jjbluejeans

6 minutes ago, Rossybop said:

Cool! Glad to hear you're doing ok on it. What difference does it make if you take it at night though?

No idea! That was the other guy who said take it at night. Maybe because that way it metabolizes while you're asleep and you sleep right through any possible downsides when it's at it's freshest? No clue.

1 hour ago, Rossybop said:

Interesting. What's the difference between taking fin in the morning as opposed to night time? Also what difference does it make if you lift weights?

Ross.

I've been taking finasteride and minoxidil both since I was 21 and I am now 39. I've never had any of the purported side effects, but I've also consistently kept a low level of body fat and done regular weightlifting and keep a clean diet with supplements to round out my amino profile. 

Lower libido is common as we age if we aren't taking steps to keep ourselves fit and healthy. This is not to say that the OP is mistaken; I have no doubt that if he observed a sharp decline and knows that the finasteride is the only new factor to consider, that he is accurate in his assessment. 

 I can't say with any certainty, given I've been both on finasteride and training regularly for decades, but I feel like if finasteride was having any effect on my libido that my health regimen is either entirely negating it or it just wasn't happening to me in the first place. Or maybe I started on it so young that my body learned to handle it?

Not a humblebrag, but none of the romantic partners I've had in my life have ever matched my libido levels. I remember hearing about how fin was causing lowered libido years ago and joking to myself that it would be nice to be less randy all the damn time. 

On 6/27/2019 at 10:58 AM, Melvin-Moderator said:

@HLPToronto

Most bodybuilders go bald because they inject inhumanly amounts of testosterone and other exogenous hormones in to their body. There’s literally only a few bodybuilders that even have any hair left.

Jay Cutler, Dennis Wolf and Dorian Yates. The rest bald as eagles.

Don't forget the Titan, Mike O'Hearn, but he is, of course, "natty."

On 12/5/2020 at 8:20 AM, champybaby said:

Some people will tell you that yes, it will. Personally, I believe that if it did make a difference, that the difference would be negligible. But I sincerely do not believe this impacts hair loss. Taking meds like fin are significantly more important, imo.

I've been lifting consistently for about 4 years now. I recently had my second FUT surgery and began lifting and taking creatine + my whey protein powder about 3.5 weeks after surgery. I do suggest easing into your lifting routine and not going balls to the wall if you got a FUT; you don't want to stretch the scar. I imagine this will be a non issue at the 6 week mark.

I also recommend taking a shower and washing your scalp immediately after you get back from gym. Personally, I recommend using only conditioner, something like Panteen with extra hydration. Aside, I believe lifting improves healing, growth. I have no scientific evidence to suggest that, but I healed quick (and much faster than my first HT, where I wasn't lifting or nearly as active).

I sincerely believe this forum should start talking about diet, exercise as part of the overall HT journey, but that's just my personal two bits and it's ok if anyone here disagrees with anything I said.

Late to this discussion but wanted to say I'm in alignment with @champybaby here. I'm of the opinion that getting back to "Work" helped with my healing and regrowth each time as it's known that exercise increases growth hormone production, which in turn aids in healing and regrowth, as well as helps regulate our overall hormonal balance for optimal recovery.

I take a daily regimen including amino acids, proteins, collagen, and superfoods. I also lift daily and use my rower and take long walks every day. I am about 40 days out since my most recent surgery and seeing decent coverage already. I began doing light exercise again at exactly the four week mark, but resumed my supplement regimen the day after surgery. 

@home1212 that's the irony of it, right? I spend several several thousand dollars on surgeries and prescriptions and then people tell me, "I liked your shaved head!" Haha

12 minutes ago, home1212 said:

great journey ! and you definitely had the right look for a shaved/bald head btw

@home1212 Thanks! It's one of those things you never have any idea until you try it, haha. You may discover you have a weird head shape or an unknown birthmark. 

2 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

He probably dropped by to do a review and left. Most guys don’t stick around, I’m sure he wrote this review as a good gesture to Dr. Diep. We can’t expect everyone to stick around or be as thorough as @jjbluejeans it would be nice, but doesn’t always happen that way.

@Melvin-Moderator I am quarantining myself post-my most recent FUE and working for home, also I type fast and I just never sleep it seems, haha. I'm also accustomed to being patient and thorough from a background in mentoring, training and teaching.

1 hour ago, WildBlueberry said:

Thanks for the thorough reply @jjbluejeans! How short are you able to buzz your sides without scarring showing?

After my first two FUEs I have had it shaved all the way down most of the time for different film and tv roles. I play a lot of military/police type roles. No one's ever remarked on it. Having my hair long is something I wasn't able to try until quarantine started since no one was making me shave my head for roles anymore.Here's some photo and video of me with shaved head and post-FUE:
 

47 minutes ago, WildBlueberry said:

You look great for 39! This last surgery will def make u happier. Are you on any treatments? Did Diep say how many grafts u have left?

@WildBlueberry He did not specify an estimation of remaining donor supply or ideas about future treatments, though he did offhandedly remark during my recent surgery last month that he wanted to "leave something for later" and that's why we didn't go for more than the 1500-1800. I think from that I can infer he believes there's more that I could work with if I so desired once we see the results of this surgery in a year. 

And thanks! I drink a lot of water and eat my veggies ; ) I legitimately feel like I'm looking and feeling better now than in my college days even aside from just the hair aspect, but that's the thing with youth, right? 

As to other treatments, as indicated above I'm on daily oral Minoxidil (5mg daily) and Finasteride (1mg daily). Outside of that, I on my own and not based on any suggestion from any doctor do the following. Please note I'm not a doctor or an expert, this is just what I subject myself to daily and it's all over the counter stuff:
- Daily Multivitamin
- Daily Fish Oil (standard RDA)
- Daily Calcium Plus D (standard RDA)
- Daily 2 Grams Glutamin
- Daily 4.8 Grams Beta-Alinine
- Daily 114mg or about that Arginine
- Daily 20 Grams Collagen Peptides
- Daily Biotin and Zinc
- Twice Daily Vegan Protein Shake with Amino Mix and Superfood Mix added
- Nightly 850mg GABA
- Nightly 5mg Melatonin
- Once or twice a week Manuka Honey facial and on any scars for 20 minutes

It looks like a LOT on paper, I realize, but really I just wake up, walk to the kitchen, and take most of this all at once with my morning shake. Once you get in the routine it becomes second nature. Also note none of the above, aside from obviously the finasteride and minxodil, did I start doing specifically for my hair. Most of this is about optimizing health/fitness and growth hormone production, which may have indirectly helped with how well my FUEs have healed over the years.

I also manage this without being an exhorbitantly wealthy person. I'd estimate my supplement spending monthly is around $250ish. I get things either at Target, off Amazon, or from my buddy's GNC.
 

@RandoBrando517 yes, been on Fin for a very very long time and no issues with side effects. I started it before my first surgery but I honestly can't say it was doing much or not. I've kept taking it though just because the cost was negligible and I didn't want to chance it was playing a bigger role than I could tell.

35 minutes ago, RandoBrando517 said:

I hope I can get a similar outcome. Would you say you have thin hair or thick hair? Ive heard that thick haired guys get better results 

I've definitely had thin hair most of my life, by my assessment. It was always limp and straight and only with a lot of manipulation did I ever feel confident with it. I hated wind, I hated the rain, I wouldn't get in pools at friends' houses because I didn't want people to see how my hair looked when it wasn't carefully coiffed and curated. Except at the back; the lower back of my hair was always pretty good. Everything else, man, even the slightest extra backlight or headlight made it disappear.

Oh! Edited to add: I've always had hair that gets oily fast, too. Like I just produce crazy scalp oil somehow. 

If it's of any interest, my mother is half Native American on her father's side and half European/White on her mother's side. My dad was just white, white, white all the way down and VERY bald. My brother still has extremely dense, black hair to this day even though he's been in and out of prison and on drugs most of his life. Meanwhile I've never even sipped alcohol, always took my vitamins, ate right, and exercised my whole life but somehow I am the one who had genetically bad hair and teeth and lost my hair young.
 

Just now, RandoBrando517 said:

Your hair looks damn good. I used to have long hair parted like that gives me some hope

There's definitely hope, friend. I'm excited to see how it looks once I grow it back out after this most recent surgery!

9 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Is this your YouTube channel? 

@Melvin-Moderator No, friend's channel, it's just one of several that I appear on from time to time. My own channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/thelostanimals/videos but it's been a VERY long time since I updated anything there. 

@RandoBrando517  Oh and I forgot your total grafts question. When I took the photos with long hair I had probably gotten a little shy of 4000 total? But that was with some massive time in between. About ten years between sessions. (First session maybe around 1200-1500 with Dr. Wasserbauer, I don't remember, and the more recent 2500 session with Dr. Diep in 2019.)

I also just got back from a second session with Dr. Diep, for my third FUE, and I'm coming up on the end of my second week of recovery.


 

2 hours ago, RandoBrando517 said:

Do you have any more pictures with long hair? I always thought long hair and short hair needed more density. 

@RandoBrando517 I'll do you one better, here's some video: (Just keep in mind I don't consider this my best work, just a quick cameo part I did as a favor for a friend ) (Timestamp should start it at 9:21 if it didn't embed properly)
 

3 hours ago, Gatsby said:

What an excellent write up @jjbluejeans! Yes you do look good with the shaved look but I also love to see hair transplants that are grown out! Yours looks excellent as well. Do you know how many grafts you have had in total over the three procedures? Happy growing and I look forward to you future updates. All the best!

I would estimate around 5700-5800 total between the three surgeries? Of course the most recent one I don't know how it will look yet, so the 'long hair' photos are the result of just the previous running total of around 4000? I don't know for certain anymore exactly how many I did in my very first surgery because it was a decade ago at this point.

13 minutes ago, AB2000 said:

Glad it worked out for you after so many years.  You are fortunate with your hair loss in that your crown didn't open up like it does for many men when they go bald.  That means a less amount of transplanting needed to catch up.

@AB2000 thank you for the supportive words, friend; the hair at what I like to call my "nubs," basically where the Wolverine horns would be if I had Wolverine hair, has always been remarkably dense compared to the rest of my hair. I think they could probably harvest it a time or two more before it ever goes "normal." The tradeoff, though, being I always had a massive amount of real estate on the ol' forehead and any kind of backlighting lit my thin frontal hairline up like a halo. 

I could do some mean pigtails in my day, though...

@TrialAcc I am currently 39, about to turn 40. I forget my exact age when I did my first procedure, the one with Dr. Wasserbauer. I was maybe 27 or 28?

I'm not sure how to assess my donor supply. There's a photo of the back of my head and sides from just this week in my last update in the thread, though. I know that originally my latest surgery with Dr. Diep was planned for only 1500 grafts originally but he managed to work a lot more in. He had been honest with me prior to surgery though that he didn't want to do much more than that because he wanted to leave "Something for later." So I don't know if that means my donor is still good? 

As to my crown, my very first surgery with Dr. Wasserbauer kept my hairline very close to what it was, even though it was more or less gone. Instead I asked her to focus on keeping a nice, consistent density all throughout my scalp, so she definitely kept the distribution of graft equal between "reinforcing" my hairline and filling in the rest. 

Lastly, on the topic of "hair systems," yeah, those aren't uncommon, but I knew that for me I wanted the real thing. I do a lot of action roles and I didn't want to be in a position of constantly running back to hair and makeup for touchups. 

@Melvin-Moderator That's awesome! I take it we must be in the same areas and probably have some mutual friends, haha. And yeah, I used to get compared to both Justin Chatwin and Aaron Paul a lot, especially when he was rocking the shaved head Jesse Pinkman look  Thanks for reading!

@TrialAcc Definitely, friend. I don't know if you've been back to this post now that I finished the story, but I have a lot of flexibility now letting my hair go long or keeping it shaved. No one's ever looked at my shaved head even after having two FUEs and remarked on anything about it. Sometimes I think it'll be ironic if I am now able to grow my hair but casting directors just prefer me bald, haha. 
 

That's my story so far. My recent surgery was only two weeks ago and I'm feeling good. 

If anyone is interested, I have a pretty hefty regimen of supplements that I take because of my stunt work and fitness goals, which I think may have helped with my recovery. On a daily basis, I take a superfood mix, vegan protein, an amino acids drink, and a scoop of collagen mixed in. Along with that is a standard multivitamin, fish oil, Calcium with D, biotin, and GABA. 

I've also continued taking generic finasteride and oral minoxidil. 

I know it's pretty late so not a lot of folks are online but let me know if you guys want me to keep this updated. And if you have ANY questions I will be totally transparent and honest with my answers.

I'll also accept any offers for future film and tv roles if you have one of those for me

Final update, I ended up doing what I hope to be a final session, at least for a long time. I went back to Dr. Diep because of the phenomenal results and we placed, if I recall correctly, just shy of 1900 new grafts. Right now I'm in week 2 of recovery and I've had extremely little scabbing or discomfort. I definitely feel like almost all of the grafts took.

This time around, I felt much more confident letting my hair grow. It definitely had it's awkward phase, but this was me in the last year:



I definitely feel so much better. And I feel like myself again. Needless to say, I was impossibly impressed with Dr. Diep's results.

I went in to see him around December of 2020 for a check-in and to discuss a future procedure. He said he almost never gets to see patients who grow their hair long so he was pretty excited to see how it looked, too!

I gave Dr. Diep a call and we chatted and I trusted in his assurances and lo and behold, this was me about two weeks out from my surgery with him. Everything was fine! Trust in the process, guys!:

 

I decided I wanted to give it another go. I was older now, and making better money, so I did my research and finally decided to give Dr. Diep a try. I, like many, had seen the videos and photos of the insanely dense looking hairlines he'd produced. I met with him and took every bit of his advice and let him steer the experience. I told him I'd give him my trust on what he thinks is best. We ended up scheduling an FUE of 2500 grafts for March 14th of 2019. 

I was kinda surprised, because I had been conscious and awake for my entire procedure with Dr. Wasserbauer, so I didn't expect, doing another FUE with Dr. Diep to not remember it at all afterward. I just know I got home, haha. 

I followed Dr. Diep's post-surgery instructions to the letter and then some, taking even more time off than was suggested from the gym, but as I began healing I felt that similar feeling again that I had ruined myself. I had very dense, black scabbing and in areas it looks like there was nothing but bare skin between the wounds. 

See that sorta lightning strike pattern that looks like absolutely hairless pale skin? That scared the hell out of me.