Are my expectations unrealistic?

[Wdbi]

Hey everyone, long time lurker and first time poster here. 

I first started noticing that my hair was changing 3 years ago when I was 24. Been on fin for 2.5 years. I am still a very thick NW2 with temple recession and some thinning/miniaturization along the hairline. I can fraud NW1ish when my hair is longer. Not one person has ever said anything or thinks I am balding. In fact, on the rare occasion I bring it up to parents or close friends they think I am crazy.

My hair and looks are extremely important to me. I have always been a good looking guy who has great hair and got complimented. Girls ask why I have better hair than them, hair stylist and barbers marvel at my thickness, I’ve done modeling/acting, and have a pretty decent instagram following. 

I have spoken with one of the top surgeons in the world that this site recommends and I am scheduled to have an FUE late this year. I will be 28. 

I am hoping that with my rather small level of loss, surgery will bring me back to a NW1 and give me peace of mind for years. I have seen a couple similar people on here who seemed to have the results I am looking for. I guess this rant is about me asking the question, are my expectations too high? Am I going in just asking to be disappointed? 

 

I am am attaching some recent pics. As you can see it looks fine when styled, especially the left side when I push my hair to that side. But when I pull my hair up it reveals the recession more. I keep the top long and the sides short because the temple points look sketchy and whispy when longer.

 

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

You don’t need a hair transplant dude. Your hair looks awesome, I don’t really see how a procedure is going to improve your looks. You’re still young, save your money and donor for when you really need it.

Your hair is just like Canelo the boxers hair and no one on their right mind wouldsay he’s balding

[VicTNYC]

Hey man, I would cancel any Ht plans, your hair looks great at the moment, there’s no need for perfection now because you could be doing more damage than good since you have a lot of native hair, you could find your self being obsessively ocd with any procedure you do at this point. I would wait until I saw much more hair loss down the road if I were you, save your money and good grafts for later on.

[Triple7]

I agree...you look fine...save your money you don’t need anything done

[Spanker]

What are your goals?

 

I would skip the transplant and maybe consider fin if your hair is that important to you. It looks like you have a little erosion at the hairline but you have very minor issues. 

 

[Mick50]

From what I can tell form your hair-line it is not a keeper I'm afraid to say ,in saying that your hair look great at the moment and in no way detracts form your overall  looks ...I think you would do more damage than good with a hair transplant at this stage.. hold off for a few years and maybe try fin to see if it works for you ..I have heard that it can  help keep hair at the front and the hair -line as well as the crown 

[Curious]

You need to learn not to obsess over your hair, you have no noticeable hair loss.

[hairlossPA]

came in expecting way better hair no offense lol. i agree with what others have said. 

what doc did you book with and what was their consultation?

 

also.. your temples are insane

[Wdbi]

13 minutes ago, hairlossPA said:

came in expecting way better hair no offense lol. i agree with what others have said. 

what doc did you book with and what was their consultation?

 

also.. your temples are insane

What do you mean my temples are insane? 

Booked with Rahal and he said he was ready and willing to get me where I want to be. Consulted via FaceTime with one of his consultants

 

[Wdbi]

10 hours ago, Mick50 said:

From what I can tell form your hair-line it is not a keeper I'm afraid to say ,in saying that your hair look great at the moment and in no way detracts form your overall  looks ...I think you would do more damage than good with a hair transplant at this stage.. hold off for a few years and maybe try fin to see if it works for you ..I have heard that it can  help keep hair at the front and the hair -line as well as the crown 

What do you mean not a keeper? Like it will continue to recede? 

I’ve been on fin for almost 3 years. I’m aware it’s not bad right now. My line of thinking is fix it earlier before it becomes bad. Then have a great head of hair for my 30’s and 40’s hopefully 

[Wdbi]

21 minutes ago, hairlossPA said:

came in expecting way better hair no offense lol. i agree with what others have said. 

what doc did you book with and what was their consultation?

 

also.. your temples are insane

This is where I was a couple years ago 

[Mick50]

23 minutes ago, Wdbi said:

What do you mean not a keeper? Like it will continue to recede? 

I’ve been on fin for almost 3 years. I’m aware it’s not bad right now. My line of thinking is fix it earlier before it becomes bad. Then have a great head of hair for my 30’s and 40’s hopefully 

Yes I meant it doesn't look like the kind of hairline that will never recede ,when I was in my mid twenties I had tons of hair but if I scraped the hairline back it was evident the hair-line at some point would recede ...I'm only going by the top down pic you are showing with the hair pulled back ..but the fact you have been on fin for 3 years and had no sides is good and hopefully that will stop any further recession , I would wait another 3-4 years if I were you ..see how things develop   .

[Phillyman1996]

your hair looks great man looks like no thinning just slight receding which is normal for adult men

[Al - Moderator]

I seriously wish I could trade hair places with some people who think they have issues with their hair.  😒

 

[Betterhair]

Check back in 20 years.

[Spaceman]

I guess you want to get back to your pic of a few years ago. But you won’t. You can get part of the way back. You can certainly get the temples filled in and reinforce the hairline and it can look very good to excellent by today’s standards. And everyone on this board will call it a home run and it will be. 

However, the hair that goes in the temples will be much coarser than what was in there before. And it will be sparser than before. And the hairline will be slightly different and the angles of the hair may be slightly different as well. So it won’t look the same as before to you. All those things will be true even with a home run result from a top surgeon. 

People with a lot of loss accept all those things but it’s harder to accept when your starting position is so good. So it’s best to wait for a hair transplant until you really need it.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Spaceman

[home1212]

all great advice, you'll risk having a surgical procedure to add hair where you want it, but it won't look as natural or at the density that you currently have - wait until you're mid 30's to reassess

[elduterino]

I think that a top surgeon will a great job so you will be in good hands and yes no Fut for sure 

If I were in your shoes I'd definitely get those temples filled in and lower the hairline or even create a new one with a different shape, more pointed and lower to suit a new look 

No one needs a HT - but you did the right thing you went on fin and stabilized it 

Also you have enough hair in the front and on top to be able to do a comb over and avoid the long and not fun ugly duckling 6 month period which I find is the only major drawback of such procedure. 

Grow your hair on top to the max until the procedure you only need to shave the back and sides

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by elduterino

[kimura50]

I had pretty much the same amount of hairloss, I went with FUE with Dr. Bisanga and it turned out great. Check out my thread if you want to see the before and afters.

[Raphael84]

@kimura50When did you have surgery with Dr. Bisanga?

[Raphael84]

@kimura50 I remember seeing your photos. You had a stellar result. Great documentation also! It really helps!

[FUEblonde1985]

Your hair loss pattern seems fairly similar to mine, but I am 6 years older than you. I got on fin 5 years ago when I first noticed temples looking a bit thin. I also styled my hair similarly and no one could tell the temples were thinning (and even today most people wouldn't think I had a slowly receding hairline.) On fin, the temples did recede very slowly each year anyway, and it became harder and harder to style it the way I wanted to, until finally it seemed like most of the time it was just kind of shitty and I wanted "a" hairline back.

I would agree with what is written above. I think doing your research now is a great idea - but before you pull the trigger - ask yourself how badly it bothers you right now. Is it just something that would be "nice to have" like a luxury car - or do you feel at this point that your hair has downgraded from a honda accord to a 98 pinto without air conditioning in los angeles. Only you know how much it bothers you, and it clearly has bothered you enough to have you schedule a surgery. Also, you know best whether or not the recession has continued or if it has halted completely.

But you should also know there are some advantages to waiting - you can wait to see if the recession continues into your 30s. If it doesn't - great, then have a procedure to fix your temples and hope that the fin keeps working. If you wait until your 30s and the hairloss continues, you might have a better idea what your long term outlook is like and you can plan accordingly. Doing surgery now is going to essentially lay the groundwork for the hair that you will need to maintain for life (who knows if something better will come along). If your temples and hairline keep going, you might need to continue getting small procedures to keep up that NW1, and I can tell you being on day 14 right now, its not the easiest shit to go through, and i certainly wouldn't want to be likely doing it again for at least another 10 years.

Are you willing to do another procedure to fill in later temple and hairline recession in your mid 30s? Are you willing to possibly run out of grafts in your lifetime with a great hairline and midscalp but a giant bald spot? These are all considerations to make, and the earlier you do it - it seems the more you are gambling. Only you know if the benefit is worth the risk - because no one else here (no matter how many people here say how great your hair is) can qualify how much benefit you would really get since that is determined by how much the hair is subjectively bothering you.

Many people might say that I didn't need to get a transplant either (im a bit further along than you I think) but it bothered me enough that the potential pitfalls (less graft supply, chasing hairline in future) did not outweigh the benefit to me (assuming success, which is also another consideration). I think being a bit older and seeing the effects of fin, I have a better idea (but not perfect prediction) of the next decade, and I've accepted the possibility of needing further procedures, and possibly looking worse in my older age than if I had waited to have a transplant in my 40s.

Objectively speaking, I don't know that you would achieve much of a cosmetic benefit compared to your pre hairloss photo. Yes, with recession, there are some hairstyles that you cannot pull off. But you don't look any worse off since you have utilized certain styles to compensate. You have not yet reached the point where the hair loss has affected your appearance in any meaningful way.

[aWidowsPeek]

Wdbi at 27 i still had James Dean hair...right after that my hairline really started to erode. You never can tell how bad someones hair loss will get or at what age it will kick in and leave you. How does your dads hair look? How does your grandfathers look? That might give you an idea where you're headed. 

[Baldrick101]

I think if OP has stabilised his hair loss he should be fine. In addition, it is an important fact that he does modelling and acting. A full head of hair is presumably hugely important to getting future work and thus his livelihood. It doesn't not seem like a flippant vanity project. He needs to make hay whilst the sun is shining. I would only go to the very best to get this done if I was in his position.

[Wdbi]

On 3/1/2019 at 2:01 AM, aWidowsPeek said:

Wdbi at 27 i still had James Dean hair...right after that my hairline really started to erode. You never can tell how bad someones hair loss will get or at what age it will kick in and leave you. How does your dads hair look? How does your grandfathers look? That might give you an idea where you're headed. 

My dad is 58 with a full head of hair. Never even occurred to me that I had any chance of losing my hair until it started happening in my mid 20's. Only recently has he begun to go from NW1 to nw1.5 maybe NW2. Dad has 2 brothers with NW1 and one bald one. His dad died before I was born, but I think he was bald. Grandpa and every uncle on my mom's side is a cueball.