Dr. David Josephitis (SMG) | 2,309 grafts | 35 years old | Dec. 20 / 21, 2022

[SeekingStubble]

I know you're disappointed based on your expectations but I think you're honestly starting to look good. You really need a different haircut, you have the same density as Steve Carrell and he pulls it off with no problem. Either cut it a bit shorter on top and way shorter on sides if you want it slicked back/up, or if you want that length on top then swoop it sideways + slightly forward like he does when it gets longer.

  

[Balding Bad]

On 8/28/2024 at 10:25 PM, googlyeyes said:

I have a few questions about choosing SMG. I don't have authorization to send pms, could you pm me? Thank you!

Hey, sorry for the late reply as I've not been active on here, but I responded to your PM.

[Balding Bad]

On 8/29/2024 at 5:08 AM, Sunshine09 said:

hey bro,

i think most of my comments have been echoed in earlier posts by others but here goes. You seem to have very similar hair texture / balding to mines and also some similar side effects so thought id reply to see if it may help you...

1. i think you have a good result post HT. By good i mean average. there are some HTs which are poor, some are outstanding and some are good. I see the density is lacking in your hairline and that could be your native hairs losing ground due to the constant cycling of finasteride and not necessary the growth / yield of the HT itself. looking at your pre HT pics, you had a lot of existing hairs there. transplanted hairs went in between but if you are not consistently on a DHT blocker, then those existing native hairs are only going to get thinner causing that see through effect. have you tried 0.5mg of dutasteride? apparently i have read it can cause less sides in some people in comparison to finasteride. i too had the watery semen sides but that dissipated over time and I'm back to my usual load consistency. i think it can time (a year for me anyway) for your body to accustomise to the lower levels of DHT but everyone is different. what i found key was to be consistent. when i chopped and changed the dosage and came off it etc, i had more sides and i had more hairloss. simple. i would perhaps give one last effort going on finasteride for 0.5mg 3x a week for alteast 1 year (take it same time every mon, wed, fri). don't constantly change the dose higher even if you dont get sides. then evaluate after a year. if the sides are too much then i would cut it out and try another as i mentioned i.e dut. 

2. as detailed by others, i think you should try shorten your sides. this will instantly make your top look denser (believe me i do it all the time!) styling it the way you do will also instantly expose your hairline and not in a good way. have you tried styling it differently? have you tried also shortening your top a little bit? your hair is similar to mines and after a haircut at the top, it creates that illusion of density. i believe the haircut / hair style is not helping the situation here but excabating it more for you on a daily basis.

3. apologies if i missed this but have you tried topical / oral min? micro needling? to see if you can thicken up some of the hairline?

4. ofcourse if this bothers you massively then a second hand at a HT  might be an option to get that density but if you are not on finasteride / dutasteride then you might end up in the same boat again...

Thanks for your insight/feedback.

Yeah, I'd say overall (now being 1 year and 9 months post procedure) I'm at a place where I'm relatively happy with my hair mainly due to how I style it now. Since my hair is much longer now, I tie it back (man bun style) and with my hair flush against my scalp (due to it being pulled back) and the lack of height in my hairstyle, the sparse density/volume is no longer an issue.

That's interesting to hear that you keeping up with your Fin regiment caused your sides to self-correct. I'm not sure I have the tenacity or the mental fortitude to do likewise. I'm leaning towards trying a topical version of Min/Fin to see if that helps bypass any potential side effect.

And no, I've not tried oral Min...only topical Min. That's the one measure I've been absolutely consistent with. Never tried micro needling as I'm ultimately not convinced of its potential benefits since it's really just anecdotal testimony regarding its effectiveness.

Yeah, I initially considered getting another HT. In fact, I was preemptively in the books with Shapiro for another one this coming end of October, but given that I'm satisfied with my new hairstyle (even if it doesn't resolve the root cause of my dissatisfaction - lack of density), I've decided to put a pin in it and save my donor area for when I really need it...hopefully a decade or so (or maybe never!) from now.

Edited September 18 by Balding Bad

[Balding Bad]

On 8/29/2024 at 3:39 PM, SeekingStubble said:

I know you're disappointed based on your expectations but I think you're honestly starting to look good. You really need a different haircut, you have the same density as Steve Carrell and he pulls it off with no problem. Either cut it a bit shorter on top and way shorter on sides if you want it slicked back/up, or if you want that length on top then swoop it sideways + slightly forward like he does when it gets longer.

  

I'd like to say that this hairstyle would work for me, but in my personal opinion, it's not a good look on me. Also, not sure when these photos from Steve Carrell are from cause I definitely noticed him thinning back in the day and now his hairline looks excellent! Wherever he went, the clinic did a great job with his transplant!

[Balding Bad]

Flagging for the sake of consistency, I updated my other Fin thread since I started now taking TOPICAL finasteride instead of oral, due to side effects.

First application started yesterday on 09/27/24.