I'm planning on getting a hair transplant sometime in the next six months, but I wondering how those of you who did it found your experience going back to work.
Surely it was not possible to disguise the fact that you had the work done since regrowth takes a long time.
Did you just come clean with your co-workers, or did you wear a hat all the time?

I'm not exactly looking forward to the prospect of going back to work and having to explain over and over about how I just got a hair transplant. In a perfect scenario I wouldn't want anyone to know at all that I had a transplant.
However, an extended break from work just isn't an option for me (I'll be lucky to get a few days off for the procedure itself).

I'm really curious how some of you guys who've had the work done handled these inevitable situations.

It all depends on what your NW scale is and the graft placement. I have hair coverage over a good part of my head, but it's extremely thin. I got a 1500 graft strip HT and put all the grafts within the existing hair. In my case, I took off 2 weeks from work and stayed indoors for the 1st week post-op. At the 2nd week, however, I visited family and absolutely NO one noticed that I'd even had any surgery.
Other factors to consider would be FUE/FIT surgery instead of strip, as well as whether or not the doctor would require you to shave your scalp pre-op.

Corbin,
Whether to "come clean" or not is obvioulsy a very personal decision. I did so with my
co-workers and the result was liberating. I had been hiding my previous work for many years and always wondered just "below the surface" if anyone noticed.

Revealing that I was traveling to Vancouver for a hair transplant was greeted with respect and a little love.

GOOD LUCK with your decision
Jim

I probably will come clean. I've never been one to hide such decisions. I've already told some of my thinning co-workers that I take Propecia and use Rogaine. Two of them have followed suit.

By the way, what is the NW scale. I'm new to all this hair research stuff.

Thanks guys.

It's a scale measuring the degree of baldness.

Norwood Scale

I haven't had a HT, so I don't know how much this advice is worth. When I was in High School I had horrible horrible horrible acne. Took some meds and got a bit older and it cleared up. Now I have really clear skin. I joke about it sometimes to my buddies and they don't know what I'm talkin about. No one remembers man. I'm only 24 by the way, High School wasn't 10 years ago for me. Even if people notice your scabs, how long will they be there. Couple weeks tops, probably less. Out of sight out of mind. People aren't gonna forget you had a HT, but they won't care. But what they will forget is how your head looked post-op. And if your really worried about it, and you work somewhere you can wear a hat, start wearing one now, so when you get it done people won't think it weird.


Matt 6: 25-34

The HT was for me, not anyone else. I didn't want to be known for anything else than what people had already known me for.

I didn't hide anything actually. I took two weeks off during the summer just like anyone else would, except I came back with a buzz cut and gotee.

I wore the gotee for a couple more weeks and am letting the hair grow out now. The only comments I got about my head were from a couple other balding guys in the office who seemed happy I was embracing the losing battle against hairloss and just buzzing it all off.

Won't they be surprised at six months

I work with a girl who got a nose-job last December. She took just 1 week off from work to recover. Infact, the two of us had work related classes to further our careers scheduled then, and she had to go to the first class with her bandages on. People asked what happened, and she just replied "I had surgery done."

Yes, it's not a hair transplant, but it's a very obvious procedure just like a HT. Sometimes it's best not to try to hide something but to just be very open about it.

I had a different situation.

I was gone for two weeks. The redness was SO mild and 90% of the transplanted hairs had fallen out. Nobody even lifted an eye hairline-ward.

I didn't feel the need to go out and announce, "I have had an HT." HOWEVER, I have promised myself that if asked directly, I will respond directly. Whoever knows about my HT, and for whatever reason they know it, they cannot take away what I've gained by any measure. Maybe they make things awkward for a moment, but the fact of the matter, the results of everything else now so much outweighs that. And they know it too.

So, going to work was no problem with me. Friends I see regularly have never said a word (I believe the women know "something is up" and the guys hardly care).

Any future procedure with be FUE/FIT. I'll take a couple of weeks off. Not worry for a second about "hiding a scar" or whatever. And it'll come in again gradually and subtly as before.

And then, really, all that will be "noticed" is that I look better. And that's all the result will be anyway.

I don't think you have a thing to worry about if you can get two weeks off. Nothing at all. And if you have to come clean and that feels bad or awkward, you remember that YOUR reward, YOUR time is coming. And no one can take that away from you, no matter what they say.

vocor1
Knowledge is Power
If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared.

I decided to take two full weeks off work, and I am now glad that I did. I work in a professional office environment where wearing a hat is not acceptable, so that wasn't an option for me. I am currently one week post-op, and it is still pretty obvious that I have had work done. If I were to go back tomorrow, I would be terribly self-conscious about it. And that is not to say that I don't plan on being up front about it. I will gladly tell anyone that I've had it done. I just don't want to go back while I'm in transition. The reason for the procedure in the first place is because I always like to present a good appearance. I don't want to go back with a head full of scabs for the same reason. My appearance is important to me, so I want it to be complete when I return to work... and then a few months down the road, I'll start getting my new hairs back in and it will just keep getting better. But for now, I'm glad I took the two weeks!

I had no choice but to come clean. My procedure was done on a Wednesday and I returned to work the following Monday. I had the bozo ring in the back, and being fair skinned the redness and scabs were impossible to hide. We have a no hat rule here.

I took a lot of crap from a few people, no one I consider a friend though. Today marks 12 weeks, and I am still being called "Plugs" and "Mid-Life Crisis". My real friends don't care.

What I found astonishing was the number of guys who are interested in the procedure. Males I work with are interested in it for themselves. Females I work with are interested in it for their Sig others.

Why is it that a woman can have breast enlargements/liposuction and never here a word, but if a guy has a H.T. it's open season?

--Blake

Funny you should mention that. I found the same thing. I was very candid about my procedure, and I was surprised at how many men were openly curious and interested, and I'm sure it wasn't just out of simple curiosity. I think I may have started a trend!

Blake,

I felt the same way.. women can even have an eyebrow transplantation and everybody would be quiet even if they know there is something diff. with their eyebrows.. maybe because they are afraid she is going to feel bad or uneasy if asked or whatever... my question is doesnt a man feel uneasy ? what is he, a rock? i just dont get it...

Tedd,

you took off for 2 weeks and still people asked questions about your head ??

PD

I'm not talking about people at work.
I am talking about friends outside of work mostly, with whom I have been completely open.

I have not told anyone at work, and no one has noticed a thing, or at least they have not said so if they have. Amongst my friends who do know, though, several have asked me more about it, and one of those has even admitted his curiosity was more than just passing. He is seriously considering it also.

blake:

"Plugs"? That's some BS. Just remember, those scabs lash out like that because they have their own insecurities or whatever. That's crap.

The deal with any cosmetic thing with guys is that we are supposed to not care about that stuff. We are supposed to be always 100% confident or we just don't care. But I believe most men are just good at keeping secrets. They don't want to show any signs of weakness for fear of being labeled a pussy.
So many will keep it in and try to be confident, while secretly wishing for something else. But you can't hide that kind of thing forever. Their insecurity comes out in other forms: bragging, egotism, excuse-making, whatever.

Hey, in my book, if you've got a problem and you know it, shut the fxck up making excuses and do something about it. And then make no excuses about it. And clearly, you won't have to when your result comes in and your life is different than it was.

Anybody calling you "plugs" is a pussy. That's what I think about that.

tedd:

You made the right call, I think. I couldn't wear a cap either and I didn't really want the attention. In two weeks, well, it was a non-issue.

Haha, what is kind of funny now is that I do notice women I knew pre-HT staring at my hairline. And they get all upset when we stare at their boobs! We can't help it any more than they can help staring at better, more appropriate hair. But I don't complain. Funny how a subtle smile indicates so much now.
I think most of my friends know something is up. Eventually, someone will confront me. But I'll deal with it. There are so many more people that I don't know than I know. Let those I don't know judge me as I now judge myself, with the appearance I want to put forward with no excuses, and no regrets.

vocor1
Knowledge is Power
If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared.

quote:

---

Why is it that a woman can have breast enlargements/liposuction and never here a word, but if a guy has a H.T. it's open season?

---

It's called "political correctness" and one of my least favorite things.

Vocor,

I don't really care what non-friends think. I could as easily call the guy who refers to me as "plugs", Potbelly. Being long out of the third grade, I don't feel any need for name calling.

I have to agree with you on gals staring at the hairline. I've even told a couple of them, "Hey, my eyes are here!". That's just in good fun though.

--Blake

blake,

I would just call him fat, skip the potbelly it's too nice. Although I guess if that was the criteria, I would be getting called fat a lot. Just kidding, it sounds like you have too much class to respond to morons - good for you. How is the regrowth coming, I think you're a few weeks further along than I am. I'm noticing a lot of peachfuzz, but it's hard to tell, because I had some peachfuzz there originally.

Good luck.

Manko

Blake,

You must like the dentist (twice in 3 months). I've only had a few ingrowns, probably no more than 3. My regrowth is strange, because it looks like regrowth starts with peachfuzz. My hair is kind of thick and slightly darker on the sides, and recently I've noticed a few wispy hairs with dark ends. Those are the transplanted hairs that just continued to grow instead of falling out. There aren't many of them, but they're kind of funny looking.

It sounds like you're having good growth early. Good luck with that.

Manko

Manko,

Like the Dentist??? Quite the Contrary. I had a root canal up on returning from Vancouver. I can honestly say that the root canal was worse than the H.T. I was just in for a cleaning this go around.

--Blake