Natural hairline

[Upshall]

Is it possible to get a natural hairline with thick hair. And does someone have an example of it? 

[gillenator]

By "thick" do you mean high degree of coarseness?

If affirmative, then yes it is possible...and when working with higher degrees of hair shaft diameter (caliber), the surgeon can still cherry pick thinner hair shafts for commencing and rebuilding the hairline.

[Upshall]

1 hour ago, gillenator said:

By "thick" do you mean high degree of coarseness?

If affirmative, then yes it is possible...and when working with higher degrees of hair shaft diameter (caliber), the surgeon can still cherry pick thinner hair shafts for commencing and rebuilding the hairline.

Does that mean it has to be FUE? So that the surgeon targets the fine hairs behind the ears? Or is it still liable with FuT? 

[Markee]

Some interesting video talk about Hair lines Microscopes singles doubles  and multi hair grafts in the frontal hair line 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by Markee

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Hi Upshall, 

It is absolutely possible to achieve a natural, full hairline with coarse donor hair (I believe this is what you are asking). Now, there are a few things a doctor must take into consideration and do a little differently when working with this type of hair; especially if the patient has lighter skin tones as well. The challenge is to take naturally thick, coarse hairs and use them to create a soft transitional hairline. 

As Markee pointed out, using only single hair grafts is a must. Only go to a clinic that utilizes microscopes in all of their procedures -- both FUT and FUE. In fact, demand to see microscopes during your consultation. If you see one small microscope in the corner collecting dust, be concerned that the clinic is not comfortable and practiced using them and be aware that this may lead to an increased chance of misidentified and incorrect grafts in the hairline. 

There are also other "tricks" when it comes to dark, coarse hair. To "bullet point" these: density, the degree and nature of the "irregularity" created, and the number of single grafts used in general play a role. 

Here are a few examples of hairline comb-throughs with thick, coarse, dark hair: 

 

 

[Upshall]

1 hour ago, Dr Blake Bloxham said:

Hi Upshall, 

It is absolutely possible to achieve a natural, full hairline with coarse donor hair (I believe this is what you are asking). Now, there are a few things a doctor must take into consideration and do a little differently when working with this type of hair; especially if the patient has lighter skin tones as well. The challenge is to take naturally thick, coarse hairs and use them to create a soft transitional hairline. 

As Markee pointed out, using only single hair grafts is a must. Only go to a clinic that utilizes microscopes in all of their procedures -- both FUT and FUE. In fact, demand to see microscopes during your consultation. If you see one small microscope in the corner collecting dust, be concerned that the clinic is not comfortable and practiced using them and be aware that this may lead to an increased chance of misidentified and incorrect grafts in the hairline. 

There are also other "tricks" when it comes to dark, coarse hair. To "bullet point" these: density, the degree and nature of the "irregularity" created, and the number of single grafts used in general play a role. 

Here are a few examples of hairline comb-throughs with thick, coarse, dark hair: 

 

 

Those are incredible results dr Bloxham. If the patient only needs hairline refining. Which means pretty much only singles. Is it possible to do FUT and split all the multi grafts or will it be necessary to do FUE to target only smaller caliber singles? 

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Hi Upshall, 

Thank you for the kind words. 

If you truly only needed single hair grafts, then both are technically viable options. In my experience, follicles don't really like being split down beyond the level of their natural follicular unit groupings. Even splitting "triples" into doubles and singles sometimes decreases the yield; but trying to split everything down into singles would likely decrease growth yield. In this instance, it may be better to target singles using FUE. Having said that, "single" grafts are naturally smaller and fragile, so you need to be careful extracting these and there may be some variation in yield depending on how much your follicles tolerate the FUE process. I would recommend someone who takes a very slow, meticulous approach to FUE and would probably request that it be done using manual tools in this instance. 

Are you sure you only need singles? Sometimes "hairline refinement" is really "frontal band refinement" and you may find that you just want to do a pass in that entire region in general. 

 

[gillenator]

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 5:16 PM, Upshall said:

Does that mean it has to be FUE? So that the surgeon targets the fine hairs behind the ears? Or is it still liable with FuT? 

No, it does not necessarily have to be FUE because there should still be a supply of single hair grafts that can be used from a strip...having said that, keep in mind that the composition of the donor area is going to vary between individuals and each and every surgeon that you consider will make his/her recommendation on what hair to harvest and the proposed method of harvest either FUE or FUHT.

My premonition is that FUE may be the best method considering your hair characteristics being on the higher degree of coarseness, and if your primary donor area (occipital zone) is comprised with a higher number of thick hair shafts.  The doctor may want to find more finer thinner hair shafts elsewhere for building a new hairline, and that's where FUE may become more viable for your case.

This opinion is going to vary somewhat between surgeons.

Edited April 2, 2019 by gillenator

[TrixGlendevon]

On 3/29/2019 at 10:01 PM, Dr Blake Bloxham said:

Hi Upshall, 

It is absolutely possible to achieve a natural, full hairline with coarse donor hair (I believe this is what you are asking). Now, there are a few things a doctor must take into consideration and do a little differently when working with this type of hair; especially if the patient has lighter skin tones as well. The challenge is to take naturally thick, coarse hairs and use them to create a soft transitional hairline. 

As Markee pointed out, using only single hair grafts is a must. Only go to a clinic that utilizes microscopes in all of their procedures -- both FUT and FUE. In fact, demand to see microscopes during your consultation. If you see one small microscope in the corner collecting dust, be concerned that the clinic is not comfortable and practiced using them and be aware that this may lead to an increased chance of misidentified and incorrect grafts in the hairline. 

There are also other "tricks" when it comes to dark, coarse hair. To "bullet point" these: density, the degree and nature of the "irregularity" created, and the number of single grafts used in general play a role. 

Here are a few examples of hairline comb-throughs with thick, coarse, dark hair: 

 

 

Hey you're back! Good news. Where did you go? I got mine done in the end and went with FUT for it too.

Edited April 3, 2019 by TrixGlendevon

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Hi Trix, 

Congratulations on the procedure. I hope it went well. And thank you for the kind words.