How was your duckling phase

[chriswalkerr]

Hi, this is chris,

i have to say that this great forum encouraged me a lot to have a HT,

why living bald if we can do something about it !

so i will be having an FUT soon and shaving the receipient area which have some hair covering the baldness,

i am thinking all the time about duckling phase

 

How was it for you guys, how long it took, have you used concealers, when you took that hat off

[Britanium]

It drags on so much ... you basically just need to carry on your life as normal. Yes the ugly duckling stage is bad,but to be honest unless your a lucky early grower then your looking at about 6 months for any noticeable changes you can actually see.

I did not use any concealers of hats or anything else - that's down to personal choice. I may have been over cautious each time but I wanted nothing on my nice new grafts ! :-)

[chriswalkerr]

It drags on so much ... you basically just need to carry on your life as normal. Yes the ugly duckling stage is bad,but to be honest unless your a lucky early grower then your looking at about 6 months for any noticeable changes you can actually see.

I did not use any concealers of hats or anything else - that's down to personal choice. I may have been over cautious each time but I wanted nothing on my nice new grafts ! :-)

 

I don't want everyone i know to find out i had a HT

[Britanium]

Fair point ! I couldn't care less who knew and who didn't. I was just happy getting it done.

I guess you could wear a cap yes - although people will probably wonder why unless your wearing one at present?

I don't have any experience with concealers.

[Mick50]

I was lucky I always wore a hat before hand am still wearing one I work in a job wear I can wear a hat all the time so work colleagues have no idea my family think i am just using some medications which has helped grow hair amazing what people believe.

A lot depends on what job you do and how much time you can take off work, the longer the better I would say after 2 weeks i was pretty much healed and scabs gone by 10 days

If you could take off 3 weeks post op I'd say you would be in the clear even if you work in an office

[chriswalkerr]

I was lucky I always wore a hat before hand am still wearing one I work in a job wear I can wear a hat all the time so work colleagues have no idea my family think i am just using some medications which has helped grow hair amazing what people believe.

A lot depends on what job you do and how much time you can take off work, the longer the better I would say after 2 weeks i was pretty much healed and scabs gone by 10 days

If you could take off 3 weeks post op I'd say you would be in the clear even if you work in an office

 

i can take one month, but what explanation to a shaved recepient area

i will be having FUT, so there is a scar, can't shave all my head

 

What about shaving all and leaving the back longuer, wouldn't that be an option to look normal, just a bad haircut

Edited August 23, 2015 by chriswalkerr

[Mick50]

Again as I was a Norwood 5-6 there wasn't much difference pre-op to a month post op I had buzzed my hair in the past to a grade 1 so not really a problem, it depends what is your hair like at the front and on top now ? personally I wouldn't shave the recipient area for at least 6 months you don't want to be worrying if you have damaged the grafts different docs have opinions on that but my doc advised 6 months

[Dolph1969]

:DDo you reckon four weeks off for fue to be un noticed? What about redness and shedding? could you just explain it as a buzz cut? i'm going to try and keep mine under the radar.....then when there is regrowth, i'll just give it the "pills and potions" line....

[Mick50]

if you can take a month of work you will be fine, check out my album i have before and after pics there

one is 12 days post op also a 5 week post op beginning of ugly ducking, my hair started to grow about the 2.5 month mark and it didn't totally shed like some guys so really only had about 5-6 weeks of it looking really bad, a lot depends on how your hair actually looks now as to will people actually notice or not

how many grafts are you transplanting I had 4200 FUE

[ZeoRanger]

It was dreadful. But honestly 3 months of suffering are worth it, if you get amazing new hair as a reward.

 

I only needed to get my hairline fixed but unfortunately the clinic shaved off all my existing hair so I could not cover the recipient site with my fringe. So I ended up with a red, sometimes almost purple Batman logo right above my hairline. Sexy AF. I was always thought my hair was growing too fast but during this period it took like forever to get decent length to cover the recipient.

 

I have to dress businessy at work so a hat inside the office looked awkward. I could not say I had a HT. A few people in the office are bald and if you get an HT even though you not bald it's sending a political message to the people who control your pay...

 

I built my own flesh toned head band with double sided tape that would loose sit on my forehead without even touching the grafts - but blocking views of them! Explanation: sports injury. People were still annoying constantly asking how it was healing and if they can take a peek. IMO rude AF... They should really get on with their lives... After 3 months when I took it off (as my fringe was long enough) they were almost disappointed there were no visible scars. It told them that's because I strictly stuck to my docs orders and allowed 3 months for the injury to heal.

 

I tried make up.. Mineral powder but it did not work. Aloe vera didn't work either. It dried up too quickly and left gunk on my scalp.

 

I really wish clinics would NOT force you to shave it all off, would spare you a lot of agony.

 

Other than the redness there was no issue with the OP for me. Luckily no shock for me. Just a shocking temporary Batman logo tattoo above the hairline.

Edited August 24, 2015 by ZeoRanger
Typo... So hard with iphone..

[biolizard]

It was dreadful. But honestly 3 months of suffering are worth it, if you get amazing new hair as a reward.

 

I only needed to get my hairline fixed but unfortunately the clinic shaved off all my existing hair so I could not cover the recipient site with my fringe. So I ended up with a red, sometimes almost purple Batman logo right above my hairline. Sexy AF. I was always thought my hair was growing too fast but during this period it took like forever to get decent length to cover the recipient.

 

I have to dress businessy at work so a hat inside the office looked awkward. I could not say I had a HT. A few people in the office are bald and if you get an HT even though you not bald it's sending a political message to the people who control your pay...

 

I built my own flesh toned head band with double sided tape that would loose sit on my forehead without even touching the grafts - but blocking views of them! Explanation: sports injury. People were still annoying constantly asking how it was healing and if they can take a peek. IMO rude AF... They should really get on with their lives... After 3 months when I took it off (as my fringe was long enough) they were almost disappointed there were no visible scars. It told them that's because I strictly stuck to my docs orders and allowed 3 months for the injury to heal.

 

I tried make up.. Mineral powder but it did not work. Aloe vera didn't work either. It dried up too quickly and left gunk on my scalp.

 

I really wish clinics would force you to shave it all off, would spare you a lot of agony.

 

Other than the redness there was no issue with the OP for me. Luckily no shock for me. Just a shocking temporary Batman logo tattoo above the hairline.

 

 

So .... Exactly how long does it take for that VERY noticeable and odd looking purple discoloration to fade in the recipient area? I have that exact same problem. I'm relegated to permanent caps for the time being. I'm going on 3 weeks out post op from a 2000 graft FUE. If not for that awful and very obvious purple discoloration of the entire recipient scalp area, it might not be so conspicuous as to what I had done. Im try to be discrete and not tell people. Now, I'm ready for that to go away, but it doesn't appear as if it's going to fade anytime soon. Looks like it's here to stay a while. Are we talking months and months?

[ZeoRanger]

Up the healing process of the individual. Upon reading I learned the following

 

The redness generally peaks at week 6 then starts fading.

 

Redness last longer in younger patients

 

Lasts longer in fair skinned patients (esp ginger).

 

From own experience severity depends under which lamp you are. Fluoro is the worst.

 

Mine started fading after week 12. At this stage I didn't care about anymore cause my fringe was long enough and the grafts started growing in.

[Spidey]

I am in it right now, 3 weeks post op and 90% of my transplanted hair has fallen off.. I only had 1036 grafts placed on my temples. I buzzed my hair down to a number 1 all around so it's not that bad, except for the redness. Without the redness, it wouldn't even be an issue for me.. well I guess it is more pink now... Hopefully by the fourth week it will be pretty much undetectable. It has gotten better daily. As for the wait for the hair to grow, I am not too anxious about that as it will be a waiting game.

[chriswalkerr]

I am in it right now, 3 weeks post op and 90% of my transplanted hair has fallen off.. I only had 1036 grafts placed on my temples. I buzzed my hair down to a number 1 all around so it's not that bad, except for the redness. Without the redness, it wouldn't even be an issue for me.. well I guess it is more pink now... Hopefully by the fourth week it will be pretty much undetectable. It has gotten better daily. As for the wait for the hair to grow, I am not too anxious about that as it will be a waiting game.

 

What about the scar , or is it FUE for you ?

[Spidey]

What about the scar , or is it FUE for you ?

 

sorry, yea mine was FUE.. one week post op and the donor area was undetectable. The hair length was one week post having the donor area shaved down to a no guard for the surgery... I now clip it with a number 1 with no issues.

[pkipling]

Unfortunately, the redness in the front can last quite a while - and how long it lasts/how severe it is varies from person to person. There's no way to know for sure how long it will last, and if you can figure out a clever story that will allow you to wear a hat, that will be your best bet. Mine was pretty red for the first 4 weeks or so, and it didn't get to the point where I felt comfortable going without a hat until around week 7 or so.

 

Two things to note, however: I decided to keep my head completely buzzed for the first 3 months so that the new hairs could start growing in evenly with everything else. Therefore, I didn't have any native hair that could've potentially been used to disguise the redness in the recipient area. 2) I was fortunate enough to be able to wear a hat for the first 6/7 weeks as well, so this helped me out a ton. To be honest, even for the first 3 months (until the hairs started growing), I felt like the redness was noticeable, - but that was most likely only to me. To anyone else, it would've looked like nothing more than a mild sunburn, if anything. I do think mine lasted longer than most people's though, and again, that just has to do with my skin and its sensitivity.