Individual hairs way too thick in the front (post op)

[renordw]

Greetings, I'd like to start off by saying I've had 3 transplants over the last 6 years and after the 3rd oneI am finally starting to see results. I am 29.

After that preface, I'd like to know of anybody else has dealt with the individual hairs being very thick compared to the nearby hairs of the front?

I definitely did, and for the past 2 years I have researched quite a bit and the conclusion I arrived at was to pluck the hairs on a rotation.

First: pluck the hairs at the very front that are just too thick. Then wait for them to grow back.

Second: pluck one of the multi unit hairs directly behind the front after the first ones started to grow. So if there was a thick cluster of two or three hairs I'd pluck one of them out.

Then repeat.

I'm not sure if there's any science to any of it, but my hair is definitely much more natural after plucking like this. Most of the individual hairs grew back thinner and thinner and less like pencil leads growing out of my forehead.

I'm not sure if this is a common problem, but i have even talked to a few doctors who recommended getting laser hair removal on them, because "it usually takes multiple treatments to achieve full hair removal". So one treatment would just thin it out.

I'd be delighted to hear the comments of others on here.

[win200]

First, I'm not a doctor, but... STOP PLUCKING YOUR HAIRS. Pulling hairs out of the same follicles over and over is very likely to damage the follicles -- permanently. That's why people with trichotillomania frequently end up with permanent hair loss. You are literally jeopardizing the transplanted hair that you've paid so dearly for.

The likely reason that the hair at your hairline is thicker than the surrounding hair is because the surrounding hair is miniaturizing, while the transplanted hair is from the most stable, healthy portion of your head. My transplant has a little of this too, although no one other than myself would notice. You're moving hair around the head, and hair qualities aren't uniform throughout, so it may not be a PERFECT integration, although really, no one's going to notice. My transplanted hair is a bit thicker, coarser, and darker than my other hairline hair. The only change people commented on after my transplant was asking if I was using a hair product that made my hair look darker.

So, in sum, STOP PULLING YOUR HAIR OUT.

[gillenator]

The more I read Win200's posts, the more impressed I am.

It is without a doubt that the natural diffused hair within the frontal zone loses hair shaft diameter as the miniturization process progresses.

And it's true that the terminal hair taken from the donor zone is going to have much thicker hair shaft diameter to the hair shafts, than the diffusing hair. In fact, the donor hair can also have a darker pigmentation and sometimes that is slightly noticable. The wider color contrasts between hair color and complexion can also make these differences more noticable.

Yet in most cases as Win pointed out, the differences are not visually noted by others as we may think. They have no occaision to study or stare at our hairlines. Many of us hairloss suffererrs, especially those who have HT procedures end up staring at our hair forever on end in the mirror. But others do not scrutinize our hair that way.

One other comment that I wanted to make is that the higher degree of hair caliber, the better coverage gained, visually speaking.

Possibly consider adding some additional grafts to the frontal zone to offset the thinner hair shafts more. This can be easily done with a FUE touch-up session. It would not take that many added grafts and why I suggest considering FUE for the touch-up session.

But the real added benefit of using FUE is because the FUE surgeon can cherry pick some thinner caliber grafts that are still DHT resistant (terminal hair) and the surgeon then can also look in other donor zones where the terminal hair is not as coarse as the occipital zone where most strips are harvested.

Some docs like taking hair from the nape area to soften the appearance of hairline because of the thinner hair shafts. I don't like that idea (nape neck zone) because some guys lose that hair as they age, meaning, not all nape hair is permanent hair.

[win200]

The more I read Win200's posts, the more impressed I am.

It is without a doubt that the natural diffused hair within the frontal zone loses hair shaft diameter as the miniturization process progresses.

And it's true that the terminal hair taken from the donor zone is going to have much thicker hair shaft diameter to the hair shafts, than the diffusing hair. In fact, the donor hair can also have a darker pigmentation and sometimes that is slightly noticable. The wider color contrasts between hair color and complexion can also make these differences more noticable.

Yet in most cases as Win pointed out, the differences are not visually noted by others as we may think. They have no occaision to study or stare at our hairlines. Many of us hairloss suffererrs, especially those who have HT procedures end up staring at our hair forever on end in the mirror. But others do not scrutinize our hair that way.

One other comment that I wanted to make is that the higher degree of hair caliber, the better coverage gained, visually speaking.

Possibly consider adding some additional grafts to the frontal zone to offset the thinner hair shafts more. This can be easily done with a FUE touch-up session. It would not take that many added grafts and why I suggest considering FUE for the touch-up session.

But the real added benefit of using FUE is because the FUE surgeon can cherry pick some thinner caliber grafts that are still DHT resistant (terminal hair) and the surgeon then can also look in other donor zones where the terminal hair is not as coarse as the occipital zone where most strips are harvested.

Some docs like taking hair from the nape area to soften the appearance of hairline because of the thinner hair shafts. I don't like that idea (nape neck zone) because some guys lose that hair as they age, meaning, not all nape hair is permanent hair.

Thanks for the compliment, gillenator -- I really appreciate it.

Have to echo you on the nape hair point; I think that's really, really irresponsible of a surgeon. I understand the benefit, but if you look at men as they age, I'd venture to guess that MOST men see some "recession" of the neck hair. I'm only 30 and have pretty mild loss so far (NW1-2 even before my transplant), but I've definitely experienced some loss around the edges of my neck and ears. I'd be angry if I paid to have those follicles moved to my hairline, only to see them miniaturize and fall out.

I think the best practice is to carefully soften the hairline with one-hair grafts. We both agree that no one is going to notice that the hair shafts are thicker; it doesn't create the "doll's hair" look of plugs. Is it an absolutely, 100% seamless integration with the native hair? No. Is anyone going to notice? No. Is it superior to a receding hairline? Without doubt.

[Johnsmith1970]

I'm afraid gillator and win200 are both wrong on this one. Numerous individuals have reported that between the 12-18 month mark the hair becomes course and denser than the hair on the back of their head. Win200 yes the hair will be damaged when you pluck it but that's the whole point to try to reduce the diameter of the hair.