Past vs. Present: A case for Hair Restoration

[Paulygon]

I uploaded two pics from 2 different eras and call this post Past vs Present: A case for Hair Restoration

 

1st pic: a technical engineer gracefully allows his male patterned baldness to dominate his scalp. He has thick glasses and is using the computer in his University office on a CRT. He is probably a pretty nice guy. or as David DeAngelo says, "top heavy on superego". This pic is from the early to mid 1990s.

 

2nd pic: This is the the 'young buck' who works from the luxury of his home. He may or may not have had a hair transplant.. these days, whose to tell? He seems happy and relaxed because he has turned technology into his slave.

 

It is interesting and undeniable that hair restoration is at a state that we have some level of predictability of results. The technology and technique is there as long as we choose the right doctors, the HT can look very good, and undetectable. You can have a long term strategy and might never be bald, depending on the quality of your donor hair. So I wonder how many people choose to go gracefully bald like in the first pic anymore. I can see shaving of the head completely.. but only a select number of people have that kind of headshape anyway (I am not one of them). I am of the belief that we should use all the tested tools at our disposal in the name of progress. If I hadn't used the meds or had the HT#1 I would have been like the guy in pic 1... but I just don't feel like that and I had to use the tools to make the outside match how I feel. (I hated looking in the mirror and seeing no hair on my head.. it was so weird).

 

FYI:[[i used the term 'young buck' because that was said to me on this forum regarding my transformation from 'old man' status after my 1st HT with Dr Parsa Mohebi in Encino. ]]

 

Having come this far with technology... what holds people back from going for a hair restoration procedure from a reputable doctor?

[Spanker]

I think that there are several answers to this question:

 

1. People do not know that HT's can be this good. (They can still be pretty bad).

2. The social stigma with HT's.

3. The financial commitment.

4. The limits to HT's. (I think that if donor were limitless and everyone could have a full head of hair, more people would get them.)

5. Some people are confident and attractive without hair. For instance, my grandfather is is a NW6 but has always been a ladies man. (Think of the actor Ed Harris).

6. Some people are not as vain as we are, because, when it is all said and done, it is vanity that brings us here.

[gobble]

Is that the same person in both pictures?

[BeardedOne]

Spanker - do you really think it is vanity that brings us all here? I believe most of us are here because of confidence/anxiety/depression issues linked to losing one's hair and corresponding sense of identity. I don't think it's as straightforward as trying to look our best or regain our youth with a full head of hair.

 

My own anxiety/depression linked to my hair threatens to take over my life every once in a while, it becomes all-consuming. I don't think it is simple vanity that compels me to confront mpb. In fact I feel dismayed every time I see an article in the media about baldness that talks about vain old men buying back their youth through HTs as if the only reason they're doing it is to pick up some more chicks.

 

Not trying to pick a fight here! But I do think it's an important discussion

[Since21]

For me it was more about insecurity and self-consciousness. I had run out of options. The meds can only do so much and MPB is progressive. They will only slow down the march of time on your hair.

[Paulygon]

I am sure that it is a some combination of everything you guys mentioned.. specifically,

 

vanity, anxiety, depression..

 

in my case, I remember watching the movie The Goods Live Hard Sell Hard in 2009.. the whole time admiring the way actor Jeremy Piven (Ari from Entourage) has overcome MPB. Then, suddenly there came a scene where an Extra who looked like me came up in a shot had such a similar hairloss as me (man, It gave me such anxiety, almost a self-hatred for how I look, not healthy at all.. (its very difficult to control your hardwired impulses).. that was a depression point for me...

 

I often compare my hair to celebrities.. I know there are limits to Hair Restoration.. when I went with some photos of celebrities with hair I admired, and the doc told me some may be achievable with someone wiht my MPB condition.. while others not (no Colin Farrel density) but I think I got a really good Patrick Wilson hairline..

[home1212]

really good discussion and dialogue guys! I'm always interested in the psychological, emotional aspect of hair loss, as I know its affected me in both areas. For me, its not so much a vanity issue as it is trying to be satisfied and accepting of my own appearance. Getting older sucks for all of us, but I guess I'd like to gracefully get there and accepting being full blown bald is not agreeable with me especially when there are proven methods available to us to help stem or correct the situation. I never will nor do I want a full head of hair, I'm beyond that urge and age, but I think I can look slightly better than I do - so I opt to do so because as many as you have said, I also have the financial where with all to do it. It is a difficult and complex thing to dissect, but hair loss is a difficult thing to deal with for any person, I don't care who you are. Its by the grace of God that we deal with it and accept what we can do in our own way. I also thank God for these forums, these wonderful doctors who have spent a lifetime perfecting what they do, and for the countless patients who share their experiences with us so that we can judge and make our own independent decisions. I'm grateful for you all!

[Paulygon]

really good discussion and dialogue guys! I'm always interested in the psychological, emotional aspect of hair loss, as I know its affected me in both areas. For me, its not so much a vanity issue as it is trying to be satisfied and accepting of my own appearance. Getting older sucks for all of us, but I guess I'd like to gracefully get there and accepting being full blown bald is not agreeable with me especially when there are proven methods available to us to help stem or correct the situation. I never will nor do I want a full head of hair, I'm beyond that urge and age, but I think I can look slightly better than I do - so I opt to do so because as many as you have said, I also have the financial where with all to do it. It is a difficult and complex thing to dissect, but hair loss is a difficult thing to deal with for any person, I don't care who you are. Its by the grace of God that we deal with it and accept what we can do in our own way. I also thank God for these forums, these wonderful doctors who have spent a lifetime perfecting what they do, and for the countless patients who share their experiences with us so that we can judge and make our own independent decisions. I'm grateful for you all!

 

I'm also interested in the emotional aspects of it.. glad I'm not the only one!

 

Seeing your profile pic with the empty crown (tho I could not find any other uploaded pics) , and reading your post that gave an idea of the current state of your loss and your desire to age gracefully it reminded me of a family friend who got some excellent FUE work done in his 50's.

 

He basically has been bald (Norwood 6) as long as I remember but a couple years ago he got a new hairline with FUE. (He is a physician and financially well off so the higher cost of FUE wasn't a big deal for him). Anyway, for some reason he did not touch the crown region, they left it empty. He only got a new hairline. From the front, he easily looks 10 years younger, and much much different. (I had seen him again at a wedding post-transplant). Then from the back he looked the same as pre-transplant and recognizable to me. Honestly, I really really liked the work he had done because to me, that looked very much like aging gracefully.. being OK with hairloss but having a nice hairline (granted it wads not a thick hairline) but it looked pretty good.

 

What are you thoughts about having something like that done? Where you rebuild the hairline but leave the crown empty? I think it works. Alternatively, you can fill in the crown a little bit.. maybe on a later procedure (which is my strategy for myself). Alot of physicians say that the hairline is the most important part of hair restoration.

[Paulygon]

.. In fact I feel dismayed every time I see an article in the media about baldness that talks about vain old men buying back their youth through HTs as if the only reason they're doing it is to pick up some more chicks.

 

worst offender is Jay Leno.. how many times is going to do that joke about Propecia being counterproductive to balding men picking up chicks due to the loss of libido effect... I saw him live a few months ago at the Comedy and Magic Club and yet again, he said that joke. jeez.

[Spanker]

Spanker - do you really think it is vanity that brings us all here? I believe most of us are here because of confidence/anxiety/depression issues linked to losing one's hair and corresponding sense of identity. I don't think it's as straightforward as trying to look our best or regain our youth with a full head of hair.

 

My own anxiety/depression linked to my hair threatens to take over my life every once in a while, it becomes all-consuming. I don't think it is simple vanity that compels me to confront mpb. In fact I feel dismayed every time I see an article in the media about baldness that talks about vain old men buying back their youth through HTs as if the only reason they're doing it is to pick up some more chicks.

 

Not trying to pick a fight here! But I do think it's an important discussion

For some people vanity is a dirty word. For me it's not. Why do we not want to be bald? Why do we want to look different than nature intended us? Why do we get depressed or feel anxiety about the way we look? For me, the answer is vanity. It's advanced emotion that some or most people feel. I really can't find another legitimate reason. Hair doesn't help us feed ourselves or protect ourselves. We want to look in a mirror and be happy with what we see. It's nothing to be ashamed about. In fact, we are lucky our lives are at a point where we can waste time on even be consumed by these emotions.

 

If you were starving from a famine, a prisoner of war, or in any long list of terrible places, you wouldnt have the mental energy to spend on such things. Since we are not living through those things right now, we have energy to spend on things like our looks, and improving them. We have time to be vain.

 

I am not making light of the pain that hair loss can and does cause, because I believe do it is legitimate.

[BeardedOne]

I don't think vanity is a dirty word. I am admittedly a very vain person. I worry about my hair and I want it to be perfect! I think that the damage that mpb does to our self image is significant, too. However to write off baldness or balding as an issue of vanity denies the psycho-social effect that it has. Paulygon mentioned it - going bald is frequently held up as a joke, a male weakness, whether in the jokes of comedians or how movies are cast or how men are portrayed in popular media. I believe there was a movie made in the last 10 years about a geeky outcast in school based around the fact he was prematurely balding! This makes me feel that, no matter what I accomplish, there is a part of me that is dwindling away at a faster rate than others, out of my control like no other aspect of my life, and therefore I can never be the person I want to be. I still have quite a lot of hair, but losing my hair, however slowly, makes me feel weak, anxious, and depressed. And these feelings are among the strongest I've felt in years. They make me unable to accept myself as I am.

 

So my desire to reverse mpb (!), or to restore my hair to something I can accept, is definitely spurred by my desire to look my best but in my opinion more fundamentally to combat these feelings of weakness and anxiety that potentially balding brings. I just don't want to worry about my hair - life throws enough curve balls!

 

Gosh I sound quite desperate, I'm really not that bad! Started fin 6 weeks ago and full of high hopes - I just want to reach a stage where I don't think about it anymore.

[Spanker]

I guess feel differently because I do not look at baldness as weakness. My dad and his father are bald and both good, strong, successful men. I actually may have not had an ht I had even close to a normal scalp(i have a condition where my scalp has wrinkles and folds in it).

 

Being ex military, a tight buzz, with or without hair feels powerful to me. Actors like Ed Harris, Bruce Willis, Patrick Stewart, and others who have accepted their hair loss all strike me as strong and not weak men.

 

 

 

I don't think that contributing our being here to our own vanity neglects the emotional or social impact of hair loss. But I feel like the actual damage (I.e. our perception that we will get less: girls, friends, promotions, acceptance...), at least in the U.S., is much much less than the damage that we do to ourselves emotionally, all over something we can't control.wE

Edited December 31, 2013 by Spanker

[hsrp10]

Having come this far with technology... what holds people back from going for a hair restoration procedure from a reputable doctor?

 

Seems like the number of good transplant results is on the rise, and the added option of SMP plus a good HT makes it even a better time period to have one done now.

Also more celebrities are having procedures.

 

Worrying less about out hair gives us more room to concentrate on other more important things in life.

[Paulygon]

For the record, I must admit, vanity is a quite strong characteristic in myself.. for better or worse. As a society though, we are programmed to value beauty and the almighty $$.

 

For those who are more inclined, becoming vain is inescapable...

If I had grown up in Tibet, I'd probably be content being a bald 32 y/o. As long as I could be free doing my meditation.. but in this society, I have to work all day and when I am walking around the city, I don't want to look like an old man just because I can not control my hair loss. Seriously though, it is so messed up that about a year and a half ago, when my hairloss was at its worst, people would make negative comments about certain aspects of my look (actually, now that I think about it, much of my family is vain... so that's where some of my programming comes from.. and my Gf at the time, as much as she tried to not be vain, would revert back to her vain self). Now, after the Fin, minox and excellent Hair Transplant procedure I often often often get told that I look much younger than 32... it just happened again last night by some beautiful girl who is 26 and thought I was younger than her. It's unbelievable that hair makes that much of a difference... and the lack of control over it, is so frustrating (as someone mentioned already).

Thinking about control.. every day, growing up, we have control over our hair, then we start losing it, and not only do we have control over fewer hairs every passing day (how frustrating is finding your hairs in the shower, right?) but we just cannot seem to control this hair loss.

 

It really is all in the mind though, as BeardedOne has brought up he sees Bruce Willis and Ed Harris as not weakened by their baldness... just his belief makes him stronger and less sensitive to the pains of hair loss than me..

 

sorry for the long post.. i was just venting..

 

going back to the "control" issue.. i truly see hair transplant as being not much different than getting tattoos. are tattoos about vanity? individualism? expressing yourself? what?

 

anybody see the analogy between 'hair transplant' and 'tattoos' or 'body piercings'? I personally never have had a desire for tattoos (again, maybe due to programming-- as I remember body art was stigmatized in my social circles growing up). but having that degree of control over your body's appearance is the same in body art and HT's.. essentially, Hair Restoration is Body Art.

[Since21]

It really is all in the mind though, as BeardedOne has brought up he sees Bruce Willis and Ed Harris as not weakened by their baldness...

 

I'm not sure why when someone brings up examples of men who have accepted their hair loss, they name guys like Bruce Willis, Jason Stratham, Sean Connery, etc. People, these are movie stars with fame, fortune and all the accoutrements that come with it. Trust me, those are great equalizers. Funnily enough, those men are not above putting on a wig for a role in a film and the nice paycheck that comes with it. What is the difference of you doing the same for your career?

 

Both my father and brother accepted their hair loss early on and buzzed their heads. They were both in the military and had no self-consciousness about it whatsoever. I went down an entirely different path career-wise and have always been self-conscious of my hair loss. When I told them I was going to have a HT, they didn't scoff at it - they respected my decision because they knew it always bothered me. As an aside, my brother came up with one of the funniest quips regarding my hair loss: "You must look at me and think, 'There but for the grace of Propecia go I.'"

 

My point is, even though they accepted their hair loss, so what. It doesn't mean anything when it comes to mine. Everyone is different. And please don't bring up men like Bruce Willis and Jason Stratham if you're going to use examples of men who have accepted their hair loss. That's ridiculous. When you're pulling down $10-20 million a picture and you're one of the biggest box office stars in the world with women throwing themselves at you, it might be a little easier to look in the mirror, pull out those clippers and say, "You know what, f*** it."

[KO]

I guess the issue is that most people don't understand that MPB is a treatable condition, and if you start treating yourself early in the process, you can retain what you have and potentially gain more through transplants. There's just too much of a defeatist tone of, "Nothing can be done about it".