Day 126 : 2 weeks post-hair cut

Slightly more hair coming through on the top, if I run my finger around I can feel little hairs sprouting. The front looks a bit better now, certainly the hairs in the corners are much  more noticeable. I think you can start to see where the new hairs are growing and where they will (hopefully) thicken up.

I had a hair cut about two weeks ago (scissors only) just to tidy up the sides and had a bit taken off the front top. When I told the barber I'd had it done, he just said "really?" and didn't seem at all interested! I don't think even he could find the linear scar from the FUT part of the surgery.

Day 110 : growing in slowly

It's difficult to say how much the new hair has grown in, because I've let the 'original' hair grow quite long - I haven't had the top cut at all since January. However, there is definitely signs of new hair grown at the front. And if I run my finger over other parts of my scalp where hair has been translated, I can feel little stubbly hairs growing.

I read that at by month 5-6, around 80% of the new hairs will have started to grow but will be fine and wispy to begin with. So I am trying to be patient! But at the front, things already are starting to look better.

You can see some of the new hair at the front corners. 

At the back it's less noticeable because this hair is much thinner.

Pleased to say that most of my original hair did eventually grow back. 

This is the part I'm most looking forward to see filled in!! 

No great improvement in this area year, but I can feel stubbly hairs growing 

From the front - I've let it grow quite long but you can see the new hairline trying to break through

How I'm feeling about it all... 3 months (ish)

After the procedure I felt on cloud nine for about a week. All that research, time, money and general effort finally paid off - I couldn't quite believe I'd actually gone through with it. Like a lot of others, I was a little disheartened to see the transplanted hairs fall out, and particularly annoying was the FUE graft sites looking a bit red.

It always looks worse to yourself than others. After 3 weeks, I was told by my friends that it looked like I'd had a bad haircut. I didn't mind that, so I felt I could safely go out without a hat. Actually one of the weirdly empowering things is that I don't care so much that I'm looking pretty thin on top when I go out -- because I know that it's going to grow in soon.

I always promised myself I wouldn't get disspirited, disheartened or be impatient. Unfortunately, it's really hard not to be! Unlike a lot of cosmetic procedures where the results are visible pretty much instantly, a hair transplant does take a long time to get going. Now that I've reached the 3 month mark, I'm pleased to see some of the hair growing in (at the front it's very noticeable) but I can't help worrying that the rest of it won't grow. It's stupid, I know - but I am worried about it. One thing I was worried about at the early stages was losing what existing hair I had had on top. So far most of that seems to have re-grown, which is a relief. So I look pretty much as I did before the procedure.

The reason it's silly is because I'd read so many people blogging about how they were worried it hadn't worked - only a few months in. I would scoff and think 'you need to wait at least six months', and annoyingly I'm having to do the same to myself! Hopefully in six months my fears will be set to one side; keep your fingers crossed for me :)

9 Weeks post-op donor area

I had a haircut a couple of weeks ago to try and even out the different length hair. The hair around the strip was a little longer, basically because the surgeon shaved the strip to be taken at a different length but (I think) did not take all of it.

Everything's growing back in the donor area and looks pretty much as it did before. Certainly a lot better than the 4 week update!

Above : how the donor area looks now. You can't see the linear or FUE scars.

And this is what it looked like before I went to Istanbul...

4 weeks after HT (donor area)

After four weeks, the donor area seems a lot better - and hopefully the untrained eye would have no idea I've gone through surgery. 

I have to admit that the FUE scars are more noticecble than I thought they would be (at least the ones towards the nape of the neck are). The FUE that was taken from above the FUT line are totally invisible and the hair seems just as thick as it always was. The hair has grown over the linear scar so you can't really see it any more. 

It should get better in time

Day 21 : Three weeks after Hair Transplant

Three weeks have passed since the operation. I'm feeling a bit nervous because I constantly worry that my original hair is not going to grow back properly. I am also still wearing hats in public, but my friends have told me that it just looks like I've had a bad hair cut. The FUE area hasn't healed quite as quickly as I had expected, and the growth back looks a bit patchy. However, it's still very early days (hard to believe) and I promised myself I would reserve judgement for at least six months.

Still a bit painful on the back of my head when I'm lying down on a pillow. And also there is still numbness in both the donor and recipient areas. I sent these photos to the clinic and the manager told me that everything looks like it's on track. And other good news- I'm allowed to start swimming in week 4. I've already started exercise at the gym, but nothing too strenuous.

Day 12 : Staples are out!

Initially the surgeon had said it was ok to take out the staples after 10 days, but it turns out that's if the clinic does it. Because I'm now back home, I have to go to the local nurse. I wanted to go private so as not to burden the NHS with my cosmetic/non-essential treatment. But having phoned round several places, none was very helpful nor close by. In the end I just went to my local NHS GP practice and it was done in about 20 minutes. A good thing, because I was flying off the same day.

I thought there had been about 15 staples. The nurse told me it was more like 50!

What does it feel like to have staples removed from your head?

It does sting a bit when they take the staples out, but it's a short, sharp pain. Just have to grit your teeth and think of how much better it'll be without those staples. Some of the tightness in the scalps is relieved when the staples are removed, too. Unfortunately it's still a bit sore when I apply pressure to that area (for example when my head rests on the pillow), but still better than having staples.

A tiny bit of bleeding, but not much. There was quite a lot of scabbing that I couldn't clean off before from where the staples were. However, these are easily removed in the shower. The staples left small marks, but invisible after a day or two.

Here they are!