Falc, if this is in the wrong forum topic feel free to move it. I wasn't sure where to put it.

So, I recently had an HT with Dr. Feller and his staff this past Friday, August 1st, 2008. The doc and his staff got a kick out of this story so I would like to share it.
First off, has anyone on here tried to hide their HT from EVERYBODY? By everybody, I mean girlfriend, family and friends? I’m just curious to know if anyone else has or am I the only freak that wanted to pull this off without ANYONE knowing except Dr. Feller and my barber possibly. I also think I may be suited to pull this off as NOBODY has ever seen the extent of my crown loss because it’s been covered in Dermatch ever since I noticed it was getting noticeable. I sleep in it, I use a black pillowcase and only wash my hair and reapply the dermatch when my girlfriend isn’t home. I’m so self conscious about it that not even my live in girlfriend has seen my full bald crown. So, I will continue to use Dermatch until my HT grows in, then I can ditch the dermatch hopefully or use much less and it should look the same to everyone except more natural and not a fake dermatch look.
Months before my HT I decided to come up with a story that I would be in California for 2 weeks. One week in Santa Monica with my friend Harry and the 2nd week in L.A. with my cousin Matt. Harry really is my friend in Cali, but not sure if he lives in Santa Monica. Matt really is my cousin and lives in the L.A. area but not sure if he is actually in L.A.
So, I took 2 weeks off from work with all of them thinking I was heading out to Cali and they were like “we are so jealous, you better take tons of pics!” I’m like, “Definitely, I can’t wait to go and just relax on the beach and hit up the bars and clubs.” Then I got the following requests for souvenirs:
-a magnet for a woman I work with (I get her magnets whenever I go somewhere)
-a Cali t-shirt for my girlfriend, and t-shirts for my son
-a Cali t-shirt for my next door neighbor
So, I’m so crazy that I pre-ordered all of those gifts online weeks before my HT and I have them now in a box here in Great Neck, NY. When I return, I will distribute them and that will give them no doubt that I was actually in California. To take it a step further, I am going to go to the local tanning salon here in Great Neck, NY the day my staples are removed (I will wear a hat in the tanning booth ) and the next day. Hopefully 2 days in the tanning salon will give me that California glow. The only part of the plan that I can’t cover is the pictures. I think I will tell them that I either forgot to take pictures or I jumped into the pool or ocean with the camera accidentally in my pocket!
I also researched both L.A. and Santa Monica for “things to do”. I noticed that Santa Monica has a “Muscle Beach”, a chess park and a bunch of bars and clubs, so that is what I’ll say I did there. In L.A., I noticed that there is a Dodgers Vs. Phillies game next Monday, August 11th at Dodger stadium and I already text messaged a few friends and people from work that I will be at that game in Dodgers Stadium (especially since I’m from Philly, this will help stabilize the believability of my L.A. trip).

I know this is insane, but it’s kind of fun to try and pull it off without ANYONE ever knowing EVER. The only pitfall is that my hair is shaved down very far where the grafts were placed and it’s a huge area. I will be heading home next Tuesday, August 12th, so hopefully there is enough peach fuzz for the dermatch to hold on to, so that I can hide in the dermatch once again until the growth kicks in (9 months – ugh!). As you can see from the immediate post op pics, this may be a tought task and I may look very bald from the back in 11 days even with dermatch in that area.

The funny part is, that I am talking to my girlfriend like 3 or 4 times a day and I have to play it off like I am 3 hours behind her time (in philly), but really we are on the same time (I’m in NY!). So, that is a tricky twist on it. So far so good with playing the 3 hour difference role. For example she called me this morning @ 10am and I pretended all sleepy like I was in bed and said it's only 7am here and I am in bed, let me call you back once I wake up.

The ultimate pitfall is if there is anyone that I work with that goes to this website and reads my post then I am definitely busted....(thinking now if anyone I work directly with is balding.....no, I think I'm good)

Finally, I'd like to note that I am not proud of this at all. I do not like to lie, but this is a circumstance for me where I feel like I have to lie because I am so self conscious about the whole thing and I don't want anyone to know I had an HT.

That’s my story. Wish me luck and if anyone has any more suggestions to help me pull this off, I'm all ears

CR

I don't think its impossible, but you are going to have to make up a story about what happened to you when you were travelling back.

Attached map will help in deciding which route you "came back".

Hope it helps

Tubs

Map_for_CR.gif (119 Kb, 69 downloads)

Thanks for the map Tubs, but I don't think I have to worry about that. I drove my car from Philly to Great Neck, NY. I told everyone that I was driving to Hoboken where my friend lives and leaving my car there and then flying to Cali out of LaGuardia Airport. I said that because I said my car would be safer in his driveway in Hoboken for 2 weeks rather than on the streets of Soutwest Philly for 2 weeks (which is actually true). This allowed me to take my car to Great Neck and then I'll drive back to Philly from Great Neck on Tuesday, August 12th, pretending again that I am driving back from Hoboken to Philly

quote:

Originally posted by Crown Royal:
Thanks for the map Tubs, but I don't think I have to worry about that. I drove my car from Philly to Great Neck, NY. I told everyone that I was driving to Hoboken where my friend lives and leaving my car there and then flying to Cali out of LaGuardia Airport. I said that because I said my car would be safer in his driveway in Hoboken for 2 weeks rather than on the streets of Soutwest Philly for 2 weeks (which is actually true). This allowed me to take my car to Great Neck and then I'll drive back to Philly from Great Neck on Tuesday, August 12th, pretending again that I am driving back from Hoboken to Philly

I hope you get away with it boy, just because of the sheer elaborate nature of that story!!

I think you can do it. The only person I've told is my wife, but I had to get her eyes done and promise a boob job....

But, something I worried about is my bank. I use a local bank that is just building their office, so they've been in a trailer. So, my buddy is the V.P. of this bank and there are like three other people who work in it. They know all their customers by name, etc.

I had to get a cashiers check and I asked them to make it to Jerry Cooley, for the $8,500 balance. I wrote a check from my brokerage money market so the V.P. (my buddy) had to approve it. So, in effect everyone in the bank knew I was sending a "Jerry Cooley" a check for $8,500.

So, I'm hopeful none of them are smart enough to google his name because it comes up as a professor first, and then "Dr. Jerry Cooley Hair Transplantation" or such as the second or third entry.

thanks guys, it is an elaborate story. I think I can do it also Dewayne

Wish me Luck!

hi mate of course you can pull it off i told everyone i was in a car crash hence the scars and the bandages then it turns out i was butchered by a shit doc so my scars were huge and my heads now fuxxed up so it truly looks like i was in a car crash just rewards for lying ha ha life sucks!!!

hahahahahahahaha

crown buddy , your soooooo gonna get busted , too many stories man , just toooooo many people already been decieved .

keep it simply

when I had my crown done it took atleast 2 months before I even saw any hair growing , what with the shock loss and shit .

buddy I wish you all the luck in the world and i truely hope you pull off this scam hahahahaha

mate if this works it will be bigger than the faked moon landings !hahahahahaha

Ha Ha Ha Ha!

That's hilarious. Good luck with this.

This made me laugh out loud Crown. I think there was even an episode of Seinfeld with a similar premise, where George pretended he was going to naother country and the lie became more and more elaborate.

I understand exactly how you feel though. I've gone to similar lengths to hide from the world, though just short of what you've done.

In my opinion, you may have to end up telling your girlfriend. It might actually be a huge weight that'll be lifted. Good luck and keep us updated.

Crown i think you are mad, you are going to all that effort, lying to all the people you know and care about you and for what, fess up to your girlfriend at least, you live with her for heavens sake why are you so worried about telling her.

Do you think she is going to dump you because you are getting a ht? No she is more than likely to dump you when you cover is finally blown and you she realises how well and easily you have been lying to her all this time.

Sorry but i think you are crazy to lie to those that are so close to you, fair enough hide it from friends and work colleagues, you might find that your other half will be of great support to you over the next few months.

Crown, I've got to agree with Richie. This is all way to elaborate to pull off.

The golden rule of lying is to keep it simple and your story is anything but.

Good luck though!

I have heard some tales in my time but this one takes the cake..

Keeping this up will be exhausting in itself nevermind the drain on you from having the actual HT.

Good luck with it!

Crown,

Don't listen to the others! You can do this! And besides, I'm not for telling the girlfriend at all. First, please take no offense at this, but I've had girlfriends in the past that I've been very, very close with. And, sometimes things go south and all the love I felt for them didn't matter when it was all over.

So, would I hide something like this from my wife? No, but we've got two kids and mortgages, etc. together. So, I'm fairly confident we'll be together a while longer. But, things change with gf's, so I might tell her after you've been married a while and / or have some kids together. But you certainly don't want some mad x-girlfriend posting your before / afters on dontdatehim.com or something.

If she finds out anyway, she'll most definitely understand why you desired to keep it secret. Some things are just private.

Hey guys, it is elaborate and unnecessary and as I stated before, I do not feel good about all of the lies. I'm sure my girlfriend would be supportive if I told her about the HT, but I just didn't want her to know for some reason. We've been on and off with each other for about 5 years and we have a beautiful 9 month old son, but not married. So, we are pretty serious and I should've just told her but I chose not to. I think she loves me for me and could care less if I was balding or not. As most people say on here, we are our worst enemies with the view of our baldness. We care 9000 times more than anyone else does and we are super hard on ourselves.

I think I can go the distance with this Cali story with everyone and I will continue to do so for now. Then, with time, everyone will forget about the trip. Then, I can focus solely on waiting for the HT to grow in and not focus anymore on lying and covering my tracks with the California thing. Maybe one day down the road I will confess to my girlfriend and possibly my family. I can see myself possibly confessing once the HT grows in and all that weight is off my shoulders. We'll see...

Mate - i did exactly the same thing - concocted a story to hide it from my girlfriend and it was very tough to keep the story going - trick will be run with it and hopefully you will pull it off - At he first potential sign of being rumbled by her i would seriously consider bringing her into the "circle of trust" - I was amazed how supportive my girlfriend was when i finally spilled the beans - she is now my wife and we have 9 month old twins! You getting any sleep yet...?

WOW!!! You guys are all F-ing crazy..LOL

I understand and sympathize w/ the fact that you want to hide the fact that you had a HT. I did on my 1st one, but w/ my 2nd one I've decided that I dont want to spend my energy coming up w/ excuses. I just tell people "ya Im getting a HT" and if they say something I reply that women do things all the time to enhanse thier bodies/features, so why cant I

You're going to get busted by your girlfriend. For a moment, set aside the possibility that she might check up on your vacation story to make sure you aren't having an affair, or working for the CIA, or something.

What happens if you heal slowly, have excessive shock loss or swelling? These signs could still show, even after your two week window.

Are you going to continue using Dermatch forever? If not, your new hair will probably appear thinner than before. Then your girlfriend will think you're just beginning to bald, rather than recovering.

Thanks for the feedback and support guys, I really appreciate it.

Against all odds and at 1 month post op, I'm still hiding the fact that I got an HT from EVERYONE, well except my barber. I had to tell him because I got a haircut right when I got back into town, to try and even everything out. I tried to use concealer, but the scar was still obvious and the recipient area was obvious. I confessed to him and it actually felt good to tell someone that I wasn't planning on telling. I still have my girlfriend, co-workers, family and friends convinced that my friends shaved the back of my head when we were drunk in California and that the faint outline in the back of my head is a severe case of "hat head". I've sold the story well, but it's a pain in the ass to keep this whole thing a secret. I wish 11 months could get here sooner so that I'll have more hair and hopefully an undetectable scar and then I won't have to explain that odd line in the back of my head and weird looking crown

P.S. - The Cali story went good with everyone. I hit the tanning salon in Great Neck two days in a row right before I left and it gave me a very nice and convincing Cali glow :-)

Fair play - !!!