Hiding a hair transplant

[nafta]

I see it is recommended to shave the recipient site when getting a transplant. It makes sense as this makes the surgeons task easier, however for those with thinning or minor loss, how is this not noticable in public?

 

Do most just shave / tell everyone they have it done, or do many successfully conceal the procedure and if so, how without becoming a hermit for a few weeks?

 

I have mid length hair and a fringe and if I cut my hair short / shaved it would take months to grow. As it happens I have concealed a procedure before as I didn't shave the recipient area, and my existing hair provided cover - but I'm wondering if this is a long term solution for future procedures, especially if shaving were to be required for one.

 

As I've started on this road 'in secret' I feel a little trapped and can't get out (fut was used) and I'm anxious about going forward as shaving tells the world what I'm doing.

Any advice would be greally apreciated.

[Marley76]

Hi Nafta,

 

when I got my small HT done back in 2007, it was just the temples. I had slightly longer hair than you, and I just hid the temples under my hair - it's pretty much still the hair style I have now - after the swelling went down and the scabs had fallen off, which was about 1 week, you couldn't notice it.

 

I remember I got my HT done on a saturday, at Monday I was back in work - I hadn't told anybody about my procedure, so I simply made an excuse that I had had an accident over the weekend and ended up in hospital and they had to stitch my head, so I just wore a ski hat to work - the swelling caused excessive bruising to my face - I looked like a boxer. Nobody ever guessed I had had a hair transplant, most people thought I had been in a fight lol

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

Are you having a FUT or FUE in your second procedure? Because shaving recipient area is not a requirement for either. That may be the preference of the doctor but there are several well respected clinics who do not require this and get good results.

[Hairprincess]

Honestly this depends on the physician, we do not make our patients shave their heads before a procedure. In my opinion this is a better option for the patient, although it may extend the length of surgery, but in the end the patients feel better after the procedure. Its important to the patient to feel as comfortable as possible, most patients keep this procedure secret and whatever we can do to help them with that is always appreciated.

[aWidowsPeek]

Hiding a hair transplant is impossible unless your going to wear a hat for months. People will know something was done due to the redness etc etc etc.

[Speegs]

If you shave the recipient site, the only practical way to hide the transplant while your hair grows back and the redness subsides is to wear a hat, cap, bandana, if your place of employment will permit this then you should have no issue.

 

Unfortunately, if your place of business does not accommodate head covering you will likely have to reveal your scalp at some point during the awkward stage, unless you take vacation time through it.

[Dr. Alan Feller]

[BaldingBogger]

Never been a problem for me after my procedures. I think its more noticeable if you are totally bald in an area and then return to work with hair where once there was none.

 

What i would advise is get a really close haircut BEFORE you leave work for your transplant. Go to maybe grade 5 or 6 all over. Everyone is then used to your new short look.

 

Take 2-3 weeks off for your surgery and have it at the start of your leave. Thats what i did and when i came back no one batted an eye lid and had no signs of surgery couple of weeks later. It just appeared i had a short hair cut like i had before i left.

 

By the time the shedding kicks in your normal hair will have grown back a little. In the first couple of months i recommend keeping short anyway until the growth kicks in.

 

I had FUE in each case. Some Dr's do unshaven FUE however i think shaving make the process easier for the Dr.

[Triple7]

Very good video from Dr Bloxham and Dr Feller that makes a lot of sense. My main concern would be how long will it take before you can conceal the scar after you have buzzed everything evenly. No one wants to walk around with a shaved recipient area but longer hair everywhere else. What is the best strategy for the quickest way to conceal the fut scar once everything has been buzzed evenly?

[hsrp10]

If you were to have a procedure by Dr. Konior or Dr. Gabel for example who both do very clean work, you could get away with it after about 12-14 days, IF you also had some amount of native hair behind the shaved area to comb down or comb over.

 

Looking back at pics from my largest procedure with Dr. K of around 1,500 grafts I was redness free at day 12.

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Simply leave the hair in the donor area ABOVE the planned FUT incision a bit longer than usual and simply let it drape down over the area after the procedure.

[Jdog]

Guys, whilst I underwent an FUT procedure 6 months ago and am waiting for things to grow in and thicken I can't help but think FUE would have been much easier to manage whilst he hair grows in and in general when hair grows and matures.

 

Naturally transplanted hair is not as thick as native hair, when anyone's hair is thinning out or thin in general it looks so much better when the sides and back are shaved tight to a number 1 or 2 guard.

 

A problem I am experiencing is my hair on top is thin at the stage in areas and I'd love to be able to shave down to number 1 or 2 around sides and back. The FUT scar will only allow me to shave to number 4 at the lowest. This makes things look to the average like I'm trying to hang onto my hair rather than giving into the battle and buzzing it all off.

[Jdog]

Sorry mean to be a new thread haha

[Triple7]

Yea I'm not going to walk around with a shaved front 1/3 and long hair in the back to cover the scar. I think it looks best just to buzz everything down once the sutures come out. I am just trying to figure out how long it's going to take for the hair to grow out enough to cover the scar after I buzz everything to a #3 to even everything out.

[hsrp10]

Guys, whilst I underwent an FUT procedure 6 months ago and am waiting for things to grow in and thicken I can't help but think FUE would have been much easier to manage whilst he hair grows in and in general when hair grows and matures.

 

Naturally transplanted hair is not as thick as native hair, when anyone's hair is thinning out or thin in general it looks so much better when the sides and back are shaved tight to a number 1 or 2 guard.

 

A problem I am experiencing is my hair on top is thin at the stage in areas and I'd love to be able to shave down to number 1 or 2 around sides and back. The FUT scar will only allow me to shave to number 4 at the lowest. This makes things look to the average like I'm trying to hang onto my hair rather than giving into the battle and buzzing it all off.

 

FUE when done by an elite surgeon can be a better experience overall especially when it comes to the post-op healing phase in the donor and especially reduced downtime if you lift or do strenuous exercise.

 

However as you are a stated NW 4A on your profile, you did the right thing with going with FUT first to maximize your lifetime donor supply. So don't second guess yourself too much.

You can always have smaller FUE procedures for touchups along the way subsequently.

[ArochaHair]

There are a few things in the video that struck me as being not entirely accurate in today's world.

 

All quotes are paraphrased-

1. It was said in the video that "after two weeks the issue of shaving is no longer a problem" but this is suggesting that shaved hair grows back in two weeks. Not true and in fact it is quite the opposite depending on the length of the surrounding native hair. By two weeks, some of of the grafts are already starting to shed and this continues for up to five weeks so the remaining native hair looks thinner than before the procedure because it is still very short and the new hairs placed are now temporarily gone. There are many cases online where patients that have shaven their scalps for surgery continue to look much thinner, or even bald, two and three months after their procedures due to shock loss.

 

2. "Longer hair is easier to transect than shaven hair." This depends a lot on the tools used for recipient site creation. For instance, it is generally accepted in the industry that when using needles that transection of native hair, not to mention the supporting vasculature, is lower than when using flat blades. It makes sense based on the physical shape of each tool as the entire edge of the blade is a very sharp cutting surface but a needle has a single point that penetrates the scalp and the rest of the needle doesn't cut.

 

3. "No one knows what a hair transplant looks like while it is healing." This used to be 100% true but what we're seeing in our office during consultations is that more and more people are at least slightly aware of what a hair transplant looks like during the recovery phase. We think this has to do with the increased social awareness that has come from more celebrity photos being shared that show some stage of the recovery process (Rooney), not to mention the increased awareness from marketing and even articles that have to do with hair transplant tourism and general interest in FUE overall.

 

4. "I don't regret having my head shaved." Many of our patients that had surgeries in the past somewhere else where the head was shaved said they chose Dr. Arocha for their second procedure because he not only gets great results but he simply does not believe in the need to shave. I'm sure that many patients do look back and agree that shaving wasn't a problem but there are many that do not wish to go through that portion of the procedure again and are relieved to discover that it is not necessary with every clinic.

 

Shaving is a very doctor specific issue. There are clinics that get great results with shaving and clinics that get great results without shaving. That is a fact so to argue that one way or the other is hands-down better is only stacking the cards.

 

As Baldingbogger said, if a patient does choose a clinic that insists on shaving having the rest of the hair cut short before the procedure is the best way to reduce any visual clues.

[Jdog]

Honestly I think FUT surgeons need to be very upfront with high Norwood patients that are getting megasessions ect they are going to look like a freak or very unattractive for a long period of time and whether they can accept that or not is a big decision making point.

 

Most people would agreee that those with significant balding who don't buzz the sides and back look pretty ridiculous. FUT at best might allow you to shave to a 4 guard so they are not going to look their best for a while.

 

I certainly think FUT is the way to go with large procedure that's why I went with FUT.

 

FUE has a major advantage whilst the hair is growing in as the donor hair can be buzzed really short to maintain a more youthful appearance. FUT can obviously shave as short as they want but they have to accept the big smiley face