Pipj83

Hi mate. I understand what you're going through, completely. It really is important to realise, though, that there is a great deal more to you than your hair. It is a shame that people pick up on any perceived insecurity and, rather than take action to build themselves up, find it easier to use words to knock other people down. A hair transplant is a long term thing, but it's also a long haul procedure, nothing happens over night. I suggest that, if you're feeling depressed, think about some things you could do right now, independent of your hair, that could make you start feeling better in the short term. Exercise is great. Think about making marginal gains in all areas of your life. These will all add up over time and before you know it, you're confidence will have come on leaps and bounds. Please don't consign yourself to the sidelines for a year or so, waiting for your new hair to grow (if you have a transplant). Focus on a point, three months from now perhaps, and think how you might ideally be able to look. Sure, you'll wish you had more hair, but better to be a bloke who wishes he had more, is fit, healthy, and confident in other areas, than a bloke who just wishes he had more hair. There are areas of your life you are not helpless in - for the time being, why not focus on them? It is so important to realise that people with hair, haven't done anything brilliant to achieve that hair! Their pride is erroneous and most probably masques massive insecurities in other areas of their lives. Look at people like Andre Agassi as role models. Be proud of what you achieve, not what you have simply been given. Hope I don't sound too pretentious, just want you to start feeling better about yourself :-)

Hi everyone, hope you’re well? Would just like to say I think this site is great. It’s so heartening to see people so willing to lend advice and support so readily to people going through a similar thing. Been reading lots and lots lately, and in the spirit of sharing thought I might finally post and ask for some direct advice. Be great if you guys could give me your opinion. I’ve been losing my hair for most of my twenties. When I was about 25, I became really quite depressed about it, and allowed it to have a negative impact on other areas of my life. Uneducated and desperately unhappy, I went for a consultation at the Hospital Group in the UK, as it was close to where I live. I met with a man I considered to be a very transparent salesman indeed. I won’t go into detail, but the blatant identikit sales pitch made my skin crawl. Unfortunately, this experience at the time put me off the hair restoration industry completely. The positive outcome of this was that I came to realise that hair restoration is not a magic bullet to regaining self-esteem. While people have had fantastic results and have doubtlessly had their quality of life dramatically improved by some of the fantastic work I have seen on this site, it is obvious to me that hair and hair alone will not bring back your confidence. You can’t make a life changing decision like this when you’re young, desperate and vulnerable. So at 26, I shaved my head and resolved to focus on restoring order to my life in the areas that I could control. My profile pic might just look like some little bald bloke doing a funny pose at a party, but to me it’s significant because one year prior to this being taken, I looked completely different and was a total mess. Cheers for reading through the somewhat self- indulgent biography above. Sorry I couldn’t have made it a bit briefer, I’m not the most succinct, but for some reason I felt the need to share this; I figure if anyone would understand, it’d be you gentlemen here. The reason I am posting now is this: after living with the shaved head look for about four years, I feel I’m ready (both emotionally and financially), to enter into a rational dialogue and decision making process about something that is a source of insecurity for most men. Whilst my life is good, being bald is still very much something I’m putting up with, not choosing, and it does still get me down. If there were an option to improve this aspect of my appearance in any way, I’d happily take it. Who wouldn’t? So my question to you guys is this; am I too late to do anything about it? Although I think I look alright (you’re welcome to disagree, but please try not to be too savage lol) with shaved head, it’s actually quite a lot of work to do this all the time. In addition, I don’t like the contrast between the side of my head and the top, which becomes clear after just a day or two. Grr. I think it ages me (I’m only thirty) and it looks untidy. I realise I have advanced baldness for my age, and this could have possibly been addressed if I hadn’t sworn off everything to do with hair restoration after my Hospital Group consultation. I do regret not trying finasteride and minoxidil. However, my hopes are not ridiculously high – I’d really just like to improve my profile, and not be as bald as Larry David or Patrick Stewart (both brilliant baldies, by the way) in five years. My photos are not clear, unfortunately, because I have only left my hair to grow for a few days, and I know shaved head pics are really hard to judge. Also the lighting is bad and the quality of my webcam is quite poor. But you might be able to make out the advanced pattern (norwood 6-7?) and make some kind of judgement. Any input would be really gratefully received. Thanks guys. I’m so sorry that this is such a long, long post.