bullitnut
4 awesome repairs with SMG
All the best bro, please dont become a stranger dude
Hi BullitHi Azza, how're things with you now? Did I read somewhere you were considering scalp micro-pigmentation? Did you go through with it?
Nice writeup, I was not around when you were here but a important and interesting read for many.*drum roll entrance* - azza's back!
Hi everyone, wow feels surreal knowing that I had opened this post 13 years back and gosh has it been one hell of a ride.
To put the long story short, it has been painful. To the world, I am just another guy getting on with life but this hairloss experience even till now has played its part in shaping me who I am.
What is left of my transplanted hair are stubbles scattered across my scalp which I shave down regularly as I have got SMP done for the last year or so. There is no point in growing them out yet as they are extremely extremely extremely sparse. The SMP has helped.
I am now in the situation where I have all the negative characteristics you would want. This includes: depleted donor area, thin donor area, NW6/7 shape, complete loss of temples and my hair is turning gray also which doesnt help. Some may say its the stress that is catching up- maybe, who knows. I am 35 years old and have been battling this since I was 18, getting my first HT at 20. I had to resort to using a hair system for 10 years which was a complete pain in terms of maintenance (I had to clean my scalp, system and fit it every 3 days for 10 years so you can imagine the labour that went in) . Though it looked natural, it made me extremely self conscious about it though I kept a very plain face in front of the world. I think the biggest factor for me was ' why did I have to go through this experience in my prime'. As a child growing up, I had a very tough time being accepted by my peers out of no fault of my own so that really chipped away at my self esteem, I come from an asian origin , so big groups and family are the norm. I have 44 first cousins of whom non have hair-loss. I was always reminded or told growing up (whilst in my teens) that I would lose my hair as I have it genetically from both sides to which I would laugh off but as you all know, the bugger hit me hard very quick to the amusement of soo many that I came across, peers and family. It was bitter and it gave me that victims mentality which kept saying 'why me, why me, why me'. This issue held me back in many fronts and in social settings, I felt out of place. There were no shortage of people to point out my flaw and I could not hide it as like I said, MPB hit me hard. This really was the missing factor of my overall decent looking aesthetics. Despite going through the psychological drain, I was very athletic and even continued with my education.
Anyhow, what this has done to me over all these years is teach me how to stay motivated and hungry and see it as a challenge. In every bad, there is a good- thats what I have been told. Wearing a system often gave me sleepless nights. I didnt place my head directly onto a pillow for 10 years in the fear that my system would move out of place, so I had to resort sleeping with my head on my arms. Alot of freedom was lost in this sense.
After soo many years, I understand that what I had ventured out for, I may not get. So all that is required now is a change in strategy. SMP has given me some freedom back now- I can look at wind in the face, I can put my head on a pillow with no worry, I can step in and out of a shower at will without having to spend 10 minutes taking off system and then 10- 20 mins or even 30 mins putting it back on. I am a Teacher and still internally cringe when I get called bald by some students. Why wouldn't I? I entered HT to avoid it. But atleast I know I have the look of a shaved head and not bald bald. I take all these comments as fuel to become more stronger mentally. So much so.....that....wait for it...…I am going in for another HT in December...(dont spill your coffee now). You may be thinking 'but Azza , you have done 4 HTs, your donor isn't the best so what are you doing? You are right, but here is the thing. I have been through a lot so I have nothing to lose. I am going with Eugenix in India who do good work especially with body hair so my plan is to make a combination of beard and scalp to improve the situation as best as possible adding the SMP to the mix. You only live once, time wont stop, so why not. At least I know what I am going into and how to handle it better now. I am attaching some SMP pics for you to see. I would say its a good filler until you get a better solution but definitely not a life-long thing.
For me, my goal is now to get coverage from front to back and if possible some density. Focus will be on crown which has never had any work. Atleast there should be some improvement now that DHT has done the core damage that it had to do.
View attachment 33940 View attachment 33941
Hi,Nice writeup, I was not around when you were here but a important and interesting read for many.
You are saying that you are NW7 and lost almost everything, but in the end you are saying that you are going for another surgery with body hair at Eugenix?
I think the SMP suit you well, looks like some good work.
Do you have any photos with a little bit longer hair to see your situation now so many years later?
Alright, you have quite some area to cover. Do you have any scalp grafts left that can be harvested?Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
See, the thing is had I not had SMP, I probs wouldn't consider another HT. But now that I have it and I can see how it is playing out, the whole point is to make use of whatever grafts are possible to aid the SMP. Eugenix have done cases similar to mine hence why I am giving it a shot.
I have attached some pics from when I last had it long which was in Sept 2020. This was the same time I was using a hair system so the hair is very unevenly cut. However, you can see what is there. I would think that my scalp is perhaps healthier now that it is free from a 24/7 hair system so in turn there may be some benefit to whatever hair is there.
View attachment 33944View attachment 33945
View attachment 33946