Picking a hairline

[Needadviceplease]

Hello,

For those who have had a HT how did you go about figuring out the hairline?

Did you just go with what the doctor suggested?

Or you brought pics in and showed them?

I am just trying to figure out how to prep for my HT. I honestly, can't remember my HT from when I had a full head of a hair lol.

If you have any other advice you think I might need to consider, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

I am leaning towards Dr. Kongkiat Laorwong. He suggested 2500-3000 for the hairline and then in a year to do the crown. 

Thanks!

[Bb111]

I think you really should think about your goals. What is important to you for your hairline (how low, temple points, widows peak, etc). Brining some pictures of when you had more hair may also be useful. It's the doctors role to tell you how realistic your goals are based on a number of factors including but not limited to donor area, age, appropriate characteristics for you, risk for further hair loss, potential need for more surgery in the future, current meds such as fin/min/etc. Then hopefully you come to some happy medium.

 

I think what you want to avoid is rushing the hairline design by accepting what the doctor draws immediately. Even if you like what the doctor draws take a few minutes to really look at yourself. Take pictures/selfies and send them to people you trust (family, close friends). The worst case scenario about rushing is regret for whatever reason down the road. Some extra time upfront will save you heartache later. Hope that helps.

 

[NARMAK]

The idea of "Picking a Hairline" sounds great, but the very first and most important thing to understand that hair loss is generally considered progressive except for a few very lucky, lucky individuals who manage to halt it or grind it to an absolute snails pace with medication like Finasteride. 

So, choosing a hairline design has to come from you firstly looking at that, your age and how to deal with that if it happens because your donor is finite. 

2nd, is your facial characteristics. Now, we all have different sized heads, skull shapes, brows, frontalis muscles (the muscles you scrunch when you raise your brows) and all of that needs to be taken into account with the first step to design something that's not only pleasing to the eye, but you can "age into" and you'll see that term used a lot by guys here because whilst your 25-30 year old self might get away with a juvenile looking hairline, you might look a bit weird with it at 50-60+ years old. 

That usually means you don't go "too low" even if technically you could. Most people have to settle for a hairline positioned from the glabella (middle of eyebrows) about 7cm or higher depending on their face shape, some people at 8cm to 9cm could look aesthetically more pleasing than somebody even say at 7cm. 

Your next thing is to look at "Thirds" and this is basically as it sounds. You take the glabella measurement to your hairline, and then how it is from the glabella to the just under or on the tip of your nose and then just under the nose till the bottom of your lower chin. People say that your "Thirds" should all roughly match but it's not a hard rule again because we all have different facial characteristics. So generally you want to get them close as possible, but in men, a longer lower third by a slight bit is considered masculine and you can roughly match up your middle and upper third to be a similar distance, unless you got a very obvious short midface and that would throw the harmony by matching them. 

Your temple points are another key aesthetic point. I literally didn't have them and if i didn't get them done, there wouldn't have been a reason to get the hair transplant at all imo. 

Now, i know it's a little contrived, but i used male models as a reference point because they usually have great Thirds and their hairlines are generally impeccable. Looking at them, i realised they're usually not positioned too low but have an aesthetic balance with the height of the hairline and the temple points. I've attached a few photos for reference. 

Obviously you cannot turn into a male model just with a HT, you have to have the underlying bone structure and genetics, but there's no reason not to use it as inspiration. Basically the doctor listened to me, took into account my hair loss and overall, i'd say i'm pretty damn happy with how my hairline design turned out. 

Oh, and i threw in Jake Gylenhaal, i think he's got a fantastic hairline design. 

[Viney]

I don't have any advice to share but I just want to say I think this is an important thread.

I'd love to do some research on hairline design and seeing what's ideal and more natural based on facial structure etc.

I still have no idea how I'd want my hairline designed if I went for a transplant.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Viney

[Needadviceplease]

Quote

I think what you want to avoid is rushing the hairline design by accepting what the doctor draws immediately. Even if you like what the doctor draws take a few minutes to really look at yourself. Take pictures/selfies and send them to people you trust (family, close friends). 

Will I have that much time to take photos and send them? I am supposed to meet with him in the morning of the day of the surgery. I guess if it is not low enough, I could touch it up when I do the crown?

[StillAlive]

There is a 'golden ratio' so to speak that the doctor calculates using a tool (very roughly, your hairline should start 1cm above the last crease you see on your forehead when you flex that muscle upwards). It's always a better idea to go with a slightly higher hairline that will save grafts and allow for future transplants if needed. Your age significantly factors into this as well. Have a discussion with the doctor and agree on something conservative that will be easier to support in the long term. As long as you don't show that terrible frontal recession that alters the entire shape of your face, you'll be good. 

And you know this yourself already, you will not have the time to check in with your whole family on 20 hairline designs on the morning of the consultation/surgery. 

[NARMAK]

56 minutes ago, Needadviceplease said:

Will I have that much time to take photos and send them? I am supposed to meet with him in the morning of the day of the surgery. I guess if it is not low enough, I could touch it up when I do the crown?

Go to a make up store or similar and buy an eye/brow liner that women use in a dark colour like black. Use that to draw out a hairline design and take pictures. See how it looks, taking into account all the other things mentioned. 

It's usually a better way. When i had my hairline design done, it felt too quick to really get a grasp of things and had i probably been able to feel like i did with hindsight, there's minor tweaks i would have made but overall, it was 95% or more there for what i wanted. So, i could like you said improve it on a 2nd pass for density etc. if needed but you want to get close as possible to "one and done" although realistically no HT on average typically tends to get like that i think. 

[Fue3361]

I fought for mine.  They wanted it to be higher in the middle, I wanted it lower.  We settled for an inbetween of what we both wanted.  I'm very happy with where it's at.

[Big Rome]

16 hours ago, Needadviceplease said:

Hello,

For those who have had a HT how did you go about figuring out the hairline?

Did you just go with what the doctor suggested?

Or you brought pics in and showed them?

I am just trying to figure out how to prep for my HT. I honestly, can't remember my HT from when I had a full head of a hair lol.

If you have any other advice you think I might need to consider, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

I am leaning towards Dr. Kongkiat Laorwong. He suggested 2500-3000 for the hairline and then in a year to do the crown. 

Thanks!

great question 👏🏻

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Need advice,

hairline design and placement is essentially the most crucial part of a hair transplant. If you’ve selected a reputable surgeon, he’ll be quite good at drawing a hairline that is both natural looking and perfectly frames your face.

I know it’s tempting to look at actors or others who have hairlines that we like. But that doesn’t mean that a particular hairline on another will look good on us.

At the end of the day, I do think Caroline design and placement should be a collaboration between both the doctor and the patient. What’s appropriate and possible is usually determined by the doctor however, a good surgeon will always   
check the patient’s input into consideration and discuss/decide together on an appropriate hairline.

Best wishes, 

Rahal Hair Transplant 

[pkipling]

For me, deciding on my hairline was a collaborative effort between me and @Parsa Mohebi, MD - but with me mostly deferring to him and valuing his expert opinion on the matter. I went in with an idea of what I wanted, and he not only told me why he wouldn't cosign that hairline for me, but educated me on why. When designing a hairline, he takes in a lot of different factors, such as race/ethnicity, age, projected hair loss, hair type, etc.

I went in thinking I wanted a super low and linear hairline, which he was very quick to point out why it wasn't a good idea. He then designed his ideal hairline for me (around 1800 grafts, if I remember correctly), and while I loved it, it was still a little higher than I wanted and I asked him if we could compromise and make it just a tad lower. He obliged, insisting that it would still look good - but that would be as low as he would go.  

In short, I think it's best to trust the surgeon's input. In all honesty, there are times when I think I would've been even more satisfied with the initial hairline he wanted to give me... Which is saying a lot considering how happy I am with what we ended up with. But yeah - if you trust the surgeon, then trust their input. They're the experts for a reason.