UnbaldEagle

Oh, you wore a hat? How does the “just had a HT” hat look like? What do you think, how long before it’s safe to wear one? Some surgeons say 4-5 days, others at least 10.

So I'm trying to conceal my HT for my flight back home and this is the best I can come up with. While I think I've solved how Donald Trump does his combovers (trust me, it's not that easy - first you have to brush it forward, then bend it in 45 degrees at the ends then take some hair from the sides (not all as that would clearly look like a combover, just some carefully selected fringes), and kinda making some final adjustments here and there to mitigate the comboveriness of it all. I look ridiculous. I actually laughed out loud looking at it, so I don't mind if you guys ridicule me. My hair is also frizzy from all that spraying and no conditioner in like 6 days and my face is still bloated, discolored, etc. so I'm really in the super ugly duckling phase way before the actual ugly duckling phase. But it covers the transplanted more or less.

Also, if you look at this guy, he's still good looking with a shaved head, very much so, he's full of attractive facial qualities, BUT I would say he dropped from a 9 to a 6 on a scale where 10 is Tony Mahfud and 1 is that bald Turkish taxi driver with a missing front tooth we often see in memes who forgot to go to Hair of Istanbul (wait, what?). I mean.. see the before and after and let me know if you disagree. Oh, and we're speaking of an exceptionally good looking guy here, so I don't think the "just shave it off bro" applies to average or below-average looking guys.

Wow, this video kinda shattered me.. First of all, I feel really sorry for the guy. Actually I've seen him before on Instagram, he's a quite successful model with 350K followers, just never thought he was wearing a hairpiece! Now, having such an aggressive hair loss and getting a HT at 19 was just meant to be a disaster. BUT the sad reality is we're "all" virtually in the same boat, on borrowed time, except maybe more? I'll explain how with different scenarios. Worst case scenario: HT before 25, no meds. Native hair disappears in 5-10 years, that's how long they'll be able to "enjoy" their new hairline. Next HT will have to cover a LOT of area in the midscalp, so they'll have a depleted donor and bald crown that will just keep expanding slowly. A few more years down the line and the problem exacerbates, the sides will start to drop and they'll have an island of hair in the center with a permanent low hairline but it will just look so bad and apparent they'll have to shave it off. And I mean fully shave it off, every 2-3 days or so (no idea how often the clean shaven baldies do that) because otherwise the pattern I mentioned will show. But then there's the FUE scars showing on clean shaven heads. G-d forbid they had an FUT. Best worst case scenario: HT at a young age (preferably still after 25) but very slowly progressing MPB and a family history of the same / HT at a young age having been on meds for years, stabilized hair loss. They'll be able to cover the losses with a HT say every 10-15 years if need be, that is if they'll go to a good doctor who knows how to preserve the donor. There's no guarantee for this scenario either, mainly because I've seen cases where somebody had a slowly progressing hair loss in their twenties only to lose it all in a few years in their thirties. Or what if meds stop working. You see where I'm getting, it can still lead to point 1. Acceptable scenario: HT at a mature age (minimum after 30), hair loss stabilized with meds OR a Norwood pattern in the lower ranges. I'd say this category is the safest, they'll still lose some native hair as there's something called senescent thinning that combined with MPB still wreaks some damage over decades, but you know, it's kinda okay to be semi-bald at 60-70.

I'd be worrying more about being exposed to hot sunlight and heat (not in issue in Ireland this time of year - or anytime for that matter 😁) from what I read it's excessive sweating that could hurt the grafts most, hence the reason why exercising is not recommended in the first weeks. Avoid strong wind, but as for rain and snow, I don't think so. Saved you an extra spraying!

Thank you so much, buddy. 👏

Rossybop, were people staring at your hair a lot? I'm scared shitless as I'll have to wait around 4 hours in Heathrow, quite a busy airport.

I agree, full-time care assistants is the only safe way. 😍

I forgot to add, I owe a big thanks to @Doron Harati who is not just a patient coordinator, but a very patient one at that too, if you permit the wordplay. I'm rather hard to deal with, we had many, many rounds of "negotiations" and different ideas on what can and can not be done. Overall, he's been very supportive and made this happen even after I couldn't make it to the first appointment.

Wow, looks like another Eugenix masterpiece! 👏 You really needed those temple points with such a low hairline, good work!

Every 15 minutes according to HDC, at least in the first 2 days and then every hour or so.

Thank you John, appreciate the kind words. 🙏

Henlo friends, I had an FUE procedure of 1800 grafts on Monday 07.12.20 at HDC with Dr. Maras. Should have been a week earlier, however I could not leave the UK at that time. Background So I have already shared some details in my initial post where I was considering several surgeons, but I'll collect and summarize everything here. I'll tell you guys "what happened", it's literally how Dr. Maras asked me to describe my hair loss situation. Started losing my hair at the age of 19. I had really long hair and a friend of mine pointed out that it's getting thinner and it's probably because I was lacking the vitamins to support a long hair. I went to my barber for confirmation, of course he said the same, so I cut my hair really short and realized that my hair was indeed a lot less dense and the hairline started creeping back too. Obviously I went through the denial stage, partly because I did the mistake of asking my family's oppinion. They all said I'm not balding, I always had thin hair, etc. I have no idea how on earth I was not considering the fact that apart from my brother (lucky NW1 bastard ), pretty much every single male on both side of my family is suffering from MPB like NW5-6 stages. So yeah, my biggest regret is not taking action when I could have reversed things. I did take some natural supplements like saw palmetto, biotin but that was it. Fast forward 4-5 years and again somebody kindly pointed out that I'm going bald. Again, I grew my hair out so it kinda disguised things, but a new short haircut revealed the actual damage. First of all, my temples were receded to NW3, but the worst thing is I had low density all over and a small bald spot in the crown area I have never even seen before! At that point it was pretty clear to me that give another 5 years and I'll be slick bald just like my cousins. But I also realized that I simply CAN'T be bald, first of all I don't have the right head shape and style and body (I'm fairly short and very thin) to shave it all off, and second, I believe it's something Melvin said once that having no hair just felt like.. it was not him. I had that same feeling all my life, hair is a part of my identity, and losing that would be like losing myself forever. I don't want to be so melodramatic, hair loss affects us all emotionally, but for some people it's a deep trauma, one that can not be erased as you look into the mirror every day, right? I've been depressed due to my hair loss, I spent a lot of time, money and energy in treatments, furthering my education in the subject and in between I had a life too, for sure, been in relationships, had friends, a job that I really like, but overall it was more like a half-life, one somewhat constantly crippled by the emotional trauma, loss of confidence and whatnot. If you're afflicted in the same way and just wanna talk, I'm here anytime. Treatment I started doing some research in desperation, came across a treatment-based forum called hairlosshelp (which is sadly defunct by now) and posted my story, got some honest advice and a few weeks later I started taking finasteride. Guys, this was like 11 years ago and I remember fin side effects were just.. I'm not gonna say non-existent, but I honestly don't recall ever reading anyone complaining of them. It was pretty straightforward back in the days: guys shared their story, got fin and minox "prescribed" and then posted some results 6-12 months later, mostly positive ones. In the last few years however, and especially most recently there's this new generation of hair loss sufferers who either wouldn't even dare touch fin or would complain of sides after taking a pill or two. "I can't take fin because it's causing constipation" was the "funniest" I've read. Anyway, I'm straying away from the subject and while I'm not saying fin side effects are not real, it's just weird these days "everyone" seems to be experiencing them. I can honestly say finasteride saved my hair, I've been maintaining my native hair since and even regrew some hair in the crown thanks to going down the anti-androgen - almost HRT - route. I don't wanna enlist all the things I've been using because it would require a new thread. Currently my regimen consists of fin every day, 0.5 mg dut every week or so, 100 mg spironolactone (decreased it from 200 mg after obvious sides) and topical minox (as well as low-dose oral) every day. Lately I've been considering the addition of a mixture of bimatoprost and minoxidil w/ dermarolling and topical dutasteride from Dr. Lupanzula. Last year I had an FUE of 1200 grafts at a clinic I'd rather not name (not a hair mill, more like in the mid-range but I should have went to a top clinic in the first place), they filled in my temples (I had some patchy vellus hair there, but was essentially a NW3) and the final result was a still patchy NW2-2.5. I estimate about 60% of the transplanted hair grew back. Pictures before the surgery with Dr. Maras These pictures were taken quite recently. Picture no. 1 reveals my main hair loss issues. As you can see, I've got diffuse thinning (most prominently in the frontal areas) and a very thinned out left temple region. The right side is actually okay. However if I styled my hair the right way (2nd pic) it could camouflage the thin regions in a way that somebody just recently said I've got a "full head of hair". Which is very, very far from the truth. For those wondering, it's not a combover, lol, you can see the top on the 3rd pic and the way it's parted. Next pictures reveal the crown and mid-scalp region, the latter is alright, however the crown is still a bit thin (although no longer have a bald spot thanks to meds). Last picture shows my donor area, well, it's hard to judge anything from that because I had long hair. RIP dear ponytail, see you in a year or so. Pictures after the surgery I'm not a big fan of pictures taken immediately after surgery where patients look like they were mauled by a lion, but hey, nothing gory means no glory, right? So I'll just share one. Now I analyzed my hairline in great detail, but even on this pic you can clearly see just how many singles HDC used, if you zoom in you can see the difference in the first 3-4 "rows" and the chunkier, bigger looking grafts behind it. Although I've read somewhere you can not always accurately judge this right after the procedure as some singles could appear thicker at their base. Anyway, my preliminary judgement is that the work is really, really good. The next 3 pics were taken yesterday, just ignore the face, pls, it's swollen, bloated, I look horrible. And lastly, 2 pictures of my donor area under different lighting conditions. Dr. Maras said that my donor area looks like it was never touched by surgery and I could get a few more surgeries. Sadly, I think he was very generous, I don't believe that's the case. Looking at my donor it seems to be mostly depleted, just too sparse, I could get maybe one smaller procedure in the future but that's it, I must maintain with treatment from now on. Also, for those saying that FUE is a scarless procedure, check out those FUE scars on the last pic. My heart sunk when I saw it, but hey, it's a trade off, I'm not complaining, but just be wary of this. Some people simply scar better than others, and while it's still not as bad as a FUT scar, but hey, that's the reality of HTs. I asked for a full report of the singles, doubles, etc. And will post it if anyone's interested. I asked Dr. Maras and he said the quality of my donor is really good (they could not detect any minituarization – I'm really glad HDC is checking this!) and was consisting of mostly triples and quads, which is great for density. I had only about 120 singles after extraction, so they microscopically discected 500 more just for the hairline. I think that's great and goes to show why HDC's results appear so natural. Any questions or comments are very much welcomed.

Long day but well worth it. No pain no gain, in a year or so you'll be rocking this new hairstyle. Tbh I was kinda worried of Saifi's initial graft quote, but looking at your pics it's perfectly realistic and I think the density should be fine too. I've got bigger zigzags in my hairline, but yours still appears aesthetically well delivered even now. Have you got any close-up pics of the temples perhaps?

I hear what you're saying. Sure, it's very complex, that's for sure. I think as long as it's not Turkish kebab cheap botchery most HTs pass as "natural", at least to the layman. We're more critical because we've seen 100s of HT results and can discern the difference. Again, it's how our brain registers a set number of hairlines as "natural" or "transplant-suspect", etc. For instance, I have a colleague who had the same kinda hairline for years, absolutely no ongoing recession, but that crown is sure thinning. I'm not sure why I couldn't tell it's probably HT, but now that I sneak-peeked his hairline a couple of times, I can see Turkey. Hair of Instanbul most likely.

For sure, a good surgeon measures the density of the adjacent parts first and transplants accordingly. That's what Dr. Maras did in my case, and then transplanted evenly in the frontal areas, kinda everywhere so that it would match the areas behind it. I heard Bisanga does the same. Well, I guess pretty much all the elites.

Yes. Some might think it's overkill to take both, but here's some encouraging news: Finasteride and Low-Dose Dutasteride Combination Treatment

Where do you live then, Hairtransplandia? 😁 By unnatural you probably mean "asymmetrical", "irregular", etc., but we've seen like 150,000 of these throughout our lives so it's only natural (pun intended) that our brain registers them as gifted by mother nature and not surgery. A Drake hairline looks kinda nice and symmetrical and all but give that to a 50 year old white dude and it's tragicomical.

Actually, that's how I take it. Fin ED, dut every week or so, usually when I remember. Doesn't really matter, has such a long half-life.

Capsule powder of dut and cream version of minoxidil? Wow, I've never heard of these variations yet. 😁 Or by cream minox do you mean foam? That wouldn't be good, needs to be dissolved in alcohol, powder dutasteride in liquid minox should do the trick.

Are you happy with your hairline? Couldn't really tell from the pics as they are a bit blurry.

You could compound it yourself (either professionally with propylene glycol) or just pouring the contents of say 20-30 caps of dut into minoxidil, they are soft gels so should dissolve better than crushing fin tablets. Or from a renowned surgeon who makes it himself: Topical Dutasteride From Dr. Lupanzula - Fue Hair Doctor

Either way it was a good idea as having no temple points just makes your forehead look bigger and wider, not to mention kinda revealing you had a HT too. Also, since you're not too keen coming back for a touch-up HT in a year, it was the best time to do it! 👏

I agree, it's a very good result for 2500 grafts, I can't see the full extent of your pre-transplant baldness, but looks like your temples were gone with the bridge being very weak too.

Frankly, you've got a lot of options treatment wise because you're young and your hair loss is fairly recent (I mean I'm assuming it must be). Usually follicles are still alive for 5-6 years after not producing any - or just vellus - hair. PRP works but sadly the gains are not permanent, you'd have to repeat the treatment sessions every year or so. Yes, 10% minoxidil with microneedling is a brilliant idea, in fact, some of the best results I've seen recently were coming from the minoxmaxer dudes. Could very well increase your overall hair density! Also, would you consider topical dutasteride? Imo it's better than any other topical antiandrogen out there. As for growth stimulants, alfatradiol is worth a shot, works for some people. Also, keto shampoo is a must, part of the "big 3". Oh, and bimatoprost, there were some studies back in the days it actually works better than minox, however it was super expensive when it first came out and tried it (I think something like $600 for a month's supply?) so eventually I stopped using it but I remember it turned a lot of my vellus hair to terminal. I've seen much cheaper generic versions since. These are the ones that come to my mind, I think your goal right now is to increase density and preserve your native hair (you're taking fin, so let's hope you've got this last one covered).