smitty49

Hi Everyone =) This is my first post on this site, as I have just joined. I am however, a long standing member on HLH (since june 2006) and a regular poster over there. I have had an extrememly positive experience there and while I try to visit the site at least once a week, and stay current on the technology, I am not really an internet guy, so while I read of the turmoil and some issues about "another site" I really never loooked into it, until today. I was very suprised at what I have read and decided to join this site as a result and share my thoughts. Firstly: I went to a butchered clinic over 5 years ago which left me scarred and very depressed. It was at this point during this depression when I realized the realities of HT's and began my long road of researching. It was on HLH 4 years ago that I came across the HT gods of Hairtransplants (i.e. hasson and wong) and had a repair surgery from Dr. Hasson of 1350 grafts which 6 months later restored my hairline, youth, looks and above all, happiness. I can't even begin to tell you every day when I wake up and come my long hair straight back how happy I am to have found HLH as they led me to Hasson and Wong. I am writing the above to denote my backstory as well as make a blanket statement: say what you will about HLH, it has saved and helped many newbies from going to a butcher and or like me, restoring their confidance by guiding us to a good clinic. It has been almost 3 years since my HT, I have no thought about hairloss, nor worries, yet I regulate that forum on a weekly basis out of a sense of obligation to pay it forward to the newer, younger guy who is where I was: I say this to give my background and state that I am writing this email without any direct contact ever with Farrell or admin over at HLH and do so out of my genuine belief of what that site has done for many including myself. THOUGHTS: Farrel and HLH: I will be the first to admit that I find Farrel at times harsh and abrassive, however, I do find him to be fair as more than lenient with "most" posters as long as they do not cross a personal line of attacking which would never be accepted in the real world, let alone online. I will also say that numerous threads about Armani are still there on HLH inlduing one which I began as a major campain to clarify and resoulte the claims in regards to armani. You can do a searh for "questions for armani clinic". Not once did farell state I could not ask questions, he said that I could not attack them however as there was a level of ethic and conduct on the forum which would be acceptable to a newbie coming on to the forum. THis was very smart on his side as it allowed the questions and issues about this clinic to be raised, while remaining in a debate manner rather than being personal. This is very important as when the "attitude era" of HLH began last year, I myself and many posters, including newbies were turned off by this. I have only once ever directly publicly on HLH stated my gripe with any poster, and this was LMS (losy my swagger). I will not say anything now that i have not said publicly on HLH; however, I was one of MANY regular posters who found his manner - not his message (I agree with his message) to be such a turn off, and annoyance as not only did he share his opionions in an abbrasive manner, he did so in numerous threads that had nothing to do with his ideology and would hijack the threads. I complained about this, and so did others, and to my understandind (and this is strictly my opinion) after numerous warnings from Farrell and others asking him to taper his attitude, was appropriately banned. I am only explaining this as there has been a lot in this thread suggesting that Farrel did something wrong (and while i disagree with some things Farrell does)in this regard, yet i believe that the loss of LMS on HLH was not a loss and in fact a gain as most of us would simply skip over threads which had been hijacked by him. I don't mean this rudely, but he bottom line of belief I have about these sites is that they are for the newbie and the information needs to be relayed in a non intimidating manner as so those who are new to these forums will be receptive to hear it. During the last year over at HLH this was not happening and banning of certain members has helped (at least in my opinion) the site return to an informative place: which i see as currently happening. I would like to say that for the most part i 95% agree with LMS and his message against armani and other butcher clinics, and 100% agree with his frustration, I simply did not at all agree with this approach which ultimately is why i believe he was banned. Again this is my interpretation of the situation. Farrell and Armani: I am not aware of what has happened, however, as a major reader and anit - armani person, I will simply tell you what I have found over my years of reading the thousands of posts over at HLH regarding Farrell and Armani. I have found no person to be a bigger proponent and request for proof of claims in a factual and argumentative manner with Armani and his clinic reps than Farrell. He spent thousands of posts challenging them and not allowing their claims to go unanswere and unaccounted: Based simply of the literature of posts on HLH (which is all there for you to read) I can only laugh at the idea that someone as vocal towards the Armani clinic would be in any way associated with them beyond a professional manner. They have now parted ways, ther is no new armani blogs on HLH. THANK GOD. There is a huge wealth of information which shows the clinic to be unethical liars. Thank god the PR has stopped and the site is back to doing what it should have been doing: helping the newbie. I have found a renewed joy in going to HLH becuase of these changes and am happy to see the site returning to its former self. ARMANI: I applaud what is being done here on this site to bring truth to what I had known about the shady results and underhandedness of the Armani clinic from my own personal consultations, over the phone and in person with them (I completely was shocked at the arrogance of the reps, however, I blatantly told Armani himself of his reputation online, and i was surprised at how calmly and well mannered and polite he was. I really did and do get the impression Armani genuinely cared) , but i also feel that as much as a site should discredit a bad doctors, the emphasis is about shining light on the positive clinics like hasson and wong, rahal (and even though he's not included on this site it seems) Dr. Umar. I applaud this site for doing what it is doing, but i also applaud HLH for doing what they are doing. Both is a means to an end. Different sites offer different things. Frankly I am happy to see a site that gets back to the issues of hair restoration in the hair transplant section and not bashing the same doctor and moving forward with the technology. I believe that we should be looking to posters like Reverse the Curse, hopeful, tksakalos, NicNitro etc: the vets who come here to push results and don't get emotionally invested in a virtual site to give us the best and most unbiased information. not those who have personal gripes and emotional problems and agendas. Sure I don't like what armani did, and I hated my HT from my butcher in Qubec City (dr. gnaud for those who want to know), but i had my repair surgery, I moved on: and my story of my encounters with these doctors is far more positive than attacking and bashing that has been going on on these sites. 1) Meet the doctors in person 2) educate yourself on the procedures, and see patients photos 3) Meet the patients in person with similar hair loss patterns and hair charactersitics as you 4) Dont pull the trigger to past (i.e. dont get an HT quickly) think about it, and be REALISTIC with what you can achieve. ABOVE ALL) Don;t get caught up in the hype, bs, politic of these sites; bottom line why we all came here in the first place is to fix our hairlosss. I can't believe how off toping and personal it has become. Just my 2 cents. Smitty