When is it too early for a transplant?

[Big Rome]

16 hours ago, xcactus said:

Back again. A colleague who had a HT told me I would be a candidate for a transplant in the temple region. Should I schedule a consult? I haven’t noticed a huge change since I first posted, but I certainly haven’t regrown any.

brother.. the last thing you need is a hair transplant. Your hair is good man 👊🏼

Edited October 30, 2023 by Big Rome

[Otis james]

Seriously, I think this is ridiculous! Mate, I can not see any reason at all for you to have issues with your hairline. It’s pretty perfect! I think it’s the most “you don’t need a transplant” post I’ve seen on this forum. 

[Sunset Dune]

Honestly your hair looks fine for your age, most people in their 30s are receding 

[MAIZE1694]

Sometimes I see these nw1 guys asking if they should just "touch up the temples" and I fear for them. I fear the possibility things turn upside down and meds lose efficacy for them and they shed more and more. Like if these guys dropped to like a NW4V, things will get very, very dark for them.

IMO you don't need surgery. You shouldn't. It will likely cause more problems than you currently have.

But if you're dead set on it, save up and go with the absolute best. Don't leave nothing to chance since you're already a NW1. Konior maybe? Couto?

Good luck.

 

[Recession1]

5 hours ago, MAIZE1694 said:

Sometimes I see these nw1 guys asking if they should just "touch up the temples" and I fear for them. I fear the possibility things turn upside down and meds lose efficacy for them and they shed more and more. Like if these guys dropped to like a NW4V, things will get very, very dark for them.

IMO you don't need surgery. You shouldn't. It will likely cause more problems than you currently have.

But if you're dead set on it, save up and go with the absolute best. Don't leave nothing to chance since you're already a NW1. Konior maybe? Couto?

Good luck.

 

What do you mean fear for them? I’m not being smart… I’m just curious what you mean? If they were to lose more hair in the future and went to a NW 4 they could do another hair transplant or two if they wanted to. 

[xcactus]

On 10/29/2023 at 7:22 PM, Proportions said:

Have you actually lost any hair? Is your hairline different than 10-15 years ago? Be honest with yourself.

 

Unfortunately I wasn't concerned about losing my hair back then, so I wasn't taking up close photos to compare.

On 10/29/2023 at 9:53 PM, Proportions said:

If someone with a NW3 could have a successful HT with a nice result, why couldn't OP have one?

It just seems counter intuitive that people with a NW3 are encouraged to get a HT, but people with NW1-2 are discouraged. 

I just want to stay ahead of it.

On 10/29/2023 at 10:44 PM, Recession1 said:

Why would he destroy his hairline? If he goes to one of the best surgeons he would be fine. I have seen guys who don’t even have hairloss but are born with high  hairlines and lower their hairline and they look great. Look at some of the examples Konior has done. He lowers hairlines a substantial amount and they blend great. I think where you run into issues is when you go to cheap places. 

I'm more concerned about thinning in my temples. I wouldn't necessarily want my entire hairline lowered.

16 hours ago, Gatsby said:

Because @Proportions the baseline where @xcactus is at is what an ideal hair transplant could never obtain. It's just a matured hairline and for a guy in his 30's his great head of hair looks appropriate and above all else 'natural.' I noticed you only joined last week but if you do a search or stay around on the forum you will see people who only wanted a hairline lowered and regretted the whole thing afterwards. Matching the exact hair caliber, softness, angles, color, growth rate, etc to a natural hairline will never beat one that has never been touched. Plus once you start surgery you are in it for the lifetime. The longer you can postpone it the better the outcome 9/10 (because their are always risks involved no matter how rare). An elite surgeon is attempting to match mother nature. No surgeon can beat mother nature. All the best.

I had not thought about it that way. That's a good point.

10 hours ago, Otis james said:

Seriously, I think this is ridiculous! Mate, I can not see any reason at all for you to have issues with your hairline. It’s pretty perfect! I think it’s the most “you don’t need a transplant” post I’ve seen on this forum. 

Thanks. It's more thinning in the temples that I'm concerned with. I wasn't sure if there was a way to focus the HT in that area. I'm new to this world so I'm still learning.

7 hours ago, Sunset Dune said:

Honestly your hair looks fine for your age, most people in their 30s are receding 

It seems like most of the guys in my age range (who I know) have full heads of hair, but maybe that's selection bias. I know that's not the case statistically.

5 hours ago, MAIZE1694 said:

Sometimes I see these nw1 guys asking if they should just "touch up the temples" and I fear for them. I fear the possibility things turn upside down and meds lose efficacy for them and they shed more and more. Like if these guys dropped to like a NW4V, things will get very, very dark for them.

IMO you don't need surgery. You shouldn't. It will likely cause more problems than you currently have.

But if you're dead set on it, save up and go with the absolute best. Don't leave nothing to chance since you're already a NW1. Konior maybe? Couto?

Good luck.

 

Thanks. I definitely don't want to make things worse...a touch up was what I was curious about but it seems like that wouldn't be a wise investment. It's at least good to know that there are options available down the road if things progress (or recess, I should say).

[mr_peanutbutter]

On 10/30/2023 at 5:53 AM, Proportions said:

If someone with a NW3 could have a successful HT with a nice result, why couldn't OP have one?

It just seems counter intuitive that people with a NW3 are encouraged to get a HT, but people with NW1-2 are discouraged. 

 

imho op can put a few hundred grafts in the corner, however op will have close to zero aesthetical benefits from an ht, even in best case scenario. most people will think that he looks the same. 

 

its all about the marginal aesthetical benefit that comed with an ht;

the difference in perception between lets say norwood 4 and 7 is not very high, people will perceive you as bald in all of those cases, a big number of women wont perceive you as attractive for that reason alone. getting a hairtransplant to go from norwood 7 to lets say norwood 6 or 5 makes zero difference on your looks and hence isnt done by anyone. the marginal aesthetical benefit is zero.

 

 

the difference in perception between norwood 7-4 and norwood 3 is super huge, especially after 30. even though the hairline has receeded in the corners and sometimes even includes the frontal midpart you wont be perceived as bald. going to norwood 3 from norwood 7-4 has the biggest impact regarding how people treat you, on your dating options etc. no woman over 24 will rule you out just because your hairline is norwood 3 instead of norwood 2. noone will think youre bald.

the marginal benefit is on top here.

 

going from norwood 3 to norwood 2 or norwood 1 will frame your face better and make you look overall younger. you will look more dynamic. it often can be the difference between being perceived as 30+ vs 20something for some guys. it has an aesthetical impact.

however the marginal benefit is lower between going from norwood 4-7 to norwood 3.

 

going from norwood 1.5 / 2 to norwood 1 or norwood 0 comes with little aesthetical improvement again. the difference wont even be noticable to anyone with many hairstyles. 

[Proportions]

22 minutes ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

going from norwood 1.5 / 2 to norwood 1 or norwood 0 comes with little aesthetical improvement again. the difference wont even be noticable to anyone with many hairstyles. 

For some guys with certain headshapes and facial features going from NW2 to NW1 can be the difference between being able to style hair upwards and having to do a combover.

In those cases I'd say the aesthetical improvement is also big.

Not saying it's the case with OP.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Proportions

[mr_peanutbutter]

1 hour ago, Proportions said:

For some guys with certain headshapes and facial features going from NW2 to NW1 can be the difference between being able to style hair upwards and having to do a combover.

In those cases I'd say the aesthetical improvement is also big.

Not saying it's the case with OP.

can you show examples of this? i want to understand your take better on this

 

i knew in my school we made fun of a guy who had a norwood 2 hairline with 16 while we other had norwood 0 or 1 but i think after a certain age (around 25-27) it really becomes completely irrelevsnt. people like leo di caprio or robert de niro in goodfellas are somehow norwood 2 but the slick back hairstyle looks pretty good on them. ofc a jensen ackles hairline at 35 looks good and can make you appear drastically younger but the marginal benefit  are really not that big. hair only becomes a problem once you noticable lack it(norwood 4 and more)

Edited October 31, 2023 by mr_peanutbutter

[Recession1]

I think when you feel you have a taller forehead and you go to Nw 2 or 3 it becomes bothersome because your face isn’t framed. When you already feel you have a big or tall forehead the little bit of recession becomes a big deal in appearance. 

[Proportions]

11 minutes ago, Recession1 said:

I think when you feel you have a taller forehead and you go to Nw 2 or 3 it becomes bothersome because your face isn’t framed. When you already feel you have a big or tall forehead the little bit of recession becomes a big deal in appearance. 

Exactly my thoughts 

[Otis james]

2 hours ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

can you show examples of this? i want to understand your take better on this

 

i knew in my school we made fun of a guy who had a norwood 2 hairline with 16 while we other had norwood 0 or 1 but i think after a certain age (around 25-27) it really becomes completely irrelevsnt. people like leo di caprio or robert de niro in goodfellas are somehow norwood 2 but the slick back hairstyle looks pretty good on them. ofc a jensen ackles hairline at 35 looks good and can make you appear drastically younger but the marginal benefit  are really not that big. hair only becomes a problem once you noticable lack it(norwood 4 and 

I think we all need to understand each individual…. I look a lot older with my hair off my face…. Because my hairline is thin. If you recede, have a smaller forehead, and the hair that’s left isn’t think, it looks good. I think I’m a good example of what doesn’t look good… I thinking hairline with a big ish forehead. Not “bald” by any means but it definitely ages me! 

[mr_peanutbutter]

24 minutes ago, Otis james said:

I think we all need to understand each individual…. I look a lot older with my hair off my face…. Because my hairline is thin. If you recede, have a smaller forehead, and the hair that’s left isn’t think, it looks good. I think I’m a good example of what doesn’t look good… I thinking hairline with a big ish forehead. Not “bald” by any means but it definitely ages me! 

with all respect but youre norwood 3, youre whole frontal hairline receeded back and lost density even in the center. the whole diffuse look in the front adds to it. i think even if you would just enforce those remaining hairs and give it good density you would already improve immensely even though you just had the typical norwood 3 mcdonalds hairline which some people here consider the end of the world^^

 

the question was however about the difference between norwood 2 and norwood 1. youre not norwood 2 by any means

Edited October 31, 2023 by mr_peanutbutter