Considering Shapiro... NW4, FUE

[Alpine]

Hello fellas. I have read the forum several times and finally joined. I am 34, about a NW5, possibly 5A. Considering flying to Dr. Shapiro from Missouri. He is expensive but looks to be one of the best. I really do not want to risk this with some random Bosely guy from my state. I am contemplating not even doing it because of the risk of a non-natural hair-line or look.

 

Right now, I buzz it, no guard. It does not look too bad really. My concern is that I get a procedure and its not all that great, density is not good and it looks unnatural. Then even the shaved look will be worse than I am now. That would be a real kicker. It may be that my best bet is to just keep the shaved look and add some pigmentation to balance it out. Shapiro is known for that as well. Obviously I will let his team decide because a poor result is worse than just keeping what I have now, in my opinion. This is my hesitation. The other issue is my recovery window and work. I need to look as normal as possible (in front of people in Court) in about 2 weeks. I'll keep it shaved until regrowth is decent so it just sort of looks like it already does now. Interested in thoughts, advice, etc.

 

I am perfectly capable of handling a professional telling me I may be best to just leave it alone if I plan to wear it buzzed, or to just add some pigmentation to the frontal to balance it out for the buzzed look. I am not dead set on this, but I believe I could look better, perhaps. Pics attached.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Alpine

[Spanker]

IMO, you have a nice round head and you are definitely a NW5. If you are pretty happy with the buzz, I say keep doing the buzz. I don't think you have much to lose to try out SMP. I dont really see you getting full coverage so I would be concentration on your frontal 3rd to frontal half with a bald or mostly bald crown, especially in just one procedure.

 

It can be done, but I just think you look natural now, and if you handling things well, don't mess with success.

[1978matt]

Very sound considerations.

 

I'd say you may as well consider yourself a NW6 as it looks to be going that way. I would rate it NW5 currently.

 

You have a good shaped head so the pigmentation route could work well.

 

As for FUE, it's all about the donor quality.

[Alpine]

Very sound considerations.

 

I'd say you may as well consider yourself a NW6 as it looks to be going that way. I would rate it NW5 currently.

 

You have a good shaped head so the pigmentation route could work well.

 

As for FUE, it's all about the donor quality.

 

Donor quality... I have always had fairly thin hair all over the head. I do not mean literally thinning. But I mean actual genetic follicle density. I've never had extremely thick hair. So I would guess my donor quality is not the best.

 

I agree after looking at the pics, I am more of a NW5. It's quite eye opening looking at a top down view - depressing. I agree with all the feedback I have been given so far. I think one of the most important things in assesing hair transplant is knowing/accepting when you are just not a great candidate. Pigmentation could still make a decent impact I think. Shapiro is able to give some very natural results from what I have seen and I know of very little downsides to that procedure.

 

Scalp Tricho Pigmentation | Shapiro Medical Minneapolis, MN

 

http://www.vincihairclinic.com/scalp-pigmentation/micro-scalp-pigmentation/scalp-pigmentation-results/

(Some of the results look VERY good, IMO) And I think there is less risk of an adverse look when you use a highly reputable clinic for the pigmentation.

 

Attached a picture from 2012 when the hair was longer to give another perspective. It was obviously probably not as bad then either though.

 

Frankly, until a consultant from Shapiro advises me on what they think I should do its hard to pull the trigger. I dont want to get FUE if its more likely than not that the results will just be poor and ruin even the shaved head look. The thing that nobody likes to talk about or admit is that there are really very FEW OPTIMAL candidates, i.e. NW1-3 with good hair type. Everyone else is rolling the dice, big time, in my opinion. A good doc should probably tell you straight up to leave it be...

Edited January 5, 2017 by Alpine

[Melvin- Admin]

IMO you're a Norwood 6, I don't see much of a bridge of hair connecting your sides which would classify you as a 6. With that said, your candidacy depends a lot on your expectations, if your expectations are to achieve a full head of hair with no visible thinning than I'd say forget about an HT. If you're happy buzzing your head why change anything. Having thin hair is a big setback because more grafts are needed to achieve visual density. If you were to get an HT you would have to accept that you likely would still look balding in one way or another even if everything goes right.

[Alpine]

IMO you're a Norwood 6, I don't see much of a bridge of hair connecting your sides which would classify you as a 6. With that said, your candidacy depends a lot on your expectations, if your expectations are to achieve a full head of hair with no visible thinning than I'd say forget about an HT. If you're happy buzzing your head why change anything. Having thin hair is a big setback because more grafts are needed to achieve visual density. If you were to get an HT you would have to accept that you likely would still look balding in one way or another even if everything goes right.

 

Ya I agree, I'm not ever going to pass for not balding. If I could get a good hairline and density in the front portion for a short style, I would be fine with that. Again here are two shots in 2012 when it was thinning but before I started buzzing it. If I could have something like that with a touch more density in that front portion I would probably be fine with that. One of these is bad quality but you get the idea.

 

Or just go the other direction and keep buzzing it but get pigmentation. The photos I have seen of that approach are good if you have the head for it.

Edited March 18, 2017 by David - Moderator

[matt1164]

although you were balding in 2012 it doesn't really look bad on you. if you get a fue you can always shave your head again later on if you don't like it.

 

also be prepared some drs may want you to take propecia after the surgery and it may not be a bad idea.

[Alpine]

although you were balding in 2012 it doesn't really look bad on you. if you get a fue you can always shave your head again later on if you don't like it.

 

also be prepared some drs may want you to take propecia after the surgery and it may not be a bad idea.

 

Correct, but a real concern of mine is that if I do go back to buzzing after FUE, you will see the follicle spacing implants more and it will be noticeably unnatural. So the end result is a post FUE shaved look that is worse looking than before. I feel like that is a very real possibility.

 

To me a clearly bad FUE or shaved FUE that looks unnatural is much worse than what I have now.

[matt1164]

Correct, but a real concern of mine is that if I do go back to buzzing after FUE, you will see the follicle spacing implants more and it will be noticeably unnatural. So the end result is a post FUE shaved look that is worse looking than before. I feel like that is a very real possibility.

 

To me a clearly bad FUE or shaved FUE that looks unnatural is much worse than what I have now.

 

nah I think if you go to a good dr it will be ok. let me see if I can find some pics of me with a buzzed head since I had my ht. it actually looked good to me and I really liked it buzzed to about a 1.5-2 guard but my gf said since I got the ht I should just grow it out

[E39]

nah I think if you go to a good dr it will be ok. let me see if I can find some pics of me with a buzzed head since I had my ht. it actually looked good to me and I really liked it buzzed to about a 1.5-2 guard but my gf said since I got the ht I should just grow it out

 

 

Same here. I buzzed my hair for months after my fue and I thought it looked quite natural.

[Alpine]

nah I think if you go to a good dr it will be ok. let me see if I can find some pics of me with a buzzed head since I had my ht. it actually looked good to me and I really liked it buzzed to about a 1.5-2 guard but my gf said since I got the ht I should just grow it out

 

Same here. I buzzed my hair for months after my fue and I thought it looked quite natural.

 

Definitely encouraging feedback. You guys willing to post and pics?

[Ernie]

Look at how clean Konior and Lupanzula FUE extractions are. Choose a bad ass FUE doc and I think you will be ok buzzing all the way down later on (if you decide to revert back to buzz look post-HT)

[BadBeat]

I've had 2 FUE's with Dr. Ron Shapiro and I'm very happy with my results. I keep my hair cut pretty short (#5 or 6 guard on top) and I think it looks good and EXTREMELY natural. Dr. Ron is known for his naturalness and he's also I think a bit on the conservative side which I think fits in with what you your goals are. There is a phenomenal SMP girl there named Nicole. She is very talented. Honestly, I think if I were you I would start off with the SMP and see how you like it. I think you'd look great with it. The only thing you have to understand is you're going to have to shave down even further. You won't be able to keep the hair as long as you have it now because it will look unnatural (2D vs 3D). Also, people will probably know you did something so I'm not sure if that's an issue with you or not if the know you basically tattooed your head.

 

If you go the FUE route I think your goal should be to create a hairline and put some grafts behind as well but I do think, especially with thin hair as you say you have, the plan would be to keep it the same length you have it now (maybe a tad longer) but you'd have a hairline and it would look like you just buzz your hair. I think that would be a good look on you but it's going to be more expensive and there will be more down time in healing. I think you'd be looking at 3000-4000 grafts broken down over 2 procedures. After my FUE's, 10-14 days later I looked like I buzzed my head. Nobody could tell, but I did heal really well.

 

Either way, you seem to have a good handle on dealing with this. Even if you decide to do nothing and keep buzzing, it's not a bad look on you and you've effectively dealt with hair loss in a respectable manner.

 

Good luck on whatever you choose!