Am I alone?

[Lefty76]

I will try to keep this short and sweet.

I sustained some pretty substantial lacerations to the back and side of my head when I was 18 years old. I had the fortune of having the scars covered by my thick head of hair. I still had my looks, I went on to do some modeling for a sporting goods company in my early 20's. To sum it up I wasn't affected by the scars initially in my youth, until male pattern baldness took affect.

I started noticing my hair thinning when I was about 25 years old. It probably took me a good 2 years for it to finally sink in. I think for the first couple of years your mind plays tricks on you and you almost go into a denial stage. I guess I hoped that it would stop, or by using Nioxin, and taking vitamins it would just get better or at least stop the thinning. I think a big part of the struggle for me, I wondered if this is something I can just get over and accept as myself and what I was born with. I think until the age of 30 I tried SO hard to just accept my balding.

I am currently 32 years old. My hair has substantially thinned and it affects me every day. I would really like to keep my hair short but when it's short my scars become visible and the combination of balding with the scarring its really not attractive. I know that being attractive or wanting to be attractive sounds shallow and superficial but for me I finally am at a point where I feel I need to look into doing something substantial to help remedy the situation. I can say with all honesty that my low self esteem related to my hair has affected my relationships, career, and probably every aspect of my life. And that's hard for a guy to admit I don't care who you are!

I am in the process of booking a hair transplant in the range of 4000 units and hopefuly this can help my 'situation' out. If anyone has questions or comments or anything I would like to hear from you. This site, Spencer and everything associated with it has helped me immensely and just want to express my appreciation for what Spencer has done.

[TeeJay73]

Lefty,

Good to read your story man. I'm also in my 30s (35 to be exact) and was affected by hair loss in similar ways -- low self esteem, sinking confidence, etc. It just plain sucks. I fell for afew traps in my early days (lotions and potions, and even an 800 graft procedure from a large hair transplant mill). Fast forward a few years --- I found Doctor Paul McAndrews and the IAHRS. About 9 1/2 months ago I had a 1,600 graft procedure with him, and things are looking good. I plan to get another for increased density next year.

I think that if you are set on a hair transplant, you are on the right track. Stay away from the nonsense out there. Take it from a guy like me who fell for a few traps in his early days, but luckily didn't get too jacked up before I found the right path.

Good luck man. I'm sure if you stay with the IAHRS and the relentless and awesome honesty of this site and The Bald Truth, you're gonna love it. You're in Canada, right, so are you planning to go to Hasson & Wong? If yes, Spencer has a friend of the show nicknamed "Jotronic". He has a website (I think its www.hairtransplantmentor.com, but Google his name just in case that's not it) where he documented his before & after results. He looks INCREDIBLE!

Take care -- TeeJay

[Lefty76]

Thanks TeeJay,

Yeah in my late 20's I looked into every option and I'm almost positive, every option. From 'other' hair transplant companies to the late night tv infomercials, sprays, dies, magic pills, lazers, shampoos, herbs. I booked a visit with a hairloss 'club' and got such a creepy feeling I was turned off. It actually left me feeling pretty depressed. I even took propecia for a couple months and stopped because of the fear of side effects.

It did feel hopeless. I didn't want to have surgery and I didn't want to put something into my body (propecia) that I wasn't 100% confident with. Now 3 years later, I've since started taking propecia (2 months now) and have decided on the surgery. I don't know if I'm 100% convinced it's the right thing to do, but as much as I don't want to ingest pills or have surgery it still outweighs the negatives with my thinning hair.

I will be getting it completed by Dr Hasson hopefuly. He was amazing and I'd be all over talking to people about my consultation if they want. I'm currently just working on the financing side of things and hoping to get the surgery completed as soon as possible. I'm admittedly scared shi-less but hopefuly worth every bit of fear, shame, depression, etc etc, in the end.