If you’re reading these articles for the first time, I am proud to say that I have finally been able to build a very large wealth of information on the specifics of hair transplants below this article. If you read from this article to the beginning of 2012 prior to coming in for a consult – you will really know almost everything you need to know. I’ve done this because I want the consumer to know a few things…
Close Up of My Hairline
My Frontal Hairline
The world of hair loss has been built upon a lot marketing schemes and fake promises. I see people get butchered, lied to, promised things which can’t happen every day when they come in and tell me what other clinics have said. Magic ointments for only 4000 dollars which will regrow your hair is my favourite…the worst is when bald guys with bad plugs come in and have a 35cm scar which should have given them 3500 grafts but only have 300 or 400 grafts and a long scar to show for it – they were told they’d get a full head of hair…I feel so bad for them. However, these lessons and sad tragedies, if verbalized to you, will stop the next generation from getting butchered and making the mistakes those unfortunate many of us made.
Through all the lies and fake promises there is one simple truth…there are a rare select few places that really want you to know the truth, be educated and understand not only the science, but an in depth understanding of what is going on. By doing so, you will realize what I have known from the years of research: you will see why we and a few select clinics are the best in the world and why so many clinics lie – because they can’t do what the elite can and have to lie to make it look on paper like they can or simply…don’t mind lying to you to make money off you. It’s cosmetic surgery and there are millions to be made the more you lie. It’s easy to fool someone and appeal to their emotions over such a traumatic thing as hair loss. I know – I was fooled into a horrible transplant years ago too at another clinic…
I have the rare joy of saying truly: Here at our surgical centre – I don’t have to fool you – because you understanding the truth and what to expect means you can see very quickly why what we do here is amazing and why our transplants are truly natural and mimick mother nature’s imperfect perfections. It angers me with a passion that so many people are lied to, hurt and forever changed in a negative way, not to mention spending thousands of dollars of their own money…just like I did. I never thought I would work in this field, but I know at least that for every person who reads these articles is one more person who gets it. I want to thank you for reading and this company for giving me the platform to have a voice.
What to expect from a transplant.
I’m not going to talk about the mechanics and science of a hair transplant in this article. I have covered that before and there’s a lot of info on our main sites. What I am going to talk about is the most important part – the emotional side. What you will experience prior to surgery, during surgery and afterwards.
I’ll tell you through my story.
Before my first transplant, I found a local guy doing surgeries near where I grew up, and got a surgery. I was promised 1500-2000 grafts. 7 months later I could count about 100-200 grafts. I lost 1300-1700 grafts, which if you have been reading the articles, you will know that those hairs are lost and never grow back. It means one day if I go bald I will not have enough hair to fill the crown.
So for my second transplant, I began doing research, years and years of research (the joke is that I did a BA in Hair transplants) and looked at every site, every photo in great detail, every blog, article, before and after photo I could get my hands on. I began to sift through the bull S*&$ and see the science and math of the work behind the great advertising and touched up before and after photos on so many sites. Eventually I knew I was going to get my repair work done…and at one point thereafter I began to overthink it and got myself into a tailspin. I think I almost talked myself out of the second surgery a hundred times. One day – I just did it. Got nervous, freaked out leading up to the surgery until the surgery date happened. On the day of surgery I showed up nervous and then!!! I slept lol through the surgery. I remember thinking “Why did I worry so much?”. That night, I went out with my friends. The next day, I went out again – I put a hat on and lived my life. It was not nearly as big of a deal as I had made it out to be from a recovery stand point. I had staples put in vs stithces on my second surgery to minimize scarring in the donor and trust me, the worse part is the metal in the back of the head. Other than that – it’s really not a big deal. Actually, the hardest part is probably just sitting in the chair on surgery date for 8-14 hours :D
The most difficult part came around the 1 month mark where all the transplanted hairs shed and I had to wait 3-6 months for the hair to grow. Every day I would look in the mirror for an hour driving myself insane to try to see if they would grow…hoping the would. Literally, I had been through so much hell just for my hair I just wanted to be done with my hair loss and move the heck on. Finally, one day – 3 months later – I started to see little hairs sprouting. I can not tell you the joy I felt. Yet it happened, all my worrying, hours lost looking in the mirror changed nothing – I wasted so much time worrying. The hair slowly grew in and around the 6 month mark – I did something I had not done in 5 years, I got out of the shower, slicked my hair back with my brand new hairline and walked out the door. The freedom! Wind blowing no problem, any style, could do it. I kept looking in the windows of shops for about 2 or 3 months afterwards making sure I had my hair because I would always look in the windows before so upset I was balding at 21. It killed me. But every time I looked in the mirror – there was hair. It was there. It was around the 1 year mark I realized – I would always have that hair. That hairline, full, thick, forever! I can not tell you how amazing it was. It’s been 6 years since my repair surgery, I am now 31 and I still have a full head of hair. It’s a miracle in my eyes…but most just call it an amazing surgeon doing cutting edge science.
Every day, I still look in the mirror in awe of how tragic going bald can be for some men and women, how much more horrible a bad transplant can destory your life, and how much more, incredibly more, so much so – I don’t have words for it – how truly liberating, amazing and wonderous an amazing transplant will forever change you. It’s not just hair, it’s the confidence, the freedom, the feeling you get by how society defines us by our exterior. It is sad that the world and ourselves judge us so superficially yes, however, it is our nature and that freedom from it in regards to hair loss is something that still awes me every day. Every time I book a guy or girl in for a transplant I feel so happy because I have been down that road and I know how it all works out in the end. Every time someone calls me 6 months later and they can’t believe they have hair I get so excited. Every time someone comes back and shows me their hair, I can’t help but smile.
So What does my story mean to you?
1) Don’t overthink it from an emotional stand point. I.e. know the information and understand it, but once you have come to the conclusion its something you want to do – don’t think yourself into a stalemate. You’re always going to be nervous, even after the transplant waiting for the hair to grow. You’ll be nervous for months, until one day – the hair grows. It’ll only be a full year later that you are overwhelmed that you have hair in places on your head you have not had it for years…maybe even decades:D It won’t be until 1 full year after you made the decision to get a hair transplant (at a great clinic who does great work) that you will finally realize how life changing it truly is.
My best advise is always the same when someone books a surgery: “Congrats! You just made a hard decision to get a hair transplant. Now forget about it. Forget about the transplant before surgery, forget about it after and live yourlife as you normally would until suddenly you wake up one day and you have hair again”
