Question for the guys that have worn hats for years and then got a HT

[wantego]

How many months was it before you ditched the hats? Did you feel a bit naked without them? Was it a gradual process? This really intrigues me.

[wantego]

How many months was it before you ditched the hats? Did you feel a bit naked without them? Was it a gradual process? This really intrigues me.

[livingalie]

just the reverse. i never wore a hat until after my ht. now i dont leave the house without it. very bad decision i made to have it done

[john36]

me too ,just the reverse.livingalie,we are now cats with hats

[wantego]

I'm sorry to hear that. Anyone else?

[Bill - Seemiller]

wantego,

 

I've been wearing hats almost regularly since I was 14 years old. It all started when I shaved my head for a competitive swim meet and realized that I HATED the way I looked bald. Even when my hair grew back, I decided I liked hats and wore them regularly. The difference between then and my balding years was that I would take off my hat in public to reveal a long thick head of hair that women loved to play with . Once I started losing my hair, I would seldom take it off.

 

That said, I've had 3 hair transplants and only after my second hair transplant did I go without a hat on very rare occasion. I would also start to dare to take it off even when I wore it in public, but frankly, I still felt self-conscious.

 

Only after 5 to 6 months after my third hair transplant did I discover my hair was thick enough that I could ditch the hat. Though I still like hats, I'm so thrilled to have enough hair to be confident in myself, that I very rarely wear that hat. Because my confidence has been restored, I've basically gone cold turkey

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Eman]

Haven't you ditched the hat yet want? I thought at this point with the results you have, you would have gotten rid of the hat by now.

 

Or were you one who wore a hat regularly prior to the HT and are now concerned about people's reactions? If that is the case, you will only get positive comments about your hair now because most people won't remember what you looked like without a hat.

[wantego]

Thanks for the answer Bill. After so many years depending on hats I think some people may feel a bit weird without them.

 

Eman I'm not where I want to be yet for "my final result" after all it has only been 4 months and 3 weeks so far BUT I have started going without the hat in most situations. I did use to wear a baseball cap often but I actually started going without it little before the HT as sort of a test of myself. I was curious about other people in similar situations.

[Stimpson]

I've had about 3100 grafts to cover a bad Bosley job from the early 90's, and alas, I still often wear a hat. I am going to have as large a session as can be done here in the next 8 or 9 months, and I hope then I will be able to more or less ditch the hat. The repair work has been good, it's just that those fu**ing Bosley mini's are a BITCH to completely bury. I may have the worst ones removed along with the next HT. I am probably overly self conscious, but I can still see them sometimes with my trained eye.

 

Having said all that, though, I no longer panic when I CANNOT wear the hat. Oh God, the ordeal that used to be! It was *unbelievably* bad trying to hide that dreadful Bosley HT. There were rare days when I would have to play professional and meet a client or something, and I would be worried *weeks* before hand. The day of, I would sit in my office and do NOTHING but mess with my hair to utterly no avail. By the time of the meeting I would have sprayed so much hair spray and messed with it so much that it would be this weird texture and my scalp would be so shiny from the hairspray. It was truly a horrific time, but thankfully it was pretty short in duration, which is good, because a few more months of that BS and I would have been bonkers for sure. I've said this like a million times now, but a bad HT will make baldness seem like a blissful dream.

 

So, alas, yes, I still have my favorite hat. The day when I can ditch it for good is still just a beautiful vision that will hopefully be reality a little over a year from now (by the time it all grows in and what not). BUT, the nightmare days of HAVING to wear the hat are now in the past. I rarely wear it around the office anymore, or in family or friends houses, but pretty much everywhere else, especially if there is wind or something involved. My last HT is still improving, and the overall situation is still improving. I'm going to defintely need another HT though to get to where i can retire the hat more or less permanantly. I look forward to that day. It will be such a free feeling. I cannot wait.

 

Stimpy

[new2thissite]

For those who are happy with the final results but not comfortable without hat outside, is it because HT looks unnatural/detectable or is it because hair looks thin?

[wantego]

Originally posted by new2thissite:

For those who are happy with the final results but not comfortable without hat outside, is it because HT looks unnatural/detectable or is it because hair looks thin?

It may not be either with some people. I wore a baseball cap with a full heard of hair in my teens.

[spinmaker]

I used to never leave home without a cap. But just a few weeks ago being 3 months post op I now have the liberated feeling of not having to wear one.

Sorry to read above not all HTs are successful. Mine rocks.

[Stimpson]

For those who are happy with the final results but not comfortable without hat outside, is it because HT looks unnatural/detectable or is it because hair looks thin?

 

It's a bit of both, really. I have 3100 grafts covering a large area, and that can still look very thin in the right conditions. Also, those stupid Bosley mini's stand out occasionally, at least to me they do, which makes me paranoid enough to usually wear the hat when possible.

 

I have realistic hopes Dr. Wong can fix me up later next year.

 

Stimpson

[wylie]

Originally posted by new2thissite:

For those who are happy with the final results but not comfortable without hat outside, is it because HT looks unnatural/detectable or is it because hair looks thin?

 

Both. Count me in as someone who wears a hat everywhere. I used to be less self conscious about my hair (before I discovered forums like this one ) but I now realize I must have been spotted hundreds of times w/out my hat.

 

Now, with Dermatch and some repair sessions, I can be alot less self conscious, but the facts are its been over 10 years since I felt the need to wear a hat EVERYWHERE. There are plenty of people I work with who have never seen me hatless in all that time!

 

Yes, a bad HT is a nightmare, and trying to repair one is an expensive nightmare. Someday, I will throw the hat up in the air and be done with one forever, however, that day is still far away. So me and a hat go everywhere together.

[DB]

May not be the candidate you are looking for a response from. I wore a hat my entire life since I had thin hair starting at age 18. High school people would say I would be bald by 25. If you look at my hair then I had a big part and as years progressed you could see through the hair but no one area had a bald patch. Since then I have been rarely seen without a hat but when needed I could pull off a "thinning" look with spray on hair to cover my crown area which was most noteable. People rarely commented on balding or hair loss and I work with the type of jerks that love to make fun of balding people. I recently got a HT in the hopes I could put my hat collection away forever. Again I had hair before the HT it was just thin and most noticeable in the crown area. I would never try to "fool" anyone with the spray on hair as my wife pointed out she could detect the spray on hair when I was in the sun and made me self concious about it. So the plan was wear a hat then go without it once in a while only.

Two months after a hair transplant my hairloss has progressed ten times more to the point I feel I will never go without a hat for the rest of my life. I know this is the ugly duckling stage and I am praying it is tempoary as if I could go back in time to two months ago I would have keep the $8000 and my hats. It could be the worse thing I ever did in my life and I am praying that I can just get back to where I was before the hair transplant. I noted a couple of other repsondents said it was the worst thing they ever did so I am a little freaked out that it may be permanent. I had transplants inserted around good folicles and I fear I may have destroyed good folicles as the they were damaged during the inscision for transplants. I am an "AFTER Hair Transplant" wishing I was still a "BEFORE"

[wantego]

DB that ugly duckling period is tough on all of us. Most of us had similar fears. I hope your HT comes out well in 12 months time. Can you give some specifics like who was your doctor, how many grafts, what kind of surgery? Would you consider posting some pictures. MY first 2 months were pretty ugly as well but things are improving.

[DB]

Hi Wantego,

 

Thanks for the response. I looked at the pics you have on your link and WOW!! you look great and are really lucky. You have to be thrilled. I did take some pictures immediately after the procedure then about a week later and also at one month. When I looked a the one month pictures I got really depressed as I could see the additional hair that I had lost compared to the existing hair I had right before I went in. I know this hair will grow back eventually if it is resting stage and I know from Doctors repsonding on this forum that most likely transected hair will grow back. Still the ugly duckling stage as it is referred is just brutal. I look at my pictures and I know the mind plays tricks but you could not separate me from my hat for anything right now. The hat stays on all the time now. I don't like my wife to see me without it since the procedure. I will take two month pictures so I have a record and in a few months if I have positive results I will post them to encourage other people that are thinking about a HT. Right now I am not one of those people that would recommend a procedure. Anyway you asked about specifics and to be honest I don't know the kinds of details the senior members of this site know about their stats. I went for a 3000 graft procedure. I do not know how many were actually retrived nor how they were separated. I recall the Doctor telling the technicians that no singles were needed. I went for the HT just before I found this website. The Doctor I used is not on this sites list. I noted some members thrash Doctors so I prefer not to state his name and regardless I do not have his permission to mention his name. I am sure he did an outstanding job and I am an just anxious and stressed patient but these first couple of months have been brutal. I would have liked a heads up at the consultation and have been advised that inserting hair amongest native thinning hair could accelerate hairloss in some patients etc. Thanks wantego!

[wantego]

Hey DB I understand your concerns. Just a few things I wanted to mention.

 

1. We all have the dreaded 1-3 month ugly duckling period. Thanks for the kind words about my pictures but if you go look at my early pictures I went through it also.

 

2. Sometimes I did not realize all the positive changes taking place but when I did a comparison of monthly pictures it helped me so I do suggest you take pics every single month so you can see for yourself and hopefully make a web blog for other people to see. You can crop your face out for privacy.

 

3. You do not have to post your doctors name at all. That is your choice and I respect that but if you change your mind you do not need permission to post his name. Hopefully the good honest doctors do not get their names thrashed. That would obviously be unfair.

 

4. I bet your wife loves you with or without the hat but I do understand.

 

5. Shockloss of hairs is pretty upsetting to most people but it often grows back so keep your chin up.If you have had shockloss that is not uncommon and I hope it grows back fast.

 

6. Are you taking anything like propecia, rogaine, msm, or a multivitamin?