Feedback on Hairline Design

[Cooper48]

Hi Everyone,

I have been reading though this forum for many months and finally decided to give it a try.  Thanks to everyone on this forum I feel pretty comfortable with my decision.  I just arrived in Thailand and will see Dr. Laorwong today for my initial visit and the procedure is tomorrow.  Thanks to @A_4_Archan and @Jamos1982 and others for their detailed reviews of the process.  While I believe Dr Laorwong will do an excellent job, the hairline seems to be the most important thing to work together in making sure it is right. 

I sent Dr. Laorwong pictures (see below) and he drew a hairline.  I thought his first instinct without having talked with him was pretty good.  I am looking for a more conservative approach since I am already almost 49 years old.  He estimates about 3500 grafts for both the hairline and the crown.  I have been on oral fin for 2 months and topical min for a few years.  Hoping this combo will keep the rest.  I do have a thick donor area. 

Any helpful hints on making sure I get a good hairline?  I definitely want to make sure I get micro imperfections and not too straight across. I have also seen some people have more a curve in the corners and other go straight into the side hair. 

Thanks in advance for the helpful comments. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Cooper48

[GoliGoliGoli]

First of all, you are doing things exactly right in thinking for yourself and not just outsourcing the hairline design to the doctor. Of course take his expertise into consideration, but really you are the one who needs to do the research and the planning for yourself. 

How aggressive you can afford to be on the hairline depends on whether your using medication (and which kinds) and whether you have a bad, average, or good donor. 

I will say, I like your plan to basically transplant into the entire circled area of the hairline. Some doctors will do everything they can to preserve whatever hair you have left, and work around your existing hair to give you the best result. I personally don't like this plan because as you continue to lose, it will not look very natural. I prefer the option to say "Damn the torpedo's" and blow through those minitaurizing hairs because they are likely going to fall eventually. So saying damn the torpedo's I think future proofs your HT a little bit more in terms of how long you can go without getting a second HT. The problem with this route is that it will take up a lot more grafts, and the Dr may say he can't do both the entire circled hairline and the crown all in 1 surgery. Or will only be able to put a few hundred into the crown which may actually be enough for you.

But a lot depends on if you are on fin or not. If you just started fin maybe those hairs will come back strong and you don't need to say damn the torpedo's. 

I hope this makes sense. You're a bit late to be asking these questions if your HT is tomorrow, but better late than never. 

[Melvin- Admin]

The hairline design looks good. But I don't think you'll have a big difference in the crown. He would probably use 2,500 grafts in the hairline and 1,000 in the crown. That won't make a huge difference, if I'm being honest. You'll get more hair, but it will still look thin. I want you to know that before you decide to do both. It might be better to concentrate on the hairline first, then go back and do the crown separately. 

[A_4_Archan]

Thanks for the appreciation brother .

As far as hairline goes he will place single hair grafts over there and i didn't see an issue with this on me or any other patient but you may ask him to do more irregularities ...i have talked to him specifically about this thing when we had conversation sometime back and he told me that he is doing more irregularities nowadays ...actually most of his patients are from thailand and japan and china and korea and such countries and they naturally have more of straight hairlines so he use to do it that way but you can ask for more irregularities and he will do that..

[Turkhair]

56 minutes ago, Cooper48 said:

since I am already almost 49 years old. 

Go crazy man. You’re one of those lucky ones that either stay NW3 their whole life or their hairloss is so slow they end up in grave before their Norwood level progresses any further.

If you’re going with the same conservative plan as I did (NW6 at 30 with a joke of a donor) then who can go aggressive? 
 

I like H&W for their aggressive approach (hate they use FUT though), they know what’s it about. 

 

You don’t need Finasteride either but should use low dose for prostate health. 

 

I think this community suffers from tunnel vision seeing all these bald people to start imagining everyone is destined to be NW7. That’s simply not the case. Everytime I go out I see ton of NW3 at age 60, age 50 and that’s their final pattern. 

 

[Cooper48]

Thanks everyone for the responses. We worked on the hairline today and am happy with it. I will show him some irregularities pictures I like in the morning. 

[Cooper48]

22 hours ago, Turkhair said:

Go crazy man. You’re one of those lucky ones that either stay NW3 their whole life or their hairloss is so slow they end up in grave before their Norwood level progresses any further.

If you’re going with the same conservative plan as I did (NW6 at 30 with a joke of a donor) then who can go aggressive? 
 

I like H&W for their aggressive approach (hate they use FUT though), they know what’s it about. 

 

You don’t need Finasteride either but should use low dose for prostate health. 

 

I think this community suffers from tunnel vision seeing all these bald people to start imagining everyone is destined to be NW7. That’s simply not the case. Everytime I go out I see ton of NW3 at age 60, age 50 and that’s their final pattern. 

 

Thanks Turkhair. I do agree that I am not likely to lose all my hair on top. Doesn’t happen to the peope in my family losing hair.  But you never know. Dr seems to think I have plenty of donor to fill in later if needed. 

[Cooper48]

23 hours ago, A_4_Archan said:

Thanks for the appreciation brother .

As far as hairline goes he will place single hair grafts over there and i didn't see an issue with this on me or any other patient but you may ask him to do more irregularities ...i have talked to him specifically about this thing when we had conversation sometime back and he told me that he is doing more irregularities nowadays ...actually most of his patients are from thailand and japan and china and korea and such countries and they naturally have more of straight hairlines so he use to do it that way but you can ask for more irregularities and he will do that..

Thanks!  You been a lot of help. Hope to get results like yours.  He seems like he is getting more non Asian patients and was good covering this in our meeting. 

[Cooper48]

23 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

The hairline design looks good. But I don't think you'll have a big difference in the crown. He would probably use 2,500 grafts in the hairline and 1,000 in the crown. That won't make a huge difference, if I'm being honest. You'll get more hair, but it will still look thin. I want you to know that before you decide to do both. It might be better to concentrate on the hairline first, then go back and do the crown separately. 

Thanks Melvin. I did ask him about it and he thought it was enough for both. I will definitely have him focus on hairline first. I do have thick curly/waive hairs.  This helps significantly in the illusion. I’ve successfully covered up the front for years with no hair. Nice to have more in there to work with. I’m staying fairly conservative so the hairline will still be back. This should also help with density.