Battle Against Bald | A Battle Against Hair Loss Through Hair Restoration

Michael, one year later...

Tomorrow is the one year mark of my Bosley procedure, I think back over the last 365 days beginning with the day before, when I was in for my consultation.  How nervous I was and how I imagined the “what if” of every scenario in my head.  The biggest what if to me was “what if it doesn’t work” I guess that’s a normal feeling the day before a procedure that will forever change someone, right?  The good news is that even though I have had just about every emotion run through my mind since that day, I am extremely pleased with the results.  It’s so hard to believe that in the pretty recent past I looked so much different!  I recently saw my mom and stepdad and he again commented on how amazing the transformation has been, I nonchalantly thanked him for the compliment even though inside it was great to hear it! I never would have guessed that this opportunity would have given me such a boost in my confidence and I will forever be thankful!

Kevin gets primal on the importance of hair

One of the privileges of being somewhat of a citizen of the world is that I have been lucky enough to see a range of animals in their natural habitat.  On a recent safari in South Africa, while watching some truly amazing cheetahs, the park ranger was explaining the often made mistake of confusing a cheetah for a leopard, which unlike a cheetah which has hair markings which have a different pattern of spots.  It got me thinking about some of nature’s finest creations, and how significant their hair is in their characteristics.

The cheetah has rosettes on its fur, easily blending them into their natural habitat and enabling them to go unnoticed by their prey until making a final attack at speeds up to 60 miles per hour reached within 3-4 seconds.  The white lion’s hair is colored for good reason; especially on its face and around its eyes to enable moonlight of the night hunter to reflect off the hair on its face into its eyes, enhancing its night vision.  Can you imagine the graceful giraffe without its distinctive markings?  But the distinctive patterns and colors of hair which make up the markings of countless animals and birds are only part of the story.  Imagine a polar bear without its fur, or your beloved cat or dog at home perhaps?  Imagine if the hair which makes of the feathers of a bird did not absorb oils effectively waterproofing them?  Hair it seems is an essential part of most animals and birds survival.

So how does all this relate to a simple human like me, who has been through a Bosley hair restoration procedure?  Well in my mind, I think that us humans, or certainly me perhaps, for too long have taken our hair for granted, and its only when we start losing it that we realize its importance to us.  On my recent safari I did not wear a hat – certainly something I would likely have done prior to my hair restoration.  But the benefit of a full head of hair goes much further than simple sun protection.  These benefits are not the point I am trying to make (I have spoken much of them in previous blogs). 

The point in my mind is our hair is an essential part of our makeup and our characteristics.  Unlike our animal and bird friends, who I have no doubt would need little convincing of the importance of their hair in their survival, us humans seem to have taken ours for granted and also complicated our feelings toward getting it restored by experts like Bosley by feelings of self-consciousness or privacy perhaps.  I think we should look at our friend the cheetah and understand our hair, like theirs, defines us, and is an essential part of who we are.

Mark: Looking back, marching forward

Raising a little toddler is a special experience. It’s amazing how a little girl can manipulate her dad so early on. When I brush my daughter’s hair she allows me by standing still provided that she gets to brush my hair afterwards. It’s nice that I actually have hair for her to brush. Looking at photos over a year ago (attached) one can clearly see that I was thinning significantly. I don’t think a brush would have been effective on my balding scalp! This procedure has really enabled me to get fullness back that I’ve been lacking for years. In fact, my scalp used to get burnt when I would run outside. Now it’s noticeably better as there is considerably more coverage.


I’ll visit my surgeon in the next month or two for a final evaluation. He indicated that by middle August – a full year after my procedure the results would be visible and optimized. I’d have to agree that things look much better. Is it a full head of hair? No. But in my initial consultation I was told what was realistic (based upon the balding area and the available donor sites). Like everything results may vary. My attitude in life is that something is better than nothing and I’m very pleased to have visibly more hair in front.  It makes me feel better about myself. I feel younger (especially when I’m with other Dads 15 years younger) and I suppose my outlook is brighter.

If there is added density as the hair shafts widen it will only make the end result better so I’ll view that as the gravy : )

- Mark

Still numb

It has been many months since my hair restoration procedure, and I would say that I have regained somewhere around 60% of the feeling back in my head – specifically the part of my head between the back of the transplanted area and the suture line (or basically my “crown”).  Whenever I touch back there, or rest my head against my pillow, or anything like that, I notice that there is still more of a tingling sensation than full-on “regular” feeling.

So I again called Bosley to see if this was something I should be concerned about.  I figured they would say something like “It happens to some people, just be patient and the feeling will come back.”  Which was, of course, what they told me.  I mean, what are they going to say – “Oh my god, this is a disaster!  You’ll probably never get feeling again – what went wrong?  WHAT WENT WRONG!?”

At any rate, the nurse told me that some people take longer to regain feeling – everyone has nerves that react differently to the trauma of the procedure, and some people take longer to heal than others.  She said it’s not unusual for people to feel numbness for up to a year after their procedure.  Honestly, I’m not sure what could be done even if this was a complete anomaly.  So I will continue to wait for my scalp to fully heal, having faith that feeling will come back.  Someday.

-Seth

When my son pulls on my hair…

So my little boy is a year-and-a-half old, and he is sweet and playful – like most kids his age.  There are times, though – when I’m changing him, or I’m carrying him on my shoulders, or he’s “hiding” behind my back when I’m sitting on the couch – when he’ll grab a handful or two of hair and start pulling.  He doesn’t pull too hard, but it would still kind of freak me out.  I don’t think there was any problem with it – it’s not like he’s been yanking it out of my scalp, but he does put some pressure on the ol’ follicles once in a while.

Well, this got me wondering about my new hair – what happens if it does get pulled out?  Again, hopefully not by the handful, but what if a few strands get caught in a hat or something?  Just how fragile is my new hair?

I called Bosley to get a little more info, and here’s what I found out:  there’s really nothing to worry about - transplanted hair will grow back (the nurse, Mimi, told me it’s like when a girl that plucks her eyebrows – the hair will regenerate).  Basically, when we pull hairs from our head, we’re pulling the roots out of the follicle – not the follicle out of the scalp.  If we were doing damage to the follicle, we’d start bleeding.  So I guess this is the clue to look for to see if there is any permanent damage to the transplanted hair – if there’s no blood, there’s no problem!

-Seth

Swimming – the ultimate hair restoration cliché

I’m guessing we’ve all seen (or at least remember) the old Hair Club For Men ads – the ones that always featured a shot of a guy getting out of a swimming pool, completely unconcerned about his great-looking hair.  At some point they upgraded this shot to be a guy waterskiing or on a jet-ski  or something…it was a while ago, and it’s a little fuzzy in my mind.  But the point is that showing some guy get out of the water is one of the hoariest clichés of advertising for hair replacement products. 

Which is why I had to laugh (ironically and self-referentially) when I went swimming last weekend.  It was hot, so my family went over to the pool at our in-laws’ condo development.  After cooling off in the water, I went to use the rest room – and couldn’t help but notice how good my hair looked in the mirror.  I’m not sure I was thinking about, or prepared to become, “that guy” from the old Hair Club spots, but it was kinda funny.  And I’ll be damned if my hair didn’t look really good when I got out of that pool! 

-Seth

Music to Michael's ears: It looks "so natural"

Over the weekend I met up with an old co-worker that moved out of the area about 5 years ago. It was great to see her! I was pretty sure I had told her about my Bosley procedure, but apparently I hadn't. I met some of her friends when we met up, and one of them overheard my friend and I talking about it. One asked “YOU had it done?” I responded with, “YES, would you like to see before pictures?” (I carry several photos in my iPhone, so it was pretty easy to show the before-and-after results). What's great is one guy actually said “I can’t believe it. I’d never have guessed! It looks great. So natural.” That alone was a confidence booster and just what I needed to hear! It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a full year since I began this journey.

- Michael

Old friends see the same old Michael

Back from vacation – a MUCH needed break from reality! It was great to see my friends and show off my new hairline! I didn’t get the reaction I was quite hoping for, and I think it's mostly because they still have this image in their minds of what I looked like many years ago. I did kind of bring it up at one point and my friend that I hadn’t seen in 6 years said “you look the same” and even though that made me feel good that she couldn’t really tell that I had anything done, it still made me a teeny bit sad. I showed her pictures of me from just before the procedure and that’s when I got the reaction I was hoping for from the get go. Of course there were some questions of what is Bosley? Did it hurt? Would you do it again? Etc. We really didn’t talk about it after that, which is fine. It shouldn’t be the topic of all conversation, haha!  All in all, the trip was great, the weather was HOT (over 105 every single day) but it really didn’t feel as bad as one might expect.  

- Michael

Kevin on living life to the fullest

Mine feels like a life of some dramatic defining events over the past few weeks. I had the privilege of being in South Africa for the FIFA Soccer World cup, which has been widely acclaimed as a huge success. Along with millions of others, not least of all the African people who proudly hosted this stunning event, without hiccup and with almost relative ease on their continent for the first time in history, I felt part of the tournament. To feel in the middle of what is without doubt a world spectacle, feeling the excitement and anticipation of each play in every game, knowing folks from every corner of the world were also watching, is simply euphoric. In so many respects, which has only become clear in my mind after the fact, it was a defining event in my life.

It felt that no sooner had the final whistle been blown, the last cargo plane loaded to return its precious load back to its home destination, the last banner removed from the skyline, that news came in that my dear beloved friend who has been battling leukemia for the past 18-months had been given days to live. In what felt like free-fall from the sky to earth, so the days slowed down and the clock stopped. Alone with his twin girls of 5-years old and loving wife, my dear friend faced is last few days in what has been described to me as peace and calm after the most terrifying of personal battles with physical and emotional pain. As word was quietly passed along of his death, and in the days thereafter leading up to the memorial service celebrating his life, it felt like the world around me was frantically active and completely oblivious to my existence. I could not stop thinking about what, if anything, my dear friend would have changed had he known two years ago what he knew in his dying days with his loved ones. In every respect, this sad loss has been a defining event in my life.

So what, if any, relevance does this have with a Bosley hair restoration you may ask?  Well my answer is pretty simple. The reminder of these events has been for us to live our lives to the fullest, live like today might be your last. Do the things which bring you and your loved ones joy, because who knows what tomorrow holds. If getting your hairline or hair density back is what will bring you happiness, as it did me, get it done. The second reminder these past weeks and events have had for me is that it is sadly so often only after the fact that you realize the full impact of a defining event on your life. For me, amongst the many such events in my own life as I have reflected so hard in the past few days, so too has my Bosley hair restoration been a defining event in my life.

Rest in peace my dear friend Jono. I miss you already.

- Kevin

Fear and Combing in Las Vegas

As I prep for my upcoming Vegas trip, I think to myself “what will my friends reactions be?" It’s an exciting thing to think about! Keep in mind, one friend I haven’t seen in 6+ years and the other for nearly 2 years. The main struggle right now is figuring out what styling products I want to take with me. It’s kind of hard considering I am not checking a bag on the flight and TSA regulations only allow 3.4 ounces per container, and all have to fit in one pint size Ziplock bag.  Other than the excitement of my trip in just a few days, not much else is going on. Hair seems about the same – it's just getting longer and I am trying to hold out for a haircut as long as possible. So, it looks fresh and clean for the trip even though I am over a week past my normal time frame.

- Michael

Turning back the clock 7 years

As I’m less than a month from my surgery anniversary I’m feeling so good about things. Kathy, the woman who cuts my hair, is so inspired by my hair. She has cut my hair for 7 years and it’s encouraging to hear her say that my scalp looks the fullest it has ever appeared since she has known me.

She says I look younger. Amazing how much older one looks when hair starts to recede. I’m glad that my hair looks so much fuller up front.

A funny note – during the Summer I’ve worn a hat more regularly and it’s funny because I now have hat hair! I’ve never had hat hair, but now I do because I have a whole lot more of it. My daughter thinks it’s funny when I take my hat off, and I happily remove my hat for her enjoyment. Hey, it means I have a lot more hair!

I’ll plan to visit my surgeon in late August for a final meeting.

- Mark B.

Michael's Sunburned Scalp

A couple weeks ago I got a pretty nasty sun burn on my face, arms and, yes, my scalp. I wasn’t expecting to be in the sun for very long but somehow, before I knew it, a few hours had passed and all of a sudden I felt the stinging burn setting in! I spent the first week applying aloe gel on all burned areas including my scalp, I wasn’t sure exactly how to deal with this situation but the aloe seemed to help.  Though I am still peeling a little from what happened on June 6th, I am feeling much better and never wish to experience that again! Lesson learned – carry sun-block with me at all times. Too bad I have such fair, easy-to-burn skin.  Other than the burn I don’t see much difference lately. Perhaps it’s because it’s such a gradual change? Perhaps it’s because we are approaching the 1-year mark soon? At any rate, I am pleased with how my new hairline looks and how it makes me feel. I'm more confident in my appearance.

In the Mirror

I feel like I am seeing a big difference in the thickness of my hair when I look in the mirror.  Mainly, after I shower or when comb my hair, I can’t help but notice that I’ve actually got some!  It seems full and I like the way it looks.  I have noticed that it does depend on the light – if I’m in direct sunlight or have a flash bulb shining directly on my head it looks a little thinner.  Of course, I’ve noticed that this is true no matter who you are or how much hair you have.  But in my regular “day-to-day,”  when I see myself I see much more hair than I had before.  And I also know that it won’t go away, which is a huge added bonus.  Permanent hair – take that, genetics!!

-Seth

A FULL head of frizzy hair

Thankfully I’ve not had any other weird dreams where I am bald, have patchy spots of missing hair or any of that weird stuff.  Things seem to be going fine and I am still trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with my hair, grow it out a little, go a bit shorter or keep it about the same length it is currently?  For the time being I will likely keep it the same and just play around more with how to style it. It seems that my hair has been getting a bit dryer lately doing two things, making it slightly frizzy and making it look a bit fuller.  I don’t exactly want frizzy, dry hair but the fact that it’s looking fuller is exciting, hopefully some new-to-me products will help tame the frizz down.

- Michael

Another compliment for Seth

Today another person I work with – he’s a freelancer, so I don’t see him regularly – came into our office and said “I like your hair.  Are you combing it differently?  It looks good.”  It was a casual comment, but I’m pretty sure he noticed some kind of change, even though he couldn’t put his finger on what it was exactly.  I can tell you that before I had hair restoration I did not receive compliments on my hair in any way.  So it’s exciting when people notice.  I notice that, as I just mentioned, most people don’t know exactly what’s different – they just notice something.  They think I look younger, thinner, different somehow.  Hey, whatever – how can you not like getting compliments?!

- Seth