The importance of light and hair length

[secondtryuser]

Hello everybody,

 

I'd like to hear other people's thoughts, particularly from those who've had transplants, about light and hair length.

 

I'm kinda happy with my result until:

a) the hair is cut short &

b) i put my head down in bright light.

 

Under the above conditions my hair looks so thin and you can see my scalp clearly. Is this a common case of most HT or do you think it varies?

[Dr. David Josephitis]

second,

 

 

This is an important concept that is not always talked about in hair restoration. Most of the time, everyone talks only about coverage and density. The final results of surgery not only depend on these aspects, but also quite a bit on the individual patient's original hair characteristics. As you can imagine, the more scalp one sees the more one appears to be thinning. Some people have curly or kinky hair which does a great job of covering more area of scalp than those with straight thin hair. Also, the light and dark contrast plays a big part in the illusion of fullness. If someone has, for example, very light skin and very dark hair they will appear thinner than the same person but with darker skin.

You pointed out that when you cut your hair it looks thinner. You have to imagine that below a certain length you take away a lot of the voume and coverage of the hair. If you had more hair (or native hair density for that matter) it wouldn't matter much if you cut your hair very short. But for those with transplants, you have to remember that you have a limited amount of hair and you have to use that hair to the max. Interestingly emough, if you let your hair grow very long hoping that "more is better" it may also again appear thinner. This is because as the hair grow longer it also gains weight and may pull down and apart revealing more scalp. There is definitely a "sweet spot" length of hair for each person.

 

 

Finally, you mentioned the point that under certain lights you look thinner. This again goes to the point of having limited hair to work with a transplant patient. After having surgery, you will notice that you look much better under normal circumstances. Still, there are times, such as in bright light or after a shower, when you will again look thinner. You have to remember that before you had any hair loss, you had 100% of your native hair density. After surgery (assuming you were completely bald before) You may get anywhere from 20-40% of your native density. There is no surgical way currently to get the original density back for those with considerable loss. You will still occasionally have "bad hair" days and certain environments will be harder than others. This is one of the reasons why patients have additional procedures to increase the density.

[Melvin- Admin]

Hair restoration will never provide actual density especially for those Norwood 5+ you will have only the illusion. For example my case, the way I style my hair and the length I keep it provides the maximum coverage so that you can see no scalp. However, if I cut my hair short and stand directly under a light you'll see my scalp. This is when managing expectations come in to play you should never expect to look like you're not balding at all. When you go swimming, when you're hair is short, when you're directly under harsh lighting, there will always be situations where you see weakness.

[BadBeat]

second,

 

 

This is an important concept that is not always talked about in hair restoration. Most of the time, everyone talks only about coverage and density. The final results of surgery not only depend on these aspects, but also quite a bit on the individual patient's original hair characteristics. As you can imagine, the more scalp one sees the more one appears to be thinning. Some people have curly or kinky hair which does a great job of covering more area of scalp than those with straight thin hair. Also, the light and dark contrast plays a big part in the illusion of fullness. If someone has, for example, very light skin and very dark hair they will appear thinner than the same person but with darker skin.

You pointed out that when you cut your hair it looks thinner. You have to imagine that below a certain length you take away a lot of the voume and coverage of the hair. If you had more hair (or native hair density for that matter) it wouldn't matter much if you cut your hair very short. But for those with transplants, you have to remember that you have a limited amount of hair and you have to use that hair to the max. Interestingly emough, if you let your hair grow very long hoping that "more is better" it may also again appear thinner. This is because as the hair grow longer it also gains weight and may pull down and apart revealing more scalp. There is definitely a "sweet spot" length of hair for each person.

 

 

Finally, you mentioned the point that under certain lights you look thinner. This again goes to the point of having limited hair to work with a transplant patient. After having surgery, you will notice that you look much better under normal circumstances. Still, there are times, such as in bright light or after a shower, when you will again look thinner. You have to remember that before you had any hair loss, you had 100% of your native hair density. After surgery (assuming you were completely bald before) You may get anywhere from 20-40% of your native density. There is no surgical way currently to get the original density back for those with considerable loss. You will still occasionally have "bad hair" days and certain environments will be harder than others. This is one of the reasons why patients have additional procedures to increase the density.

 

This is a fantastic post Doc. Thanks so much for taking the time to give us this info.

[ontop]

Its a good post in general..

[secondtryuser]

Thanks for the information and sharing you thoughts and expertise. ;-)

[Dutchie]

There is definitely a "sweet spot" length of hair for each person

HHhmm......are you trying to say there's a goldilocks zone???

 

 

Sorry, I couldnt resist