "FDA approved" means very little in terms of safety.

So the FDA isn't perfect?

Wow...was unaware of that.

You think we should ban that too?

You are perfectly comfortable linking hair loss with despair but don't give equal weight to the psychological harm propecia can inflict. .

I no doubt realize Propecia like almost all medication does not work for everyone. It can cause side effects like almost all medication and all cosmetic medications and all cosmetic procedures.I do agree patients should be warned clearly that in a small group of the over-all patients taking propecia there can be serious side effects.

although hanging round hairloss sites when it appears to be working is rather strange. My argument would be that you are gambling with your health to keep your hair.

.

I find hair loss fascinating and enjoy learning more about it each time I visit this hair loss forum. I enjoy offering suggestions to people new to this because people helped me when I started investigating hair transplants.This site helped me find one of the best hair transplant clinics in the world. So now in your mind people that "hang around" this site are strange? Because you say so? And maybe can't comprehend that people with good results still enjoy discussing a topic. Happy people can discuss results just as easy as people that are angry about something. Many people are motivated by more than anger and frustration. Hair-loss is an on-going battle that never really ends. Hair-loss solutions are on-going projects of chasing the illusion of density, so I don't find it strange that some like to help others, and keep up with the latest trends in FUT/FUE/SMP/Etc...

Why do feel the need to demean others that arrive at a different conclusion? Is that another crusade? Why not "2EachHisOwn?" Why do you need to control people? Supply the facts and let people decide how they want to live their life, what legal FDA approved medications they want to take, and how they spend some of their day. Don't like Propecia? Don't take it! But don't try to take my rights away because you think you know better.

this is a cosmetic product, not something to make us more healthy.

It does make many of us more healthy.

I am much more mentally healthy saving the hair I have by using propecia.

If I looked like this I would not be as mentally healthy.

Balding leads to depression, stress, low self esteem, and anxiety

which can all lead to health problems and suicide.

Propecia certainly can help be a part of preventing those dangerous health problems.

Botox and many cosmetic medications and procedures

can have side effects and even lead to death....

so under your logic "ban them all" because they might not work for you?

the current leaflet does you a disservice as it doesn't tell you of all the sides that you could experience. I wouldn't be quite as upset if Merck laid their cards on the table from the outset and were honest, but they weren't and still aren't.

Ok....fair enough....update the pamphlet and move on.

almost all drugs commercials I see on TV these days state

all the HORRIBLE possible consequences of taking that particular drug.

it's almost comical..."this drug can lead to heart failure, kidney failure,

liver failure, breathing difficulty, joint pain, vision loss, blah blah "CMA"