How important is scalp exercise prior to a mega-session .

[bllorayne]

Hello,

Within a few months i am going under the knife and i want a mega-session and i have heard that scalp exercise plays a vital role in hTS.But whenever i do scalp exercise i get a little strain and pain in my neck plus i feel a little dizzy and my head starts paining.I have already seen Jetronic's Video.See i want a megs-session as i am spending almost 3000$ for travelling itself plus a whooping 17k plus for the surgery .I am from India and i will be flying to Canada for the surgery. Buddies, please provide me with some excellent tips as to how can i increase the laxity of my scalp.Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Severn]

I can testify that they are very important. If you already have excellent laxity it isn't needed as much. But when I first consulted with SMG in July 2009, my laxity was judged as "tight" by Matt and there was some question whether they could even do 2500 in one pass. Matt was talking about the possibility of having to do 1200 instead and do two surguries.

 

Well I started doing the exercises and even increased my time to 1 hour per day. By the time my surgery came in October, I went from "tight" to "very loose". In fact, they didn't even need to cut all the way around my head and got 3008 with ease. Ron said he could have easily gotten 4000+ if needed.

 

Doing the exercises can be tediuos, but this is what helped me a lot. Lay on the couch and start watching TV. have your arms proped where you don't have to hold them up so much. Do only 5 minutes at a time. Take a break, then later do another 5 minutes later on. By the time you've finished watching one movie, you easily have your 30 minutes in for the day.

 

I overdid my exercises and am not sure 1 hour per day is even wise. I had gotten so much laxity that I started getting a little bit of a turkey neck! That went away after the surgery though.

[Ozguy]

Severn - How far in advance of surgery would you recommend doing them? I started doing them a little while ago, but I haven't even booked my second HT, so I thought I'd start again when I have an actual date for the procedure.

[Jotronic]

Something you can do to make the process a bit easier and with less strain is to sit in a chair, lay a folded towel or even a pillow on a table then lean forward to rest your forehead on the side of the table on top of the pillow or towel. Then perform the exercises in this position. It will completely alleviate any stress on your neck and give you a bit more leverage to really dig in and move your scalp.

[EpilepticSceptic]

I'm really glad this post came up, as I was about to post something similar.

 

I have 2 questions concerning this issue:

 

1) if you've already had a consultation with a reputable doc recommended on this site and he evaluated your laxity as far above average, then how important is it to still do these exercizes ? Could you somehow be sacrificing valuable laxity that you would need on your 2nd surgery by not fully maximizing the laxity on the first pass ?

 

2) would it not be easier and more effective to have one's head completely shaved to get the most traction and the best possible grip of your hands to scalp ? For me the biggest problem is my hands slipping over my hair while trying to get good traction. This is definitely more of a problem in the rear than it is on the sides.

[stamos]

1) I do not think so. Even for your budget it is better to have one HT with 5000 grafts, instead of one HT with 3500 and a second with 1500.

 

2) Try to wet your hands to get better grip. Do you know if your doc will shave your head?

[Severn]

juz:

 

I started doing them on a serious basis around August 1st, and continued until the day before surgery Oct. 12th.

 

And as stamos said, just wetting your hands or hair gives a good grip while doing the exercises. I was slipping too at first until I started that. But after a bit I was letting my hair grown out longer and i didn't even need to wet it anymore to get a grip.