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.

Episode (month) IV: A New Hope Lets get this breadddd gentlemen. Finally, we are feeling generally good about how the hair is looking day to day. Right up in the light, these pics are dry but post wash/no fibers or product. With utilizing the latter, I have no confidence issues hanging with friends, going on dates, even letting the mane get slightly damp if there’s rain afoot, etc. I am actually like 10 days shy of my 4 month anniversary but posting now as I’ll be on vacation for that. There’s definitely areas that need to continue to fill in, but looking at these pics compared to even last month has me really optimistic. Can’t wait to see what the next 8-12 months bring. A big thank you for all the support/interest/love passed my way on this process so far. Holy sh*t that ugly duckling sucked, and everyone commenting their support/encouragement really helped me out. Y’all are dope and I hope everyone here finds their respective peace/joy with hair restoration/maintenance.

Thanks a lot for the thoughts/confidence, means a lot at this stage. I also really appreciate hearing your take on the fin, and love knowing when someone has gone on a successful ht journey without it. So much fatalism/fear mongering otherwise and a balance of lived perspectives is always important. Wish I could’ve taken it no worries but there was a compelling enough reason that I stopped (weaker erections, less pleasurable orgasms, watery semen, etc) and I need to make sure my current insecurity around the growth status isn’t panic-informing said decision process.

What’s up all. Got my 3 month anniversary from surgery next week but will be out and about for the holidays so doing it now! Hope everyone’s having a nice time whatever they’re doing. Since last update I got another hair cut. Nothing buzzed off the recipient area but def had some loose bits trimmed carefully with scissors around the edges. I have also discovered the power of hair fibers. Obviously sucks to have to do on some level but thankfully it’s an option and doesn’t seem to take a lot in my case for good cover. Has given me a lot of confidence in returning to my social life etc during this period which has been huge. Todays pics are post wash, no fibers etc Hair wet/washed straight out of the shower, and then wet + combed: And then we have it more dry/how it looks before I have anything in it: Trucking along but tbh I’m feeling mighty thin dudes, especially in the frontal area you see when dry (pretty much the exact area of my recipient if you go back and look at my post op). It’s all relative but ultimately it is what it is to you when you’re on the inside of it for better and worse. Always trying to stay grateful for how much there is to work with and that I was able to do a surgery with a respected place. Does this look normal for 3 months? Slow growth/poor yield? Good growth/yield? Entirely too early to tell/care? I would also appreciate some input on what my Norwood situation looks like to you. Thankfully the hairline has held up decently well although it’s definitely higher than it used to be. I did not lower my hairline at all with this surgery and kept it where it was (7cm from eyebrows) as Dr. Wong suggests that as a good standard mature male hairline. I’ll probably still wait at this point for a full 12-14 months (to see an unbiased result) but this ugly duckling period has got me reconsidering another fin attempt as seriously as I have since I tried taking it 2 years ago. Seeing shower pics like these (albeit soaking wet) really opens my eyes to how much diffuse thinning there’s been over the past 4-5 years. I think my hair also now looks objectively worse from pre op still and I’m learning that’s a big part of the mental/emotional aspect of this. Overall feeling positive, slightly worried I may not be growing adequately in the recipient area, thinking about fin again despite my previous experience with perceived sides, and hoping for the best. Happy growing all.

Someday @Pbaird98, I’m gonna be bang tidy just like you 👊🏻

Dude. From desolate to destiny. I appreciate the support. Also while I have you here: mad appreciation for your openness/thick skin about having your work done primarily without oral fin (I believe I recently saw you’re attempting topical this round). Sooo many people fear monger about the inevitable futility of transplant without meds. While I understand the logic and can agree with the principle to an extent, it doesn’t really do anything useful for those of us who experienced sides that we ultimately weren’t willing to tolerate (which is saying a lot in the context of how devastating hair loss can be). It’s invaluable to have such a visible/respected member of the community who took the path contrary to the echo chamber and does so gracefully. Like most things on the internet, I imagine most people who find success simply f off and go be happy irl. Maybe I’m biased but I imagine a similar dynamic is true for people who get a successful transplant experience without meds. Doesn’t seem like a hill to die on and there’s too much confirmation bias/projection to wade through. That said, I’m open to topical down the road if the situation warrants it and I don’t yet want to get another procedure. Will be watching your journey with great interest and wishing you much fortune in it. Thanks for your work!

hey everyone 2 months out from surgery tomorrow but updating today as I’ll be mad busy. Wanted to throw up these pictures to also give others a sense of how much different lighting affects progress pics for better/worse. These are all from today! The first/lightest pic is also post wash however, which I’ve found greatly reduces the matting/patchiness of this ugly duckling phase. Alternatively, the final/darkest pic is bed head/pre wash. TL;DR this sucks and I’m greatly looking forward to being at 3-6+ months haha. The timeline has been uncanny insofar as: weeks 1-3 were mighty euphoric/optimistic. Felt great about getting it done and thankfully I don’t look too shabby at a 1ish guard all around. The hair is short enough/shedding hasn’t begun enough to cause any aesthetic stress after the swelling/redness dissipates. Week 3-4 I believe was when my shedding/shock loss made itself more apparent and the patchiness/horseshoe effect became much more prominent. This was also around the time I got my first fade (no clippers/cutting on recipient area) and I will say that helps massively. Weeks 4 to now 8 I’ve definitely caught myself asking “…was this a giant mistake? Should I have put this off longer?” It’s been very helpful to watch/read other testimonies and find that this is indeed a common enough sensibility for many around this time frame, which is why I share it here. @Melvin- Moderator YouTube video on shockloss/ugly duckling phase is very heartening to see his status at the time + eventual results. Of course, there is no singular correct answer to those aforementioned questions for me. Was it a mistake? Entirely too early + the reality is I got this done because I was bothered by it to the point of action, and a significant weight was indeed lifted off my shoulders. I also specifically wanted to get it done before my thinning/recession was noticeable to anyone but me and people I asked to look closely (there is a work related reason for this sentiment as well, very front facing/aesthetically oriented job). Should I have put it off longer? Eh maybe, but I find that sensibility primarily derives from a sense of disappointment about my current looks in relation to timing rather than objective analysis. There have been weddings, funerals, work opportunities, reunions, parties, potential dates, etc that I’ve either foregone or spent the time thinking “man I really wish I had my pre op hair for this moment.” The reality is that there probably is no “perfect time”. The ugly duckling phase is just something you have to get through and there will always be reasons to put it off if you look for them. Whenever I get down/overly vain about it, I try to refocus on the gratitude of the situation. Some people lose all their hair pretty much overnight due to a medical reason. Some dudes are N7 by 25. Hair restoration is as good now as it’s ever been and for millennia countless men figured out a way to be happy and great with their thinning hair. Just being able to drop 20k+ on a hair transplant at 31 probably makes you one of the most relatively materially advantaged people on earth, and while I don’t think that’s necessarily something to be apologetic about, it would be remiss to not hold that accountability/gratitude in relation to one’s situation. Thanks for reading my blog. Friendly reminder gentlemen that we are all going to make it. Happy growing!

Haha I got rainforest dreams with an Outback landscape. Man the time has seemed both eternal and lightning quick. I appreciate the vote of confidence! I’ll have to check these other Wong cases out. This is definitely as bad as I’ve felt about my hair since noticing my thinning 2 years ago with the short cut + shock loss. It’s forcing me to face that insecurity more directly however and expand more substantively where I draw my confidence from. Hope to be looking back on this time with a renewed sense of gratitude and vegetation up top in the near future.

That jump from 4 to 5 months was huge. If you can repeat this rate for the next 6 months let alone up to another year best case scenario…you’re going to have a massive head of hair.

A little 6 weeks action for the bros (and me) Pics in front of a window + overhead lighting Shedding has been mighty lame. Coupled with the short cut it rather exposes the area prior to how it did when I had my hair longer pre op. Feels like between the transplanted hairs + grafts falling out + hair cut that this ugly duckling phase gave me a window into what 2-5 years down the line would look like without surgery. I suppose this is part of what can be meant by the ht adage “it gets worse before it gets better.” All that drama aside, the rate of my hair growth at 6 weeks here has me confident that by the 3 month mark I’ll have the length for the coverage that I’m looking for. Also, went to the derm, yes I have seb dermatitis. Was prescribed some gel but going to talk with dr. Wong about it first and probably hold off on that for awhile out of an abundance of caution. Haven’t washed my hair in a few days here/just waking up, but that generally does the trick. Still washing with just baby shampoo, again, out of an abundance of caution. Another hair care change I’ve made is not getting my hair wet unless I’m going to wash it. As a chronic long hot showerer my whole life I’m sure that hasn’t helped matters. If you look closely at the bottom picture, you can start to make out a distinction between the untouched northern (crown) and southern (frontal half) portion of my scalp where I had the work done. I can see filling this crown in 18-24 months from now depending on how it’s all going. Maybe see where the temples are at and get them touched up on the same session. That said, we’ll see what coverage is like when the transplant/native hair regrows and is longer at the year+ mark. I could be totally fine with it and knowing that I’ll probably need multiple surgeries definitely has me wanting to space them out as much as possible. Happy growing everyone!

Hey man, He said the dermarolling was cool 6 weeks post op and no further about it, which to me implies he does think there’s some benefit to it otherwise he probably would’ve said something, a la: PRP was an entirely separately broached issue to which his assistant wrote me “Dr. Wong does not recommend PRP. You can have it at anytime but he does not feel it has any benefits.” I guess all one can do is research/self test within their financial means and comfort. Bias is a tough thing to sort out in this realm lol. Of course the people who sell prp want to push its legitimacy and it’s another money making avenue for the industry (on something of a subscription model at that). What’s also potentially true is that Dr. Wong is a long practicing surgeon whose been around long before prp became mainstream so it’s not unreasonable to consider that maybe he’s got an old school bias towards something that does indeed help but isn’t on his radar for whatever reason. All speculation on my part. What I do know is that he has a vested interest in my procedure turning out as well as possible so if he did think prp would be even somewhat helpful he’d probably mention so. Going to have to do some more research personally. I know they use prp for healing in other parts of the body so it’s not like it’s just some hair restoration-centric topic, unless of course the Dr. was speaking specifically in the context of prp towards hair growth and not its other medical applications. happy growing!