How long was your ugly duckling period?
What week did your ugly duckling period start? finish?
Did you lose most of the transplanted hairs? All of the transplanted hairs? Or only a few of the transplanted hairs during your ugly duckling period.?

Thanks in advance.

i lost all the transplanted hair...was ugly as hell for 4 months......

throw away your mirror for 6 months preferably.

6 months? wow only 5 more to go, lol.

Did you have any shock losss? Did it grow back?

The 4th-5th week was huge for me. After ~5 weeks I was looking alright; by the 2nd month I was looking the same as I did pre-op and with concealers I got "flawless" coverage.

After the staples went out and I buzzed my head I looked poor, but w/ the perfect application of concealers I didn't look like I just had a hair-augmentation, or even surgery. More like I had a really shitty buzzcut -- which I in fact did!

I had some shockloss, but this was remedied with concealers. Overall, I had an insane recovery....which could be just luck, but I also took great aims to make sure I was in the best possible condition to get a speedy, swift recouperation.

On another forum I've seen some cases where it took 4-5+ months before looking the same as pre-op so there is definitely a spectrum and you should be prepared for both ends.

4-5 weeks for you is amazing. I dont use concealers because I'm just thinking in terms of my real results. The 4-5 week period has me at my worst so far.

My only real ugly period I think was caused by the removal of old plugs, which did at least cover some scalp. So, the first six weeks I had noticeable less hair it seemed than I did pre h.t. Especially in the crown where he took out two rows.

I too was a lucky one, and didn't experience any shockloss, swelling, pain, etc. It's been as good as I could ask for so far. The 3 month mark was difficult for me as one day I'd think my hair looks like it's filling in, and then a day or two later it'd look the same as pre-ht.

I'm still in the ugly duckling phase but with concealers i look respectable. I was able to ditch my hat at 4 weeks and i'm truly grateful for that!
I have pics with and without concealer on my blog.

quote:

Originally posted by badger_01:
I'm still in the ugly duckling phase but with concealers i look respectable. I was able to ditch my hat at 4 weeks and i'm truly grateful for that!
I have pics with and without concealer on my blog.

badger,

Your hair looks good with that Toppik. Did you ever try Dermatch? I have and couldn't really ever get it to looking good. I should've / thought about / buying some Toppik.

I just now starting to see some growth. I had the 1/3 front part of my scalp done with 2500 grafts, including the temples, and im now starting to notice my left temple. My right temple barely has any growth, but the left temple blew up. The hairs came in dark and are already a good half inch long.

So, its really really hard to say how everything will play out up front. You could be like me and notice a lot of growth in certain parts, or it could all come in at once.

Just be patient, and remember, growth typically wont start till 2-3 months, and thats usually peach fuzz =\

I noticed you had quite a bit of shockloss (As did i) but those hairs looked strong and should return.

Best of luck!

I'm coming up on 7 weeks post-op and am smack dab in the middle of the ugly duckling phase. I can't wait for the next few months to pass.

A few questions in relation to this if thats alright:

1. Does the ugly duckling phase mean because of different hair length, swelling etc?

2. If you had recipient area shaved, could you still suffer shock loss?

3. If you do suffer shock loss, how long til this grows back?

4. Surely it would be easiest to have a "buzz" cut ie Grade 1 all over, but then do you risk exposing your scar in the donor area?

I'm into my third week and have no problems in terms of swelling or discolouration, but the hair from the grafts is beginning to shed which means I'm looking a lot worse than pre-HT (I had the recipient area shaved). Oh, and Dr Ron Shapiro did my op.

Thanks

DW

quote:

A few questions in relation to this if thats alright:

1. Does the ugly duckling phase mean because of different hair length, swelling etc?

2. If you had recipient area shaved, could you still suffer shock loss?

3. If you do suffer shock loss, how long til this grows back?

4. Surely it would be easiest to have a "buzz" cut ie Grade 1 all over, but then do you risk exposing your scar in the donor area?

1. Its a variety of things as a concequence of your HT. Redness, different hair length, pimples, shedding, shockloss etc etc..

2. Yes

3. 3/4 months - you can apply minox and get on MSM to help speed up growth.

4. Indeed - but the scar couold then draw even more attention - catch 22!

cripes. I have found that the minox removes the hairs from the grafts massively, again a catch 22.

thanks Spex

Indeed it can - catch 22 all over the shop! Trick is to apply it 1 x a day to the effected area or even 1 x every other day just to help blood flow - but if you are a Minox shedder then leave it be and just roll with the MSM mate

what is MSM? I only have minox and propecia...