Steeeve

It was a little tender, yeah. I used and continue to use a brush with large wooden bristles. Honestly, I pretty much stole (we’ll say I liberated it) the brush from my wife. I wouldn’t suggest a fine toothed comb. I would use a brush with rubber or wooden bristles once the sutures come out. I don’t brush my hair all that often to be perfectly honest. I grew my hair out specifically in case I dealt with any shockloss. Typically what I do once I step out of the shower is just run my hands through my hair and let it air dry. I could cut my hair shorter, I’m sure. When I went to Dr Arocha for my one month check up he said I could probably cut it down to a 3 or 4. I didn’t really have the balls to try that though as I felt like I was still suffering with some shockloss in the donor but I’ll probably go a little shorter on my next haircut. I plan on cutting my top and sides much shorter once the hairs get a little longer so that everything will be more uniform. That’s happening fast for me, though.

Thanks for checking out my thread@HLPToronto! I’ve been following your progress with Dr. Bhatti, as well. I absolutely consider Dr Arocha to be a top doc. All the best with your continued progress, buddy! I’m looking forward to your final result.👍🏻🙂

@Mr S, your hair looks absolutely amazing for only 5 months, man! Congrats!!

It typically takes 3 to 6 months. Worst case scenario up to a year.

Hey @LeonSlack, thanks for reaching out! No, I don’t think there was anything I could do. I’ve been on Fin since 2012 and I honestly think that my shockloss would’ve been worse had I not been on it for so long. Finasteride is your best deterrent against shockloss from what I understand. I definitely could’ve done a better job cleaning around my sutures. I had a little infection on my right side and I believe that might’ve contributed to my right side being a little wider than the rest of the scar. I took these this morning which would be 10 weeks post-op today. The pictures don’t show it but there’s stubble all in those baron looking areas around the scar. Good luck on your procedure, Leon. You won’t regret it! I hope that you post your progress on the forum.

I’m with Melvin on this one. Shave your head first and then see how you feel about it. I would say to stay away from hair transplants if you feel nervous about the scars. It is not a scarless procedure and despite what others might tell you “regular people” can absolutely see them if you buzz your hair down. A 2 or 3 are typically safe options for your clippers depending on how you scar. Some guys don’t scar as well as others and they can be quite visible with a very close cut. Do some digging on the forum. Lots of guys post their ongoing FUE procedures and show pics of their donor shaved down post FUE. Two users on the forum that come to mind are Yaz89 and Gatsu. Yaz had work done with Asmed and Gatsu went with Lupanzula for a 3rd procedure on his temples. With respect both guys have had phenomenal results once their hair had grown out but they post some very realistic pictures both pre and post transplant of what their donor looks like with a shaved head. Search their names in the search tool to see if you would be willing to buzz it down with those scars. You can also make the argument that the pictures you’ll see are shaved with no guard. That to me though is what a buzz cut looks like. Both of those guys keep their hair fairly short and the scars aren’t visible but they by no means “buzz” their hair down. Another way to look at it is that if you’re going to spend thousands of your hard earned dollars on an elected procedure then why would you shave your head? I understand your dilemma-the fear of the transplant failing (everyone having had a transplant share your same worries)-but if you do some solid research and pick a good surgeon the chances of it failing drop drastically. Good luck, buddy.

Thanks @made2care!

Sunday was my two month mark. I’ve been very under the weather and really haven’t felt like putting any photos together. The photos I grabbed this evening are in extremely unflattering light and the quality isn’t the best in my opinion. When I feel a little better I’ll get some better quality pictures. Not much to report at the moment. I look as if I haven’t done anything to my hair which is pretty great for 2 months as far as i’m concerned. Everything seems to be going/growing well. Sensation is slowly coming back to my scalp. The grafts that didn’t shed, which was the majority of them I believe, have continued to grow though they’re still not quite long enough to have made a huge cosmetic difference yet with it only being 2 months. I see little black dots of stubble in between my native hair which I guess is the hairs that shed already starting to make an appearance. My scar is a little sensitive and a little itchy but I can’t really complain about it. It’s more of an observation. It’s still pink but the hairs that fell out around it have already started growing back. The PRP is really doing its job. Those preexisting hairs are really thickening up. When I tilt my head down you can see that my hair is still thin but it’s getting harder to see my scalp. It’s really exciting! As I said I’ll grab some better quality pics when I feel a little better. Grow well everyone and be good people.✌🏻

Looks great @made2care! Very natural. So much body to it! Congratulations!!! And you’ve still got time for it to mature even more!

I tried to post these yesterday, at my 6 weeks post-op mark, but life happened. If you tap/click and zoom in on the photos you can see the grafts that clung on. The hairs don’t feel so bristly anymore. They’re much softer now which I’m taking as a sign that they’re growing. I don’t know why they wouldn’t... I mean, they’re definitely still a little bristly but nearly as much as they were. Life is beginning anew up there. Hopefully this trend continues.

Thank you @made2care. I’ve never seen stubble just not grow. I’m sure there’s an explanation and that Dr Arocha would be able to answer it upon inspection. Good luck!

Pretty outstanding density in that hairline! I’d be super psyched about that crown, too! 👍🏻👌🏻

Hey @made2care, thanks for checking out my thread! I’ve been following your thread since the beginning of your journey with Dr Arocha. Congratulations back to you, man! You’ve made some excellent gains! I’m looking forward to your next update.👍🏻

First haircut post-op. As I said in a reply a little further up Dr Arocha said I could go down to a 3 or a 4. I didn’t really want to go that low just yet and my barber agreed. I told him right off the bat that I had had an operation done last month. He was shocked. Upon outward appearance I just looked like I always look before I need a haircut. Then he combed through the back of my head and saw the scar. After his assessment of the scar he decided to play it safe and start with a 6 and then do comb over scissor. I respected his decision. We decided to not touch the top just yet and let it continue to let it grow. I was really nervous but he was awesome about it. Totally easy going as he just wanted to give me a haircut that suited what I needed at the moment. I think he was nervous about exposing my scar, as well. This is generally how I wear my hair.

Thanks @Melvin-Moderator! Yeah, dude. Even before I had the transplant I had settled on needing fibers for the future. Transplant or no, fibers can turn a pretty decent quaff into an outstanding head of hair. Of course, it would be awesome to never need fibers at all but I don’t think I’ll ever have a full looking crown with a transplant alone. It’s just too barren up there. My hope is that PRP will do the trick and that I can just add fibers along the way. I couple fibers with DermMatch and I find that the results are stellar. Instead of going with a lot of one thing or the other I use a little bit of this and a little bit of that to get the best results. Concealers are a life saver, though. I could be wrong about my crown. I may be able to add a little something to it one day. Only time will tell.