Balding Bad

Interested to see how this is progressing. Please keep us updated OP!

Fantastic results! Congrats man!

Wow, very impressive at 5 months indeed!

Are you serious..? But @Hairfulthinking, any updates man?

Thanks for your words of encouragement because I was actually becoming slightly anxious/paranoid regarding my results so far. I've been seeing other patients blow it out of the water at their 4 month mark and my results are paltry in comparison...but I still got many more months ahead! Gotta stay positive! 😆

Incredible! 😲 I'd be thrilled with a fraction of his success!

Damn, congrats on the sick results! As someone who's only 4-month post-op, your results during the same time frame are blowing mine away! I hope I can catch up!

Haha I'm hoping I graduate earlier though, maybe around the 5 or 6 month mark!

Results were probably great, which is why we haven't heard from him!

APRIL 21, 2023 UPDATE (121 DAYS POST-OP) Well, a day late, but that's fine. I'm sure no one minds. Meant to do this yesterday, but life... Anyways, I am officially at the 4 month mark post-op! After browsing this forum, I had seen some amazing transformations at this timeframe and I was lowkey hoping I'd be one of those, who was a rapid grower during this month, but, admittedly and sadly, this is not the case! It's okay cause I did temper my expectations...but overall, I am making noticeable progress daily. Comparing where I'm at now versus where I was in February 2023, the change is clearly visible. My right side of the hairline is growing faster than the rest it seems. The middle and left of the hairline is definitely lacking... My donor area is still battling with the occasional Folliculitis, although I do believe this may be related to Min causing the flare up. I noticed even before this procedure that if droplets of my Min solution dripped down the back of my head, it would often times cause my skin to break out...so I would attribute my recent bout to the Min rather than the result of my HT. At this point, I have still been off Fin. So it's been almost 3 months. I think once I have fully cleared the negative sides, I will try a 0.5 mg dose (half a tablet) every Wednesday to see how I fare on it. I don't anticipate starting that new regimen until next week or May at the earliest. Anyways, here are some pictures. Please note the last 2 were taken in my bathroom which has dimmer lighting, which makes my progress seem better. My usual photos are taken with the mirror light right over my head, so a bit harsher in my opinion.

Congrats on the stellar results!

Here's hoping, brother! 🤞

Josephitis is on the frontlines battling on our behalf in the never-ending war against hair loss!

I'm not knocking on them, but I wasn't too impressed with what I saw. Moreover, if memory serves me correctly, there also aren't too many recent results to go off of on this site, so that was another factor.

Thanks! The bald spot is still there since the folliculitis hasn't cleared up yet. And I don't recall the precise tool he used. I believe it was motorized.

MARCH 21, 2023 UPDATE (90 DAYS POST-OP) Hello folks, even though this post is on March 22nd, these photos are actually from yesterday. Also, sorry I'm a day late, but was too busy to post this yesterday. Anyways, not too much of a dramatic change...yet. I am noticing more and more hairs sprouting up in my frontal third area, but nothing too visually jaw-dropping or extraordinary. In-person, the growth looks better, however I will admit these photos don't really convey that and it looks kind of weak. I am noticing that the very front of my hairline and a smidge to the left of it is still looking bare. The majority of the rest of my frontal third is sprouting, so hopefully the front is just slightly delayed and will eventually catch up. I'm not too worried at the moment as I'm just trusting the process because what else can I do..? In terms of meds, I am still off Fin. I thought things were turning around and my sides were dissipating, but then out of the blue the watery semen returned. So out of an abundance of caution, I will continue staying off of it. I am posting 2 batches of photos. The first batch was taken in the morning, right as soon as I woke up, so got a heavy case of bedhead going on and because of that I don't think it's a good or accurate representation. The second batch was taken in the evening after I had showered. Also, the lighting for the 2nd patch is a little more dim in the very last image. The reason for that is because it visually helps showcase the new hairs better. Please note with the photo of my donor area, you'll notice a bald spot on the bottom right of my head. That's just a result of folliculitis, which for me, I've noticed if the bump becomes big enough the hairs in that area tend to temporarily shed off, but returns again...so I'm not too concerned about it. Evening photos, after shower. Also, question. This morning (03/22) when I was showering I noticed I lost one of these J hook hairs, which is clearly a transplanted hair. Should I still have hairs like this? Moreover, is it normal to be losing them this late in the game?

Thanks for coming back to provide that final update! The results are looking fantastic! Best of luck!

Looks pretty solid, but you still have 4 months left before you can fully judge the outcome...but in the meantime, so far, so good!

FEBRUARY 19, 2023 UPDATE (60 DAYS POST-OP) Greetings my follicle challenged friends! It has officially been 2 months post-op! So it's update time. From about the week of 2/6-2/17, my frontal third was afflicted with mild folliculitis, as was to be expected based on the monthly guide I was provided. Every other day or so I would get some type of small red bump on the recipient site (one or two) and it would last 1-3 days at most (one lasted for maybe a week?), but it was fine and I didn't panic since this was to be expected. Moreover, it also meant that there was activity going on aka hair growth, so I was kinda happy to be seeing this. During this timeframe, I continued washing my recipient site with just the pads of my fingers. Very, very rarely have I used nails. I think there was one evening where sleep scratching occurred with nails. I did wake up mid-scratch and my scalp was hurting, so I hope I didn't cause any potential damage... On 2/7/23 I noticed the negative sides of Fin reared its head (watery semen) once again, even at just 1 mg dosage per week. It's kinda crazy because I started off with Fin 3x a week, dropped it down to 2x, and then finally 1x...and even at 1x, still side effects?! Yeesh! So on 2/8/23 I had to go cold on Fin. I chronicled it in my other thread regarding my Fin usage. I think moving forward I will titrate dosage to just .05 mg per week and see how I respond to it, but kinda wild to see that Fin, even at very low dosage, affects me that much! If the .05mg per week intake still yields side effects, I think I may switch and try out topical Fin. I hope not since I find popping a pill easier than applying something daily... As a result, I've been off Fin for a little over 2 weeks now and already my semen quality is beginning to improve. The consistency of my semen is becoming thicker and viscous-y again. (Yay!) Ever since my operation, I've been off Min since it caused my recipient area to dry out (thus causing dandruff) for the entire time I've been on it. I think this evening I will begin my daily application (1x at night) again since I've noticed that my crown area is looking thinned out. I really haven't been monitoring my crown as closely so it's entirely possible it's still looking the same. (More photos of my crown are avail in my other thread "My Finasteride Journey!") Anyways, the folliculitis has been subsiding a bit recently. Visually, I'm seeing tons of little thick transplanted follicles sprout up. It's mainly happened on the sides of my hairline and near the mid-scalp, however the frontal hairline could still stand to have more pop up. I know I need to be patient, so I'm not sweating it right now...but I do hope the front begins to catch up soon! In the photos below, the sprouting doesn't even seem apparent, but, trust me, in-person I am able to tell. If you'll scroll back up to my Jan. 8, 2023 entry, I noted that my right temple area was affected by shock loss. As you can see in the photo of the "Right Side" of my hair, you can see just how thinned out the right temple is. I'm not panicking or worried about it yet since I do believe that it will fill back up and recover from the shock loss, however it's definitely something I'm going to keep my eye on because one section (a sliver of it) is essentially bald now. My left temple was not affected by the shock loss, so it's good to have that as a basis of comparison. I received my first haircut on 2/8. Kept it simple, just had the sides shortened, top wasn't touched at all. One thing that was pointed out was that there was a slight bald spot in my donor area on the right side. Does anyone think this may have been potentially overharvested? Or temporary shock loss? It's too early for me to freak out or be worried yet, but I'm definitely going to monitor this. Anyone have any thoughts? Anyways, that's pretty much it in terms of updates. I feel like I'm turning a corner and I'm almost out of the ugly duckling phase. Very much looking forward to months 3 and 4 as that is commonly the months in which the lovely visual changes start to occur. Still keeping my fingers crossed I'll be an early grower! 🤞🏻

Fantastic results man! Congrats!

No worries, appreciate your interest in my journey/progress! 🙏

Thanks for checking in. I will provide an update on February 19, since that will be the 60-day post-op mark. Stay tuned!

So unfortunately even on just ONE 1 mg tablet per week, my side of watery semen returned. I noticed it on 02/07/23 and as a result my regular Wednesday dose on 02/08/23 was skipped. I'm going to wait about a month for things to return back to normal and I will have to try taking just half mg and then see if I can bump it up from there. Crazy to think even with such minimal dosage that I'm getting sides!

Wow, you really turned the corner on month 4. Congrats and happy growing!

Wow, fascinating...always thought he was just blessed with great genetics. Not sure if he's gotten a HT...seems to me Finasteride is probably what's helped him rebound.