Stimpson

Your recovery depends on a lot of factors. For ME, I would not even consider going hatless for at least a month or so. If you are counting on a week, you are being overly optimistic IMO. Again, though, it depends on the amount of work done, existing hair to hide it, etc. Lots of factors come into play. Stimpson

I can't imagine it would cause any problems. You would have to smoke a LOT for the oxegyn issues mmhce mentioned. No disrespect intended, but a few puffs here and there is not going to be a factor to healing. Stimpy

That's cruel. Because by that time you had probably more or less forgotten it, and then BOOM, the harsh wake up call. Then you have to wonder how many OTHER people noticed. Your scars don't sound too bad. A lot of people have scars on their heads for any number of reasons. As long as it's not the smiley face, you probably don't need to worry about people seeing them and thinking you got an HT. Stimpy

Most people do not see growth 3 months post op anyway. It's too early to be jumping to conclusions about the sun exposure. Regards, Stimpy

If you were only interested in opinions pertaining to the specific situation of very limited lifetime hairloss you should have specified that. Oh wait... Since the world revolves around YOU I guess we are all just supposed to KNOW that the discussion is limited to YOUR situation, and we should naturally adjust the scope of all converstation accordingly... and you call ME arrogant!?! The overwhelming majority of us on this board will NOT suffer just a small amount of hairloss in our lifetimes. For MOST of us, we HAVE to plan for the future. It's quite simple math. Over the span of a persons LIFETIME, they will have so much area that will become bald. The amount of donor hair is a finite quantity. It thus becomes a simple tradeoff situation. You can have adequate coverage over a larger area, or mega-dense coverage over a smaller area. The former looks natural. The latter does not. I point this out because this board has a neverending procession of young people who are panicked because their hair is STARTING to fall out. Their first instinct is to replace it FULLY. They need to fight this urge. This is because as their hair continues to fall out, they will have more area to fill in. If they keep filling it all in to natural fullness, they will run out of donor too soon, and the end result will be very bizarre and unnatural. Kind of like a lot of Armani's patients are going to look in the coming years. The cautious and thoughtful approach applies to MOST people. If you have very limited lifetime baldness or NO baldness, you can throw caution to the wind. I would have thought this was obvious. However since some of the slower members among us are having trouble I have pointed it out explicitly. So Merriweather I guess your question then becomes "in a situation of limited baldness where donor supply is not an issue and can be completely disregarded, is full density better than half density?" Yes. I would have thought that was obvious also, but that's just me... For most of us who DO have to consider donor supply, caution and planning are key. Thank you for your time. Stimpson

It depends on your goals. IMO if you are seeking natural density you do not understand the nature of the procedure and you are going to be sorry. You HAVE to think of the future. If you seek 90/cm2 density and you can find a doctor unethical enough to do this for you, it is going to make your life a living nightmare a few years later when you are this freaky looking person with this thick narrow band of hair two inches above your eyebrows and slick bald behind it because you ran out of donor hair. I saw somebody like this once. It drew my eye 50 yards away. Most of you super high density people are heading for disaster. Go for something that looks good, and will CONTINUE to look good as you age. The key is to keep it natural. If you super dense pack the hairline you are not going to be able to keep a natural look. You WILL be sorry. Keep your expectations realistic. Stimpson

pics???

And at work, it takes practice, but just STOP worrying about things you cannot control. If the server is zapped, than the systems dependent thereon will be back up when it is replaced. Sure people bitch. When all is said and done, you get it back up ASAP, and that is all that you can do. I KNOW this is so much easier said than done, but worrying about it does not accomplish anything. You CAN build this habit. I know I sound like a cliche... Stimpy

Life being a downer after college is EXTREMELY common. It happens to a TON of us. I think you are focusing too much on hair. Like Thanop said, if you had Elvis hair tomorrow nothing would be different about your life. I'm not saying don't get the HT, but it sounds like you have unreasonable expectations about the impact it will have on your life. Your problems, which are SO MUCH more common than you realize, aren't really hair related. An HT won't be a magic cure to make you this outgoing social butterfly. It wasn't for me, at least. You don't sound even *remotely* like a loser. Stop being so harsh on yourself. Stimpy

I had a Bosley minigraft session of 132 grafts for my first HT at a young age. I have no idea if it was ever spotted or not early on. I used to wear a cap so much that it was rare for anybody to even see me without the cap. Yet, on occassions where I did NOT wear a cap, I do not recall anybody acting like they had noticed. I think maybe my paranoia was actually worse than the reality. I know Parsley made an 1100 graft cover job for those Bosley mini's go a LONG way a few years later. Lots of mileage for such a small number of grafts (which was not such a small number in 1999). I hate even looking back trying to figure out if it was noticed or not, in the days/years after the first Parsley cover job of 1100. I think the particular crowd I was around in college at the time WOULD have said something. Plus, there are instances that I can think of that clearly indicated it was NOT noticed. I remember after NOT wearing a hat for about a week (just an unusual bout of boldness), I was sitting around talking with a guy and a few girls. The guy was VERY bald, like a diffuse norwood 6 who did not have much hair left at all (about 22 yrs old). Now granted, I was wearing a hat at this instant. It was in the days previous that I had not. One of the girls said something to this guy like "just let it go, don't try to get a transplant, people don't think we can tell but we always can...". This was NOT a jab at me (I know we are so used to being negative here). Mine had really NOT been noticed, after not wearing a hat and sweating in the sun for like a week. Also, I remember a guy I was having beers with at a bar one night saying that if he started to go bald, he would just "do that thing where they move the hair to the front of your head...". He also clearly did NOT know I had an HT, and he saw me without the hat all the time. The reason this gives me hope is that if ANY one person in that large group had known, they ALL would have known. So end story I don't think anybody knew. I know Parsley thought the Bosley work was not THAT bad. He pointed out that at least they stayed way behind the hairline, and also the angling of the grafts was not too far off. Flash forward about 6 or 7 years, the native hair got more sparse (plus the fin/minox shed), and I KNOW some people at my current work place noticed. It's funny though. I don't really care. I also see some people looking at me funny after HT #3 came in (a year ago). I think it's the classic "something is different" look. Like I said though, I don't care. It's not a social job anyway, I'm like in the office for about 2 hours a week on average. When I see people, it's "hey, how have you been??". Even those who I KNOW noticed the HT treat me exactly as they always have. Again, bottom line, nobody really cares. It all comes down to paranoia if you have a bad HT. It's kind of unfortunate, but a lot of people who are worried about looking bald are naturally kind of paranoid. And a bad HT will make you SO paranoid you will LONG for those blissful days of just looking bald (but natural). Even a so-so HT can make you paraniod and cause problems worse than the so-so HT itself really calls for. Bottom line is that you REALLY need to think before embarking on this journey. HT's can cause you MUCH greater unease than just being bald. On the other hand, though, they have gotten SO much better in recent years... Stimpy

I hate to be a pessimist, but my guess is that is definitely MPB. Everybody always thinks it's stress that causes early hair loss. It's almost ALWAYS just pattern baldness. You have it in your family. So it is starting a bit sooner with you. I was in the same boat. Started WAY earlier than anyone else in my family did. It was not stress, even though if you would have asked me at the time I would have thought I was overly stressed. Not to downplay your bad times, but generally speaking hair doesn't fall out just because times get rough. Lots of very hairy people have had very hard times. JMO Stimpy

Mine was "mostly" gone after about six weeks. But it would still show up sometimes, like after a hot shower, etc. I would wake up in the morning and think "wow, it's really gone today!", every day. Then later the same day I would see that no, it was not gone. But generally, it was more or less gone ENOUGH after a month or six weeks or so. Before it was COMPLETELY gone was more like about 6 months. But it was livable way before that.

The best advice is to stay out of public for about ten days or so. I guess that's not really an option though, or you would not have the dilema. Anyway, after about ten days you can wear the normal fitting caps. Stimpy

Parsley did HT's two and three. Great work, too. A lot of mileage from a small number of grafts. I just want to go with somebody who has a reputation for getting MORE grafts, really. Parsley is kind of a smaller session guy.

H&W or Cooley. I would like to emphasize that the 2nd and 3rd procedures were good, just not enough to cover the bad Bosley work if I cut my hair too short. Stimpy

J. Malloy - Hey, I hear you. I had a bad Bosley HT and lived under a hat for a few years. Those stupid minigrafts. I can still see those suckers if I cut my hair too short. I still wear a hat most of the time. And so now I have to go for HT #4 sometime in the near future, with the hope that THIS one will allow me to ditch the hat for good, let me cut my hair a little shorter, etc... <sigh> To be honest, I am a member on this board who probably would NOT have embarked down this road had I fully understood the commitment required. At age 22, when Bosley got me, I did not really understand the concept of lifetime commitment. I could have just cut it short and never looked back. The pain would have passed once I got beyond the Bozo phase. Nothing fights the Bozo phase like a good pair of clippers or just a very short and trim cut. Of course in the 90's this was not as accepted as it is today. Now of course there is no turning back from the HT road once embarked upon. I just get so sick of having to consider whether or not those stupid Bosley mini's are visible, whether the scar can be seen, etc... I really do think one more good HT and I will be set up really well. But damn... What if the mini's are STILL visible after the next one?? THEN what??? Plus, the scar is a little more visible then I would prefer for a portion of the length. Not horrible, but it limts my hair to about an inch minimum. It is odd, because if my hair is an inch or more, the HTs look great! They have been small HT's. 132 from Bosley, and then 1100 + 2000 from a recomended surgeon. A surgeon who did good work, by the way, it's just that covering those stupid mini's takes a LOT of density. I'm down on HT's at the moment because I cut my hair too short. @$#%!. That's right. I STILL cut my own hair. Maybe the next one will be the one that allows me to go to a barber like a normal person. But having said all this, though, if you are only 4 months out of your last repair, you are PRECISELY in the 'pubic hair' phase, so I would not let THAT concern you. For me on this next one, I am going to do scalp excercises like crazy, and hopefully get 2500-3000 with a nice safe closure to eliminate the scar issue.I REALLY want a good closure. I am lucky in that I have taken a conservative approach. There are a lot of people here who are super aggressive. They are getting HT's STARTING at a pattern of hairloss that I am shooting for as a FINAL pattern (about a 3V). I just don't agree with this, personally. It's setting up for future problems. Some think they won't care what they look like when they are 40,50,60,etc. My guess is that they WILL find out otherwise. Lately I read all this stuff about donor thinning and it scares the crap out of me. Sorry to rant. Anyhow have a good day. - Stimpy

Okay. Just FYI, though, some of the less geniune HT places call the FUE process 'non-surgical'. It's actually another established gimick...

Beware. Beware. Beware. This just sounds like a gimicky way of saying HT. Do yourself a favor, and if you are going to go the HT route, go with somebody who is established as being good. Don't go with the local gimicky place. It will make your situation worse. As J. Malloy said, you will have that 'artificial look' going on. Baldness will seem like a blissful dream. Regards, Stimpy

Hope all works out. Yes, there are a lot of us who were bamboozled and had bad work done. I was a victim of Bosley in the early 90's. While I was not as bad as many on here, when my native hair receded and those blasted mini's became apparent, it made for some trying times. I understand where you are coming from. Stimpy

I'm not a psychiatrist, or psychologist, or whatever, but you might run the risk of putting TOO MUCH faith in the ability of an HT, or even hair in general to change a persons life. It won't change who you are. As an example look at all the really sucky people with hair. For that matter look at all the really successful and happy bald people. You need to just be more accepting of who you are. Stop worrying about 'failing at life'. Just STOP worrying about crap like that. That will probably be your turning point. Not to be overly philosophical, but you only 'fail' as much as you make it out to be. I have been very down and out for long periods of time. VERY poor. Destitute, really. Friendless in strange unfamiliar cities. That was the theme of my early 30's. Those days are gone now, but I SWEAR those years built my character. I know that sounds cheesy, but I would not trade those days in if I could. They are a part of who I am. I am such a firm believer that adversity builds character. If it doesn't kill you that is. Anyhow, good luck with things, and for Gods sake, stop worrying so much about who you *aren't*, and start being happy as who you *are*. Good things will follow. Regards, Stimpy

Awesome line here. I concur entirely. Stimpy

I truly hope your situation improves. At only 3.5 months you do not really know how it is going to turn out. I will say, though, you are correct about one thing, and I have said this about two million times in the year or so since I have been occasionally posting on this board. And that is that a bad HT will make baldness seem like a blissful dream. People who are overly self concious about baldness will NOT fare well with what you call the 'artificial look' going on. It is a nightmare that can destroy a person. Having said that, though, Mr.Malloy, you are still too early to really judge. Could you provide more details on your specific concerns? You are smack in the ugly duckling phase, so your situation will likely improve considerably. Regards, Stimpy

Lookin at your 6 mo. pics it is clear that you are still definitely in that early growth, kinky, frizzy kind of time-frame. It passes soon enough. Stimpy

So do most people think that blondish hair is maybe a little easier for HT purposes? Stimpy

So very true.