Bucky O Hair

Sorry the first photo was posted at the bottom. I don't see an EDIT option for my post, but I guess you get the point of what I am trying to show.

Hi Melvin, I took some photos, with my hair at its greasiest and under a bathroom pot light. The first photo shows the receded temple and how the thinning "laneway" goes through the vertex toward the crown. The second and third photos are top and rear shots, showing how bald my vertex and crown are. The fourth photo is just my hair wet and slicked back. The forelock is visibly fuller than the rest of the scalp (with my high sides being the thickest). The fifth photo is just a quick side view of how I can just use the length in my forelock and high sides to simply combover the crown, vertex and temples to hide them (and that's a greasy hair photo). The first HT should cover about the front half of the scalp (closing off those laneways in the temples) giving me a proper hairline and filling in some of the vertex. Still wondering if it's worth trying to save the forelock or just transplant over it. I see a lot of HT cases on this site where the HT surgeon didn't bother working around the forelock and just went right ahead and transplanted into the forelock, regardless if there was native hair there or not. I used to always think that 'best practice' was to not transplant in areas where you have existing hair...but some of these results are great nonetheless. Any thoughts?

Excellent result. Did you experience any shockloss in your forelock? I am going to have my HT surgery soon, and I have the same hairline as your pre-op photo and have been debating whether to work 'around' the forelock or just go right into it at the same density as the temples (and take the chance). Seems like H&W just went right into your forelock at the same density as your temples.

Good to see you didn't go through with this. I just joined recently and saw your first post and almost had a heart attack and had to respond...only to see that it was dated a while ago and you didn't go through with it. Coming from a guy with a thick beard who wears it trimmed in a shadow or long and thick...I've never once had any use for my neck hair which I regularly shave. So I agree that if you want to do this, you go with a beard-to-beard FUE from neck to face. You definitely would have regretted any FUT procedure.

If it's any comfort, your hair in your pre-HT photo looks like crapola. Your new hairline actually looks amazing, and I actually have the same hair/beard color and skin tone as you. After I get my HT, I'm hoping to be able to sport a solid hairline like your new one, and wear it in a nice short cut as well. Just like you, I will be addressing my crown in a separate HT. I get your concerns about having to sport a bald crown from now until your next HT, but I think you may be underrating how good a short cut (or buzz cut) will look on you now that you have a solid hairline. You also have the benefit of low contrast between your blonde hair and scalp, so the balding crown won't be so pronounced. Your new hairline, with that earring, and a nicely trimmed beard will look good (don't forget to shave that neck hair). It's a much better and more modern look than your pre-HT photo where you looked like a balding Shaggy. A backward baseball cap (with your new forelock hairs showing in the snapback part of the hat) will look good too and will hide the crown if you're still self conscious about it.

No. I'm intrigued by PRP and I'll do that moving forward. I've heard that finasteride may prevent shockloss but I'm not sure if there is any data on that. I have always been on the fence about using fin, but one of my best friends had such bad sides from it that I could never take the plunge.

Yea, I'll take a few and share. I'll do the greasy, damp hair under a bathroom potlight, just the way everyone likes it. I just checked out your HT journey video, and there are some similarities between my loss and yours. I have a similar large balding crown (like your pre-HT situation) but I don't intend on rebuilding my temple points. My hair is dirty blonde, so I'm hoping the low contrast plays a nice factor in my results. Will post something for you guys to tear apart and criticize.

Hello all, I'm a NW5 (likely going to NW6 in the future) who just booked a 3200 graft FUE with Rahal. I have a bit of a "Jude Law" hairloss pattern, with an island of forelock hair surrounded by receded temples and near-bald hair in the vertex (behind the forelock) and am curious about everyone's thoughts around whether to salvage the forelock, or just transplant into the forelock as well (since the forelock is miniaturizing anyway). I had an in-person consultation and had my donor area measured by the consultant (James), and I had an in-person consult in Ottawa with Dr. Rahal himself. I am in my mid-40s and have been losing hair for about 20 years (in a slow and steady fashion) starting with the temples, then a balding spot in the crown, then both kinda connecting in the vertex (with a thinning forelock island). My family history is full of NW5 and NW6 cases, and based on what I am seeing with my hair I will probably be a NW6 as well. I am pretty skilled with the illusion of creating a full head of hair, and the benefits of being a NW5 over a NW6 is that you can use that thinning hair on your forelock and sides to appear more of a NW3 or even NW2 (with proper hair styles and length). However, my vertex and crown are starting to get to near-bald level, making the combovers and coverage harder to achieve. In a lazy fashion, I would have probably just liked to get a patch of hair transplanted in just the crown area to keep the illusion going, but after reading Hair Loss forums for several years, I am aware that it is "best practice" to address the frontal area of your head first...and then focus on the crown afterward (which makes sense, especially from a long term strategy perspective). MY HAIR LOSS SPECS Overall Balding Area: 180cm2 Donor area: above average (7000 expected lifetime grafts) Hair shaft thickness: above average (56 microns) Area for first HT (frontal): 80 cm2 Planned FUE total: 3200 Planned Graft Density: 40 FUE/cm2 Area for second HT (crown): 100 cm2 Potential Graft Density: 35 FUE/cm2 Proposed Strategy (discussed with Dr. Rahal): - Focus on the front half of the head by filling in the temples and vertex (closing off those balding 'laneways' that go from the temples toward the crown). - Fill in the areas of the forelock that require filling (this part is tricky because the current forelock hairs are miniaturizing, but the hair density is still probably the equivalent of 30 FUE/cm2) - Don't bother lowering the hairline (just transplant at or behind where it currently is) - Leave the crown for a future hair transplant My Plan: - Get two HTs and continue to wear my hair as I currently do, but with a better framed hairline (with closed off temples) and a filled in crown/vertex area (allowing me to have more hair to work with by using my illusion skills) - Get PRP sessions for maintenance (not on any drug regimen) Worst case scenario (if hair loss progresses significantly in the long run): - Buzz my head, yet still have a nicely framed hairline (despite losing the density from long term loss); Possibly use BHT (from my thick beard) and SMP to fill in any obvious gaps/areas (in case I go further than NW6) My Concerns: - Permanent shockloss in the miniaturizing (but very useful) forelock, making the forelock look worse with the HT than without it This concern above is the only thing that worries my about my HT plan. My forelock is nice enough that it probably doesn't need transplanted hairs, but it being thin also runs the risk of it not matching with the transplanted hairs around it (so it makes sense to connect the templates across the forelock). I chatted about the prospects of shockloss with James and Dr. Rahal briefly, but will address it further at the pre-operative consultation. There are (rare) cases where transplanted hairs just don't seem to grow for some people...and I would hate to ruin what I currently have in the forelock (if it goes into shockloss) by hoping to replace it with thicker transplanted hairs that never come. At the same time, the forelock is thinning and I expect it to last another 5 years before it gets to a point where I would be transplanting hairs into it anyway (in order to address it). So the strategy will either be going full "Scorched Earth" on the front half of the head (including the forelock)...or just working around the forelock (leaving the forelock with mostly native hairs). Rahal said he liked my forelock, so he will probably want to salvage some of it (once he gets a better look at it shaved down)...but he did acknowledge that it is miniaturizing and that he'll see where they can add hairs during the procedure. However, my assumption (if I am not mistaken) is that adding hairs close to a miniaturizing forelock could actually shockloss that forelock anyway (even if you may not be adding hairs right into it)...I could be wrong in my assumption though. I expect that this "saving the forelock" discussion will be the main point in the pre-operative meeting, which will drive the strategy. Looking forward to my HT, and I like my plan, but really curious on what people's thoughts are on saving a forelock and possible shockloss issues that could arise. Any thoughts, my hair loss brothers?

If your donor is average, then it should probably be able to take 5000 grafts (so the estimate is not far off). Honestly, taking photos and asking people on here probably won't get you anything useful in terms of estimates. Photos are deceptive, and things like lighting, flash, hair greasiness and hair length will make it too hard for people to be able to properly assess you. Also, did you meet with anyone from Eugenix in person? Or was this just an estimate based off of photos as well? Estimating a good hair transplant is straight up mathematics. You measure the balding area (in cm2) and you get your donor reviewed in-person at a HT clinic to get a good estimate of how many hairs you can realistically remove. Take that number of donor hairs and divide it by the balding area (in cm2) and if you can hit 35+ FUEs per cm2, then you should be fine. I would go to a HT clinic and get an in-person consultation, just to give you piece of mind on what your donor area can handle. Book a couple of consultations and get multiple opinions. You don't have to commit to anything.