Eugenix, NW3 5200 + grafts / MazAB's 2nd procedure on 10/8/2022 by Dr Pradeep Sethi

[MazAB]

@BoldnotBalddefinitely did not feel the pressure to move forward at all. I actually felt very comfortable with the initial design, but until I had hair there it was hard for me to image how it would ultimately look. I suppose I'm lucky in that it's always easier to add more graft and go lower than to go the other way. I'm fortunate to have the best of the best on my side if I'm going to make a change like this after the fact. I can't imagine that other clinics would have been as accommodating. Bottom line is Dr Arika nailed it with her last design and like I said, I could not be happier with how it looks. As for the p1 and p2, I was wondering what that was myself but completely forgot to ask the clinic. If I find out, I'll let you know. Thanks for the support man!

[BoldnotBald]

19 hours ago, MazAB said:

Thanks for the support man!

it goes without saying that decent guys like you and who are prepared to give something back to this forum deserve to be further accompanied throughout their ht journey and potential challenges...

having said that it would be great to learn more from your expertise in nutrition and relevant correlation with hair and skin - eg.:

which elements of a blood tests would have to be analysed? which figures to be targeted? and who would be qualified to do a proper evaluation of the blood test also including current nutritional deficiencies and dietary recommendation? which literature would you recommend to dig deeper into this subject?

also, it would be quite interesting if you could share some of your experience gained with intermittent and extended fasting.

 

[BoldnotBald]

some more questions directly related to ht:

- there are quite a few red dots above your ears. does it mean that grafts were also extracted from this region? or did you get grafts implanted there to get a higher density?

- since you had a close encounter with mr. future 007 aka zoomster - how on a scale between 1 and 10 would you rate the naturalness of his transplanted hair? in particular how well, in your view, did his transplanted beard hair blend with his scalp hair? (10 being completely undetectable and 100% natural, 1 being considerably noticeable)

[MazAB]

@BoldnotBald I’m happy to share more details around those topics for sure. As far as blood testing goes, I personally have it tested by my primary care physician because I’m able to have my insurance cover most of it, and can also have my doctor recommend dosage of some of the key supplements, based on what may be lacking in my diet. The main benefit of having your doctor work with you directly on this is you can track trends year over year and have input on how you can change your diet first and foremost to meet the deficiencies, and if diet alone can’t, then the use of supplements will nicely fill that gap. I use a combination of nutrition testing and vitamin panel testing to evaluate the levels of macronutrients and micronutrients in the blood. Here is the breakdown of what it covers.

 

Nutritional Tests:

• Calcium

• Magnesium

• Iron 

• Sodium

• Zinc

• Phosphorus

• Omega-3 / Omega-6

• Folic Acid

• Beta Carotene

• Electrolytes

Vitamin Panel Tests:

• Vitamin A

• Vitamin C

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin E

• Vitamin K

• Vitamin B1 (thiamine)

• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)

• Vitamin B3 (niacin)

• Pantothenic acid 

• Biotin 

• Vitamin B6

• Vitamin B12 

• Folate 

These are all good for the body and hair, so you would not want to be deficient in any of them. It's a great start to understanding where your diet needs to change and how to add in supplements to eliminate any deficiencies. My doctor is also a nutritionist so that certainly does help, but I would think that most general doctors can perform nutritional and vitamin panel testing. 

Best advice I can give anyone before doing this is to improve your diet, incorporate HIIT training in your workouts, and find a fasting schedule that fits your lifestyle.  If you give your body positive changes and a more predictable lifestyle that it can adapt to metabolically, then the tests will satisfy a much bigger part of the equation for you. 

 

As it relates to the hair, I can definitely see a difference with some key supplements I’ve taken for years mentioned in my initial post. Intermittent fasting however, while it doesn’t have any proven benefits to promoting hair growth, if the diet is undertaken properly it can over time give you stronger, healthier hair. 

 

It’s important to ease into intermittent fasting. I started with a 12 hour fast and worked my way up. I now do 18 hours daily with a 6 hour eating window. If you don’t ease into it, it could cause  stress as your body undergoes a major dietary transition which could actually lead to additional hair loss, so definitely ramp into it slowly! Month 1 - 12 hour, Month 2 - 14 hour, etc… The reason I do 18 hour is that I want my body to enter into Autophagy which is when all the repair at an intracellular level happens. It takes typically about 14 to 15 hours to burn thru your glucose stores before you enter into it, so the extra few hours in Autophagy daily really helps everything in the body, hair included.

 

Another word of caution would be that when you are first making changes to your diet it can become easy to miss out on key nutrients and minerals your body needs to ensure your hair remains healthy and strong. Often the mistakes made for anyone starting to fast is that caloric restriction many times leads to the lack of key nutrients which many times leads to premature shedding and more hair loss over time. So be sure to eat what your normal calorie intake would be in that shorter window, and be sure to incorporate as many superfoods as possible during that window (lean meats, fish, leafy green vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.). 

 

For my research in general health in addition to hair, I tend to lean more towards Cochrane reviews simply because they are the most established and have the most rigorous testing methods, typically perform double blind placebo controlled trials more often and with some of the most respected researchers across the world. They are most definitely at the top of the pyramid for anyone using high-quality information to make health decisions. You can search on their website as well for any trials performed related to hair treatments or drugs. There are countless amounts of them to sort thru. 

https://www.cochrane.org/

 

For my hair research I try to take from multiple sources, but I really like William Slator. He’s probably written a few hundred articles over the last decade or so on hair loss. Although he’s the founder of his own product called Biogaine, which I do not necessarily endorse, I do respect his knowledge and research around the biology of hair. I’ll point you to a must read article of his that discusses how Intermittent Fasting and Autophagy has a direct effect on the hair. 

https://www.hairguard.com/fasting/

 

Here is my Day 15 update: 

Seems to be that everything is progressing as normal. Donor looks and feels untouched. I’ve been applying natural aloe from my aloe plant several times a day. I’ve been keeping the grafts very well hydrated with daily washes and saline spray throughout the day. Hopefully that helps the crusting heal a little faster. It’s a slow going process with the healing of the crusts, but I know it’s just par for the course, so I will try not to focus on it and let nature do its thing. Redness is lingering a little, but noticeably getting better by the day. Right temple needed less work than the left, and you can clearly see a very natural look blending into the native hair on that side. I’m hoping that the left one, once fully mature, has the same natural appearance.

In addition I’ve upped my doses of MSM, D3, C, E, and Niacin. In my opinion, Niacin is the perfect post hair transplant supplement. It improves blood circulation in the scalp, decreases inflammation in the scalp, and also rebuilds keratin in the anagen phase (growth phase). As hair is composed almost entirely of keratin, the lack of it will always lead to thinner, weaker hair. Once the grafts shed out, the telogen phase takes over, which as we all know takes about 3 to 4 months for the new hair follicles to come out of that resting phase, and enter back into an anagen growth phase. My goal is to try and take them out of that resting phase a little sooner with higher doses of D3 and MSM. While Niacin helps in the growth phase, D3 will help in the resting phase, both will promote more keratin proteins to form, and a higher dosage of MSM will help to fuel the keratin in every stage.     

I’m still well within the safe limits with my daily intake, but like I've already mentioned, but sure to talk with a doctor or nutritionist before deciding to fast or taking any additional supplements for yourself.

MSM - 2 Grams daily

D3 - 5000 IU daily

Niacin - 200 mg daily

C - 1500 mg daily

 

@BoldnotBald the extractions taken behind my ears were used for my hairline on the second pass. They wanted, of course, lighter, finer, more natural looking hairs at the start of it.

 

@Zoomster 007 will always be a 10 out of 10 as far as I’m concerned! Impossible to tell the difference between native hair and beard. Even in sunlight his hair looked 100% natural. Only difference is that it did not look like a dense, thick head of hair in high lighting situations, which of course, is now fully taken care of with the second procedure. All you need is 50 grafts per cm2 to achieve the illusion of full density, and between both procedures and his total graft count, he more than meets and/or exceeds that threshold. I’m really looking forward to his progress!

The lines of communication are fully open with Eugenix as I’ve been hearing proactively from them quite often on my aftercare, the steps I’ve been taking at home, and also requesting for me to periodically upload pictures for them to review. 

India may be on the other side of the world for me, but they have made themselves feel a lot closer😉.

Thanks all ~ Maz

Edited September 16, 2021 by MazAB
*

[Berba11]

Great update @MazAB- all starting to look very clean and the donor looks untouched.

Did Eugenix give you any advice one when you could buzz cut the recipient area?

[MazAB]

@Berba11 as long as you are using a plastic spacer and it's not direct razor metal to scalp, you can very lightly and gently buzz after about a month.

[RandoBrando517]

Did you have to shave?

[MazAB]

@RandoBrando517 no, but I chose to have them shave it to keep everything even during and after the procedure. Personally don't mind the buzz cut look.

[Berba11]

19 minutes ago, MazAB said:

@Berba11 as long as you are using a plastic spacer and it's not direct razor metal to scalp, you can very lightly and gently buzz after about a month.

Oh brilliant! I know different surgeons recommend different amounts of time for buzzing the recipient post-op so I'm pleased to hear Eugenix think about a month with a guard (gently!) should be fine. I'd be intending to buzz my way through the ugly duckling phase so to be able to do so ASAP is a bit of a relief!

[MazAB]

@Berba11If should also say after a month with the caveat that the scalp is in good condition. In my case, I'll be waiting until the scabbing and crusting is completely healed and gone before I attempt any buzz cutting on the recipient.  But I totally agree with you, trim and slim up top is the only way for me during that ugly phase as well!

Edited September 15, 2021 by MazAB

[Melvin- Admin]

Looking great man, glad to see you healing like Wolverine 🙌🏼

[Gokuhairline]

interesting read on the intermittent fasting i def did it about the wrong way and probably deprived my body of good nutrients and probably affected my hair...I am going to start back again and adding smart foods as well as supplements...happy growing

[RandoBrando517]

38 minutes ago, MazAB said:

@RandoBrando517 no, but I chose to have them shave it to keep everything even during and after the procedure. Personally don't mind the buzz cut look.

Ok that makes sense

[Zoomster]

Cracking update @MazAB....you’re a major asset to this community ..

Thanks 

[londonhairlossvictim]

#adorableHey @MazAB I'm on today is Post Op Day 13, seems we did it on similar type of timings and some of the things you mentioned about redness etc I feel the same. Do you mind checking my thread and if you think it looks normal my todays pics? Thanks - 

Also have you start some sort of exericise?
I work a cap today and did light exercise, I'm thinking i should just wait 2 more days before doing that type of stuff, not sure but I really want to get back to normal routine also

 

 

 

[BoldnotBald]

22 hours ago, MazAB said:

@BoldnotBald I’m happy to share more details around those topics for sure. As far as blood testing goes, I personally have it tested by my primary care physician because I’m able to have my insurance cover most of it, and can also have my doctor recommend dosage of some of the key supplements, based on what may be lacking in my diet. The main benefit of having your doctor work with you directly on this is you can track trends year over year and have input on how you can change your diet first and foremost to meet the deficiencies, and if diet alone can’t, then the use of supplements will nicely fill that gap. I use a combination of nutrition testing and vitamin panel testing to evaluate the levels of macronutrients and micronutrients in the blood. Here is the breakdown of what it covers.

 

Nutritional Tests:

• Calcium

• Magnesium

• Iron 

• Sodium

• Zinc

• Phosphorus

• Omega-3 / Omega-6

• Folic Acid

• Beta Carotene

• Electrolytes

Vitamin Panel Tests:

• Vitamin A

• Vitamin C

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin E

• Vitamin K

• Vitamin B1 (thiamine)

• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)

• Vitamin B3 (niacin)

• Pantothenic acid 

• Biotin 

• Vitamin B6

• Vitamin B12 

• Folate 

These are all good for the body and hair, so you would not want to be deficient in any of them. It's a great start to understanding where your diet needs to change and how to add in supplements to eliminate any deficiencies. My doctor is also a nutritionist so that certainly does help, but I would think that most general doctors can perform nutritional and vitamin panel testing. 

Best advice I can give anyone before doing this is to improve your diet, incorporate HIIT training in your workouts, and find a fasting schedule that fits your lifestyle.  If you give your body positive changes and a more predictable lifestyle that it can adapt to metabolically, then the tests will satisfy a much bigger part of the equation for you. 

 

As it relates to the hair, I can definitely see a difference with some key supplements I’ve taken for years mentioned in my initial post. Intermittent fasting however, while it doesn’t have any proven benefits to promoting hair growth, if the diet is undertaken properly it can over time give you stronger, healthier hair. 

 

It’s important to ease into intermittent fasting. I started with a 12 hour fast and worked my way up. I now do 18 hours daily with a 6 hour eating window. If you don’t ease into it, it could cause  stress as your body undergoes a major dietary transition which could actually lead to additional hair loss, so definitely ramp into it slowly! Month 1 - 12 hour, Month 2 - 14 hour, etc… The reason I do 18 hour is that I want my body to enter into Autophagy which is when all the repair at an intracellular level happens. It takes typically about 14 to 15 hours to burn thru your glucose stores before you enter into it, so the extra few hours in Autophagy daily really helps everything in the body, hair included.

 

Another word of caution would be that when you are first making changes to your diet it can become easy to miss out on key nutrients and minerals your body needs to ensure your hair remains healthy and strong. Often the mistakes made for anyone starting to fast is that caloric restriction many times leads to the lack of key nutrients which many times leads to premature shedding and more hair loss over time. So be sure to eat what your normal calorie intake would be in that shorter window, and be sure to incorporate as many superfoods as possible during that window (lean meats, fish, leafy green vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.). 

 

For my research in general health in addition to hair, I tend to lean more towards Cochrane reviews simply because they are the most established and have the most rigorous testing methods, typically perform double blind placebo controlled trials more often and with some of the most respected researchers across the world. They are most definitely at the top of the pyramid for anyone using high-quality information to make health decisions. You can search on their website as well for any trials performed related to hair treatments or drugs. There are countless amounts of them to sort thru. 

https://www.cochrane.org/

 

For my hair research I try to take from multiple sources, but I really like William Slator. He’s probably written a few hundred articles over the last decade or so on hair loss. Although he’s the founder of his own product called Biogaine, which I do not necessarily endorse, I do respect his knowledge and research around the biology of hair. I’ll point you to a must read article of his that discusses how Intermittent Fasting and Autophagy has a direct effect on the hair. 

https://www.hairguard.com/fasting/

...

In addition I’ve upped my doses of MSM, D3, C, E, and Niacin. In my opinion, Niacin is the perfect post hair transplant supplement. It improves blood circulation in the scalp, decreases inflammation in the scalp, and also rebuilds keratin in the anagen phase (growth phase). As hair is composed almost entirely of keratin, the lack of it will always lead to thinner, weaker hair. Once the grafts shed out, the telogen phase takes over, which as we all know takes about 3 to 4 months for the new hair follicles to come out of that resting phase, and enter back into an anagen growth phase. My goal is to try and take them out of that resting phase a little sooner with higher doses of D3 and MSM. While Niacin helps in the growth phase, D3 will help in the resting phase, both will promote more keratin proteins to form, and a higher dosage of MSM will help to fuel the keratin in every stage.     

I’m still well within the safe limits with my daily intake, but like I've already mentioned, but sure to talk with a doctor or nutritionist before deciding to fast or taking any additional supplements for yourself.

MSM - 2 Grams daily

D3 - 5000 IU daily

Niacin - 200 mg daily

C - 1500 mg daily

 

this is quite amazing in every respect, maz:

first of all i am truly impressed by the amount of pre-op research you´ve done. apart from that i am grateful for your invaluable insights that you´ve been sharing in particular when it comes to the factor "nutrition" as well as the various sources that you´ve tapped.

very good stuff!

 

as for your own dietary journey and what you mentioned about tracking long term trends through regularly analysing macro- and micronutrients in your blood:

with which deficiencies did you start?

how did you change your diet and vitamin supplements as a result?

and finally how much were you able to reduce the deficiencies over which period?

 

apart from all the measured numbers and figures have you noticed any concrete improvements eg. hair or skin wise, or mentally or in terms of your energy level or...?

 

 

 

 

[BoldnotBald]

22 hours ago, MazAB said:

Here is my Day 15 update: 

Seems to be that everything is progressing as normal. Donor looks and feels untouched. I’ve been applying natural aloe from my aloe plant several times a day. I’ve been keeping the grafts very well hydrated with daily washes and saline spray throughout the day. Hopefully that helps the crusting heal a little faster. It’s a slow going process with the healing of the crusts, but I know it’s just par for the course, so I will try not to focus on it and let nature do its thing. Redness is lingering a little, but noticeably getting better by the day. Right temple needed less work than the left, and you can clearly see a very natural look blending into the native hair on that side. I’m hoping that the left one, once fully mature, has the same natural appearance.

In addition I’ve upped my doses of MSM, D3, C, E, and Niacin. In my opinion, Niacin is the perfect post hair transplant supplement. It improves blood circulation in the scalp, decreases inflammation in the scalp, and also rebuilds keratin in the anagen phase (growth phase). As hair is composed almost entirely of keratin, the lack of it will always lead to thinner, weaker hair. Once the grafts shed out, the telogen phase takes over, which as we all know takes about 3 to 4 months for the new hair follicles to come out of that resting phase, and enter back into an anagen growth phase. My goal is to try and take them out of that resting phase a little sooner with higher doses of D3 and MSM. While Niacin helps in the growth phase, D3 will help in the resting phase, both will promote more keratin proteins to form, and a higher dosage of MSM will help to fuel the keratin in every stage.     

I’m still well within the safe limits with my daily intake, but like I've already mentioned, but sure to talk with a doctor or nutritionist before deciding to fast or taking any additional supplements for yourself.

MSM - 2 Grams daily

D3 - 5000 IU daily

Niacin - 200 mg daily

C - 1500 mg daily

 

 

 

 

 

i suppose the current impression that those implanted temple grafts and which don´t look quite right at the moment in terms of their different angle and different direction is just temporarily.

[BoldnotBald]

22 hours ago, MazAB said:

@RandoBrando517 no, but I chose to have them shave it to keep everything even during and after the procedure. Personally don't mind the buzz cut look.

did / do eugenix take pre-op pics after they´ve shaved the head and in the same way they did your post-op ones?

[BoldnotBald]

22 hours ago, Gokuhairline said:

interesting read on the intermittent fasting i def did it about the wrong way and probably deprived my body of good nutrients and probably affected my hair...I am going to start back again and adding smart foods as well as supplements...happy growing

i suppose the most important thing when doing intermittent fasting without any negative side effects is simply to lead a lifestyle with a balanced diet as already hinted by maz - and which also includes regularly less consumption of (unfortunately quite often hidden) sugar and salt.

[MazAB]

20 hours ago, BoldnotBald said:

this is quite amazing in every respect, maz:

first of all i am truly impressed by the amount of pre-op research you´ve done. apart from that i am grateful for your invaluable insights that you´ve been sharing in particular when it comes to the factor "nutrition" as well as the various sources that you´ve tapped.

very good stuff!

 

as for your own dietary journey and what you mentioned about tracking long term trends through regularly analysing macro- and micronutrients in your blood:

with which deficiencies did you start?

how did you change your diet and vitamin supplements as a result?

and finally how much were you able to reduce the deficiencies over which period?

 

apart from all the measured numbers and figures have you noticed any concrete improvements eg. hair or skin wise, or mentally or in terms of your energy level or...?

 

 

 

 

@BoldnotBaldappreciate the kind works. Great question around where my deficiencies started. My diet was already in great shape at that point, but I still had deficiencies. Mainly Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin D, E, K, and some but not all of the B's. Added Magnesium (125mg), Zinc (50mg), D3 (4000IU), and K (100mcg) to my supplement stack because it's extremely difficult to get enough of any of those thru diet alone. Bought an Aloe Plant for Vitamin E, and started adding Nutritional Yeast as a topping to many of my meals for all the B's. It worked like a charm for the following year my blood levels came back optimum, and have stuck with my current regimen ever since. That was about 15 years ago.

I believe this helped the overall health and anti-aging of the hair and skin. I did definitely notice some slight improvements in that regard. Where I noticed a far greater improvement in the thickness of my hair and the condition of my skin is when I started on Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid and MSM close to about a decade ago. I really feel as though it is the fountain of youth for the hair and skin. Again be sure to compliment MSM with about 4000IU of D3 daily in order to reach the full potential benefits.

The temple hairs very rarely follow the right directions after implantation. They look a little wiry and pointing in random directions, however, the initial slits are perfectly positioned so once it sheds and grows back, it should all fall in place, having a continuity, and have a natural flow transitioning from the temple point into the native hair.

No, Eugenix does not take pre-op pictures after they shave you down, but I'm sure you could always request that.

[londonhairlossvictim]

2 minutes ago, MazAB said:

@BoldnotBaldappreciate the kind works. Great question around where my deficiencies started. My diet was already in great shape at that point, but I still had deficiencies. Mainly Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin D, E, K, and some but not all of the B's. Added Magnesium (125mg), Zinc (50mg), D3 (4000IU), and K (100mcg) to my supplement stack because it's extremely difficult to get enough of any of those thru diet alone. Bought an Aloe Plant for Vitamin E, and started adding Nutritional Yeast as a topping to many of my meals for all the B's. It worked like a charm for the following year my blood levels came back optimum, and have stuck with my current regimen ever since. That was about 15 years ago.

I believe this helped the overall health and anti-aging of the hair and skin. I did definitely notice some slight improvements in that regard. Where I noticed a far greater improvement in the thickness of my hair and the condition of my skin is when I started on Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid and MSM close to about a decade ago. I really feel as though it is the fountain of youth for the hair and skin. Again be sure to compliment MSM with about 4000IU of D3 daily in order to reach the full potential benefits.

The temple hairs very rarely follow the right directions after implantation. They look a little wiry and pointing in random directions, however, the initial slits are perfectly positioned so once it sheds and grows back, it should all fall in place, having a continuity, and have a natural flow transitioning from the temple point into the native hair.

No, Eugenix does not take pre-op pictures after they shave you down, but I'm sure you could always request that.

In what format do you take Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid and MSM these three?
Is it specific supplements you purchase? Can you recommend which ones you are using?

[MazAB]

I should also add that my workouts got so much better after getting on these, as my muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints were all in peak condition, essentially getting rid of any aches or pains that prevented the more rigorous workouts to begin with.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005KG7EDU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076FH7639/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013OUPXE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by MazAB

[londonhairlossvictim]

23 minutes ago, MazAB said:

I should also add that my workouts got so much better after getting on these, as my muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints were all in peak condition, essentially getting rid of any aches or pains that prevented the more rigorous workouts to begin with.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005KG7EDU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076FH7639/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013OUPXE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

This is awesome, thanks alot will look to implement in my routine too and see if it benefits the same way

[Looking for HT]

On 9/15/2021 at 9:03 PM, MazAB said:

@BoldnotBald I’m happy to share more details around those topics for sure. As far as blood testing goes, I personally have it tested by my primary care physician because I’m able to have my insurance cover most of it, and can also have my doctor recommend dosage of some of the key supplements, based on what may be lacking in my diet. The main benefit of having your doctor work with you directly on this is you can track trends year over year and have input on how you can change your diet first and foremost to meet the deficiencies, and if diet alone can’t, then the use of supplements will nicely fill that gap. I use a combination of nutrition testing and vitamin panel testing to evaluate the levels of macronutrients and micronutrients in the blood. Here is the breakdown of what it covers.

 

Nutritional Tests:

• Calcium

• Magnesium

• Iron 

• Sodium

• Zinc

• Phosphorus

• Omega-3 / Omega-6

• Folic Acid

• Beta Carotene

• Electrolytes

Vitamin Panel Tests:

• Vitamin A

• Vitamin C

• Vitamin D

• Vitamin E

• Vitamin K

• Vitamin B1 (thiamine)

• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)

• Vitamin B3 (niacin)

• Pantothenic acid 

• Biotin 

• Vitamin B6

• Vitamin B12 

• Folate 

These are all good for the body and hair, so you would not want to be deficient in any of them. It's a great start to understanding where your diet needs to change and how to add in supplements to eliminate any deficiencies. My doctor is also a nutritionist so that certainly does help, but I would think that most general doctors can perform nutritional and vitamin panel testing. 

Best advice I can give anyone before doing this is to improve your diet, incorporate HIIT training in your workouts, and find a fasting schedule that fits your lifestyle.  If you give your body positive changes and a more predictable lifestyle that it can adapt to metabolically, then the tests will satisfy a much bigger part of the equation for you. 

 

As it relates to the hair, I can definitely see a difference with some key supplements I’ve taken for years mentioned in my initial post. Intermittent fasting however, while it doesn’t have any proven benefits to promoting hair growth, if the diet is undertaken properly it can over time give you stronger, healthier hair. 

 

It’s important to ease into intermittent fasting. I started with a 12 hour fast and worked my way up. I now do 18 hours daily with a 6 hour eating window. If you don’t ease into it, it could cause  stress as your body undergoes a major dietary transition which could actually lead to additional hair loss, so definitely ramp into it slowly! Month 1 - 12 hour, Month 2 - 14 hour, etc… The reason I do 18 hour is that I want my body to enter into Autophagy which is when all the repair at an intracellular level happens. It takes typically about 14 to 15 hours to burn thru your glucose stores before you enter into it, so the extra few hours in Autophagy daily really helps everything in the body, hair included.

 

Another word of caution would be that when you are first making changes to your diet it can become easy to miss out on key nutrients and minerals your body needs to ensure your hair remains healthy and strong. Often the mistakes made for anyone starting to fast is that caloric restriction many times leads to the lack of key nutrients which many times leads to premature shedding and more hair loss over time. So be sure to eat what your normal calorie intake would be in that shorter window, and be sure to incorporate as many superfoods as possible during that window (lean meats, fish, leafy green vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.). 

 

For my research in general health in addition to hair, I tend to lean more towards Cochrane reviews simply because they are the most established and have the most rigorous testing methods, typically perform double blind placebo controlled trials more often and with some of the most respected researchers across the world. They are most definitely at the top of the pyramid for anyone using high-quality information to make health decisions. You can search on their website as well for any trials performed related to hair treatments or drugs. There are countless amounts of them to sort thru. 

https://www.cochrane.org/

 

For my hair research I try to take from multiple sources, but I really like William Slator. He’s probably written a few hundred articles over the last decade or so on hair loss. Although he’s the founder of his own product called Biogaine, which I do not necessarily endorse, I do respect his knowledge and research around the biology of hair. I’ll point you to a must read article of his that discusses how Intermittent Fasting and Autophagy has a direct effect on the hair. 

https://www.hairguard.com/fasting/

 

Here is my Day 15 update: 

Seems to be that everything is progressing as normal. Donor looks and feels untouched. I’ve been applying natural aloe from my aloe plant several times a day. I’ve been keeping the grafts very well hydrated with daily washes and saline spray throughout the day. Hopefully that helps the crusting heal a little faster. It’s a slow going process with the healing of the crusts, but I know it’s just par for the course, so I will try not to focus on it and let nature do its thing. Redness is lingering a little, but noticeably getting better by the day. Right temple needed less work than the left, and you can clearly see a very natural look blending into the native hair on that side. I’m hoping that the left one, once fully mature, has the same natural appearance.

In addition I’ve upped my doses of MSM, D3, C, E, and Niacin. In my opinion, Niacin is the perfect post hair transplant supplement. It improves blood circulation in the scalp, decreases inflammation in the scalp, and also rebuilds keratin in the anagen phase (growth phase). As hair is composed almost entirely of keratin, the lack of it will always lead to thinner, weaker hair. Once the grafts shed out, the telogen phase takes over, which as we all know takes about 3 to 4 months for the new hair follicles to come out of that resting phase, and enter back into an anagen growth phase. My goal is to try and take them out of that resting phase a little sooner with higher doses of D3 and MSM. While Niacin helps in the growth phase, D3 will help in the resting phase, both will promote more keratin proteins to form, and a higher dosage of MSM will help to fuel the keratin in every stage.     

I’m still well within the safe limits with my daily intake, but like I've already mentioned, but sure to talk with a doctor or nutritionist before deciding to fast or taking any additional supplements for yourself.

MSM - 2 Grams daily

D3 - 5000 IU daily

Niacin - 200 mg daily

C - 1500 mg daily

 

@BoldnotBald the extractions taken behind my ears were used for my hairline on the second pass. They wanted, of course, lighter, finer, more natural looking hairs at the start of it.

 

@Zoomster 007 will always be a 10 out of 10 as far as I’m concerned! Impossible to tell the difference between native hair and beard. Even in sunlight his hair looked 100% natural. Only difference is that it did not look like a dense, thick head of hair in high lighting situations, which of course, is now fully taken care of with the second procedure. All you need is 50 grafts per cm2 to achieve the illusion of full density, and between both procedures and his total graft count, he more than meets and/or exceeds that threshold. I’m really looking forward to his progress!

The lines of communication are fully open with Eugenix as I’ve been hearing proactively from them quite often on my aftercare, the steps I’ve been taking at home, and also requesting for me to periodically upload pictures for them to review. 

India may be on the other side of the world for me, but they have made themselves feel a lot closer😉.

Thanks all ~ Maz

Oh wow !! You did it 😄 All the best mate. You look great👍 

[MazAB]

1 month update: 

Hi guys, hard to believe it's been a month already, but after shedding a bunch, I'm starting to feel the ugly duckling in me surface☹️! With some social events this weekend, I decided to shave down. Hairs were growing in every direction with mismatched lengths. I was extremely careful, but did shave down with a 0.5 spacer today. It was as close as it gets without taking the spacers out all together. I was light as a feather applying zero pressure with the razor to my scalp and it all worked out thank God.

Redness hasn't changed much, and all but one of the scabs remain but it is improving daily. It was a true test for the donor area today, as I have not seen it shaved this close, but was very happy with the healing and the meticulous donor management by Eugenix.   I'm keeping up with my daily routine, and now that I'm at week 4, I've started up again with minoxidil, and have also added LLLT into the mix as well.

Toughest months lie ahead...

~ Maz