rsn

What is the best shampoo / conditioner / concealer to hide balding?

1. I've kind of noticed that really cheap shampoos I get from shitty hotels seem to give me more body than expensive shampoos. I can't figure out why. Nizoral might medically grow hair, but it does not give you body, so don't use it on nights on the town.

2. As for concealers, my opinion is that a. if you have a decent amount of hair, you are best off with Toppik, but Toppik won't do much if you have very little hair. If you have very little hair, you need one of the creams that make your scalp look black, like Couvre .

Does this do anything? Tricomin is a respected brand, but this is expensive. https://www.tricomin.com/

Dr. Shapiro's website says the studies say they work.

Is this the chat room: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/chat.php ?

No one was there. When does it meet?

You don't understand. Studies show people are horrible self judges for these kinds of things, and people mistakenly believe they are excellent self judges.

That is why you need objective evidence, for instance a study.

Hard not to chuckle at this one. Well played.

Blake Bloxham says there are a lot of remedies for which there is no evidence (or trivial evidence) that they work, and yet some big shot doctors say they do work. How does Blake Boxham reconcile this?

1) The FDA's 5% cap is very little evidence that 10% does no better.

2) I have re-started oral finasteride every few years, and every time thus far the sexual side effect was too great, so I stopped. I am going to start topical finasteride, since Hasson and Wong now makes one.

I have not read this forum for 2 years. Back then there was a vocal group of doctors saying that there is no chance laser combs work, and that the light could not even penetrate the skin. There were also some doctors who had the opposite view and said there was some evidence they work.

I noticed now Dr. Shapiro saying that recent evidence says they work. Is there still a vocal doctor group against laser combs?

"Low-Level Laser therapy (LLLT) is another adjunct therapy used to treat hair loss. For many years its benefit in hair transplantation was controversial with only limited studies. Recently however, more studies have shown statistically significant benefit in increasing overall terminal hair densities in men and women with a laser comb device compared with placebo." Laser Therapy | Shapiro Medical Group in Minneapolis, MN

But there are doctors who sell 10%.

Does 10% minoxidil work better than 5% ?

With 13 years experience I think for 2000 grafts the would say the average time is about 6-8 hours. Crazy something doesnt make sense

With the surgery with the first doctor, one tech implanted the grafts slowly.

With the surgery with this second doctor, three techs simultaneously implanted the grafts, and they did it lightning fast. I was surprised how much faster they were implanting compared with what was done with the first doctor. The second doctor did not even start the surgery until after lunch. He said he does more than one patient per day.

To me, it is a visual disaster. You can see a distinct line. Everything forward of the line is strictly the sparse grafts. Everything behind the line is thicker. The grafts don't look real because hair generally does not grow sparsely over such a big area.

It breaks my heart that so many grafts were thrown down the toilet.

Here are after shots.

My first surgery turned out perfectly.

Here are the before shots.

It is actually funny because the deciding factor that made me pick this doctor is that a mod posted that he is good. And now, having an approximately 20% survival rate looks actually worse than than having a 0% survival rate because it is clearly not natural. When people naturally bald they don't leave a large region in the front with 20% coverage. My only option has been to brush the hair from the back to try to cover the front and to use Topik and Couvre, which cover the skin.

Yeah, I have pics. The mods do that?

I haven't confronted the doctor who did the botched job. He is in another country. He is recommended here, but does not charge much. The money is nothing to me. What matters is the 2200 hair grafts that were flushed down the toilet. I have thin donor density, and a very tight scalp.

Right before the second transplant, the doctor said I could never have a third FUT because I am so tight.

Now, two years later, I consulted in person with a brand new doctor recommended here, and he said he can do a third FUT and get 1500 grafts.

20% is my estimate. But I saw another doctor who is recommended here. This other doctor said the result was horrible, but since he does not bad mouth doctors, he would not say more. I casually mentioned "boy, not even 50% survived," and he said a lot less than that survived from the looks.

Now, I should add, with the first transplant, the doctor spread out the 2800 grafts all over the scalp. The second doctor spread the 2200 grafts all in the front. There was heavy, heavy bleeding. Someone very knowledgeable here said the reason doctors can never promise a certain density is that they first have to see how much bleeding follows. So it is possible the bad result came because the doctor was too aggressive putting a lot of grafts in a small area, despite the bleeding. The day after the second transplant, the second doctor did mention that the bleeding was now looking unfortunately heavy.

Where is the cheapest place to get topical finasteride?

They were both FUT's. They were both doctors recommended here. Both docs didn't seem to me to have much oversight of the techs sticking the grafts in. The techs for the second doctor put the grafts in a hundred times faster than the techs for the first doc.

In my first transplant, 95% of the grafts stuck. In my second transplant (with a different doctor), only 20% stuck. Does this sometimes happen from a randomness beyond the doctor's control? Does this bad result sometimes even happen with the best doctors?

The hair club for men is intentionally deceptive in their ad. They make it sound like some futuristic science, and are intentionally vague. They give the impression that they sew individual hair strands in between your natural hair. Instead, it is a wig taped on to your head, replaced every 3 weeks. How much does it cost, anyway, and how often do you have to buy a new wig?

Why did you choose a wig over a transplant? Too much loss for a transplant to matter?

1) How often do they have to re-glue it to your head?

2) Doesn't it itch?

3) How can it hold if you have real hair growing underneath?

So they are gluing a hair piece to your hair?