FollicleFella

Thank you burnsauce. Your support from the beginning has been appreciated. The best I can describe the horizontal row pattern behind the hairline as it relates to potentially greater appearance of density is that it definitely seems to have made my frontal 1/3 (behind hairline though) hair quality more “vertical” if this tracks…as it’s turned out practically speaking there’s definitely thin parts on on my top that I don’t see through to anymore. Looks/feels very natural too. Hair quality changes with age organically anyway. Certainly not the kind of thing anyone would notice other than myself knowing what to look for. Dr. Wong is a G! Respectfully I was somewhat apprehensive when I met him (though I was overly impressed with the techs) because the process was so quick, he doesn’t talk a lot, and we spent like what felt to be not a whole lot of time together but one really can’t fathom the thousands and thousands of times he’s done this over decades across different scenarios. As time has gone on it’s shown he really knew what he was doing haha. He’s looking at the whole experience/equation with such a crazy frame of reference and wealth of knowledge to draw from. As is the case for career niche artists performing at that level for so long and I’m sure is also true of Konior, etc

Hey everyone 7 month update. Straightforward today. Not post wash, but no product/fibers/styling. I once heard that a good ht “creates the illusion of density” and while I think I was relatively early for a ht patient in general, these shots illustrate that to me here. I appreciate Dr. Wongs work/choices more as time has gone on. I don’t know how to explain it but the more horizontal row-thing behind the hairline makes sense for density when you see it grown out. Still living the success story portion of the journey lads. Genuinely don’t think about my hair these days beyond having good self esteem about it and that’s worth more than money. I’m hoping I see improvement for the whole 18 months post op but patience/temperance is a virtue and beggars can’t be choosers. Already happy. Still medication free, still feeling good about that for now, and will most likely be open to it before getting another surgery, hopefully not sooner than 3-5+ years from now as we see how this one plays out over time and how I progress. As I’ve said before the fibers were a game changer for me as well and I may have not gotten surgery for another couple years had I known about them prior. Wouldn’t change a thing in my case, but for anyone considering surgery who doesn’t know about the fibers, do check em out alongside some tactical styling/product placement. Really makes a big difference. Hope everyone has a great day! Ht may not be for everyone and if you can tolerate the meds then why wouldn’t you do just that as long as possible, but…for anyone who may be in the position I was: I’m happy to report it feels like a solid investment. Let’s hope I’m still saying that in another 7 months lol

Damn a side by side from the sensei. I made it bros! Thanks for your support and all you do for the community Melvin. Giving a lot of dudes hope!

Thank you hockeybro I appreciate it. Definitely really pleased with the results thus far. Your support has been awesome. Mannnnn I’ll be honest about the hair fibers…do it haha…I’d never considered touching them until my ugly duckling phase drove me to pull out all the stops and I have to say it’s a great product. It’s functionally no different than adding another styling product (takes 1-3 mins with your hands). I was super worried about it looking obvious (either when using or without), melting off in the rain/during exercise, getting all over my dates hands etc…but that hasn’t been the case at all, especially if you use it in conjunction with cream/spray to style/hold. I don’t use very much though, just a light sprinkling layer spread post cream/paste and prior spray if I use it (don’t always use hair spray) and placebo or not there’s a qualitative difference for sure. If there’s a noticeable amount coming off on my fingers by touching the hair after applying then I know for me I’m using too much. Frankly, I think I could’ve delayed my ht by another year pretty happily/easily had I known about the hair fibers before. Happy it went down how it did for me/wouldn’t change it but if I can impart that possibility for you then highly recommend giving it a shot! Definitely get the right color (I use the light brown). It seems to be ideal for dudes like us that have a relatively decent hairline/hair quality but are losing too much density/thinning for our liking and seeing scalp where we’d rather not.

Really interesting/salient points my friend thank you.

I am not brother. Gave them a shot like 2 years ago for a couple months and whether psychosomatic or otherwise I just couldn’t hang with em. Played around with dosing/frequency, etc. After about a month off everything was good as new though. I am open to trying oral or topical fin again (probably in that order while assessing effects). That said I’m looking to push it (hormonal intervention) for as long as possible. Definitely want to go at least another year from now on this surgery and see where things are at. In an ideal world, this surgery will keep me somewhere I want to be until I’m 35+ (3 1/2 years from now), at which point I’d consider another one or revisiting medication depending how it looks. Obviously ones progression/real life events will inform this actual trajectory. Being gucci on this surgery alone and no meds until 40 would be amazing but that’s probably not an expectation one should move forward with. Hoping my experience with medication is different next time should I try it! I’m very open to the concept of nocebo and the fact that I was a bit younger/grappling with the initial shock of hair loss which was unexpected for me. A lot of negative things at the time I perceived to be correlated with the meds could’ve been primarily my emotional state for sure (was also Covid and a mad stressful work time).

My starting point was relatively early…beginning of the thread has my before pictures. I wore it longer for better coverage but I’ve been noticeably (to me) thinning for the past 2-3 years so could’ve started the process as much as 5 years ago…I’m 32 now, planning on needing at least 1-2 more procedures over the years.

Thank you brudda gats, you’ve been here the whole rollercoaster 😭

I don’t recall! I’ll ask the doc though

7 month update! Hey all Including 3 sets of pictures here. All are taken in afternoon natural light in front of some pretty big bay windows for (hopefully) max visibility. 1) combed immediately post shower + shampoo/conditioning, no product or drying these represent what the hair looks like at its “worst”: wet, no coverage assistance, and weighed down from the conditioner Obviously sucks seeing through to the scalp as such but if this is the “straight out the pool” status I’ll definitely take it haha. 2) air dried, no product or coverage assistance these then represent how the hair looks normally with nothing in it day to day and finally 3) with blow dryer, light product + light hair fibers these represent how I style the hair for functions/meetings. Not hugely different from nothing in it but definitely a tightening up of the corners as it were, along with some volume enhancement. Fwiw I kinda ran through it for this but it can be style much more “coverage effective” by pushing the hair forward or to the side. Hopefull it helps gents! I know when I was considering, it was helpful to get multiple iterations of the same situation in different contexts. I still have yet to cut any hair on the recipient area, and will be buzzing down the sides pretty soon again here.

Thanks gats I am pleasantly surprised truth be told! Appreciate the love during the duckling 😆

Thanks man. Feeling really good about it. Knowing that I’ve hopefully got at least a couple years of this peace is a real gift.

Hey everyone!! Sorry for the delay. Here is week 22, the 5.5 month mark These photos are sliiiightly less bright/light heavy than the previous images but still gives a good idea, are near an open window/under an overhead, etc. Post wash, no product, fibers, or blow drying. A bit of bed head as I am just up from a nap however ha. Honestly dudes, the update is late because I’ve been too happy/busy living life to think much about my hair. After these couple years of it dominating my thoughts/self esteem, feels pretty damn good I must say. I’m sure it won’t last forever, but best believe I’m going to enjoy this peace while it lasts. Worth noting I have trimmed the donor down several times over the past few months and probably will again here pretty soon as to maintain a favorable top/side ratio.

Gotcha! In that case my man we may be in more similar boats then. I’m not sure what my hair would look like now post op versus what would it look like now if I had just shaved it 4 months ago sans surgery. In my case there’s the additional factor of not taking any medicine as well so who knows. I had some minor hair line filling in but most of my work was packing the frontal 1/2, so in terms of evaluation it’s more of a density assessment than being able to see “okay my coverage now extends an additional x centimeters.” Good luck and I hope we both find what we’re looking for!

Hey bud sorry I missed this. To answer your question: I don’t know how to make the distinction between what is one’s natural hair versus transplanted hair. If anything I would think we all would be a little on the relatively thin side at 4 months since that is still close (in terms of hair growth time frame) to the shock loss/ugly duckling period which for me looked markedly worse than pre op. I wouldn’t get discouraged just yet. If you’re around month 8 and haven’t seen any progress then that’s different. Are you in touch with your surgeon? What do they say? Also worth noting that my case wasn’t particularly bad pre op so we may just have different starting points.