Commit to baldness... or get a hair transplant?

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Lieutenant Lucid
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Sat Aug 20, 2022 10:11 pm

What the title says. I'm unsure if I can pull off the jacked bald/buzzed guy look

Avatar photo was taken 2ish years ago and is what I look like now, though you can't see that I'm also balding in the back/crown area. I'm not jacked but plan to get there once my health is in order

I've been thinking about getting a hair transplant. Not crazy about about the idea of taking pills for the rest of my life, and have heard Finestaride also risks some side effects... but I'm also not happy with how I look these days, and life's too short to be miserable with myself

Obviously this is a personal decision, but I'd appreciate any outside feedback all the same
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GentleBlack
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Sat Aug 20, 2022 10:25 pm

You look fine actually but if you'd like to choose, I vote for total baldness. This goes with your fashion style in my opinion, moreover if you plan to take some muscles
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MakingAComeback
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Sun Aug 21, 2022 7:34 am

Well bro, I never saw how I looked bald, and did so when I went in for my hair transplant on Friday. They shaved my head and I was really happy with it. My translator actually laughed out loud and said that's a great look for you, in a years time when you've regrown your hairline, you could buzz it down again.

The buzzcut look is sexy and I like it for me.

A bunch of my friends & peers from the community also told me I looked pretty decent bald :D

That said, we can talk YOU, and how YOUR look can be maximised.

Firstly, getting your health on point will add 1 point to your appearance. Having a vibrant healthy body, your hormones in proper balance, with vigour and vitality and energy flowing through your system will refresh you and improve your appearance a lot. When we're sick, like I was for years, we look horrible.

That is, and should always be, a priority. In a low energy, low vitality, sick body, no real progress in life is possible.

I call this 'foundation building'. Progress in self improvement must start from a stable physiology. If this is not there, you will lose. This game takes robustness. This was my view going in: I spent 4 years healing myself before I started on this forum. By the time I was here, I was healthy enough to get into the fight. I was still obese and fucked in the head hardcore, but I wasn't as sick. I have advised others who also had issues, but they didn't take my advice, and just floundered around and remain stuck. Too bad. I have no time or respect for cunts who are not willing to help themselves.

But I will go to the absolute wall to help someone who is willing to be helped.

Your log here may be focused on your healing and that may be what we push you with. We've exchanged a brief PM, and you touched on subjects I am knowledgeable about (you mentioned brain oxygenation, I have 8 years experience in this and am an advanced student of the Buteyko method), gut health, all really, really good stuff man. Kudos to you, I can tell you've got a solid game plan, and I would love to learn more and throw a few tid bits your way.

THEREAFTER: HAIR

Hair is a COSMETIC issue and comes after health.

You will need to first find our what your norwood level is. If you're norwood 4 and a diffuse thinner, most reputable clinics will turn you away for a hair transplant as they won't be able to get you good results. There's places that will take your money, but that's not a good thing.

Looking at your avatar, it's hard to tell but you may be a norwood 3. Which is where I was. This is saveable with a hair transplant. Also, you're not a diffuse thinner. Looks like your donor may be OK, as well as your sides. A HT could be an option.

DHT Reducers & Sides:

So DHT reduction can come with totally disastrous sides. I had almost life ruining sides from using dutasteride. I got a total loss of libido at month 8, and total erectile dysfunction at month 10. I ceased the use of the drug completely. The sides didn't abate AT ALL for 2 months so it was detective time. Did a DUTCH Plus test, full labs, had my wellness advisors look over them. Came up with a comprehensive healing protocol and hammered it for 9 months. At month 9, taking 2-4hrs of action daily, I began to heal.

DHT reducers can totally shut down your androgens if you've had a history of being sick.

In a body that has been impacted by sickness in life, androgens, thyroid, and other important markers can become downregulated, and the use of DHT reducers can basically tank your androgens. Getting them back takes extreme grinding and isn't something many are able to do. Post-fin syndrome is real. Remember, to get studies published requires astronomical sums of money only pharmaceutical companies who develop the drugs have. They spend billions on marketing, and their strangehold is like a rod of iron: they control the narrative. That is the end of it. The conventional normie wisdom is that only 5% of men will experience side effects.

I am a paid member of several hair loss & physiology forums, I am a wellness fanatic and have mentors and advisors with 30-40 years experience, and in all the spaces I am in, there are many guys who don't have any sides, but there are a small number who basically have had their lives ruined. I was shaping up to be one but I am able to basically go hell for leather when it comes to solving my problems and am able to work my way out of them. Normies won't be able to.

Why some get sides & others don't, IMO, is down to the starting baseline level of wellness in the persons physiology.

I am now doing pretty good. I am going to perform a full DUTCH Plus and series of blood tests, and get all my lab work checked, book some consults with my mentors and advisors, and then decide if I will try a low dose of fin. Fin is far weaker than dutasteride. I may be fine on it. Also, if my labs show that my DHT isn't even high, I may not even bother. May JUST use minox to maintain my hair transplant.

All of this is useful context for you, because if you get a hair transplant, you will still need to figure out how you will manage your DHT.

There are natural DHT reducers like saw palmetto, rosemary oil, and pumpkin oil. Because there are no pharmaceutical companies who can stand to profit from patenting natural compounds like these and selling them to the masses (theyre not medications), there won't be clinical research trials (unless someone wants to shell out 250k just because) and as such, you'll hear a lot of guff about how these approaches to DHT reduction aren't "scientifically proven". The scientific establishment is basically prostitution, whores paid by big pharma to shill products and paradigms. No judgement, it is what it is.

It is useful to think in terms of big picture principles, of holism, of the human animal as an organism within an environment. We can broadly understand hormones, the lay person CAN grasp this level of biochemistry. There are regenerative hormones, there are degenerative hormones. We want to create order and limit chaos. The DHT theory of male pattern baldness has some inconsistencies, I think DHT does play a significant role, but my bloodwork shows that I was losing hair despite having literally 0 DHT in my system (I have the lab reports). Scalp fibrosis, calcification, oxygenation, nutrient deficiencies, thyroid status, stress, sleep, among other factors all play a role in hair.

And all of these factors are addressed by one simple approach: GET YOURSELF AS HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE FIRST.

From 12 years of research, my approach is always to encourage people to get healthy first, as it makes all the other things we want to do with function, appearance, and success far easier.

That said.....

You can explore the following for a few months and see what it does for your hair:
-Fortnightly dermapen 0.75mm
-Nizarol shampoo 3 x a week
-Topicals: Rosemary Oil. Pumpkin Oil
-Saw Palmettoo
-Caffeine shampoo

Minox may also be worth a try.

A lot of thoughts for you. I hope some are helpful.

MAC
-Your friend, Ravi

Consistent Performance Coach, Admin of WinnerWithin, and Seeker of Human Potential

My FB Group for Consistent Performance & Goal Achievement
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ironwilltribe
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MakingAComeback
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Sun Aug 21, 2022 10:02 am

I will also add: you gave a lot of value to guys with your posts in GLL, and I respect that a lot.

You can ping me when you want some thoughts or an opinion on anything health, high performance, and goals/success related.

Door is open to ya.

Ravi
-Your friend, Ravi

Consistent Performance Coach, Admin of WinnerWithin, and Seeker of Human Potential

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Lieutenant Lucid
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Sun Aug 21, 2022 9:32 pm

@MakingAComeback Lots of good info here, thanks for taking the time to write it out.

I'd say I'm a norwood 3, but it sounds like the risks of Dutesteride and Fin aren't really worth it for me. Even if it's only 5% of guys who see side effects, I'm already in some small percentile of people with the health shit I'm dealing with. I'm lucky enough that it's fixable... no reason to tempt fate and fuck myself with another condition that takes months/years to fix, or is permanent. Plus I'm hypothyroid... my treatment for that is already optimized but it sounds like a risk factor for DHT blockers

I will check out the natural regimen + the dermapen and shampoos you suggested though. Couple Q's on that... would you suggest waiting until I've fully recovered my health before starting it, even w/o the minoxidil? And do you know if topical minoxidil can cause sides like oral DHT blockers? Not sure how the body processes it through the skin vs. stomach, but GLL had a post from someone who was seeing crazy side effects from using RU (might've been a high dose though)

Re: brain oxygenation, I've never heard of Buteyko method but i looked into it and it sounds worth giving a shot. I've had some success with HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) and my neuro chiro thinks that EWOT (exercise O2 therapy) will be what I need to fix the rest of the issue. Just got it in today so we'll see
almost30
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Sun Aug 21, 2022 10:32 pm

I only have one small thing to add - if you're gonna go bald then you should do micropignation so that it looks like you are bald by choice. Tbh, looking at your profile picture, I feel that medium to long hair would suit you better. But I think getting jacked will fix that.

Can you grow a full beard? You can try minox to help you (https://www.reddit.com/r/Minoxbeards/). Minox has helped me somewhat but I still need to get a beard transplant. I didn't get any side effect from minox but I know that some people do, so gotta be careful with that.
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pancakemouse
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Sun Aug 21, 2022 11:58 pm

almost30 wrote:
Sun Aug 21, 2022 10:32 pm
I only have one small thing to add - if you're gonna go bald then you should do micropignation so that it looks like you are bald by choice. Tbh, looking at your profile picture, I feel that medium to long hair would suit you better. But I think getting jacked will fix that.
Seconded scalp micropigmentation. I got it with a Norwood 7b just under a year ago and I've been happy. More info here: http://reddit.com/r/smpchat
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klondike
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Mon Aug 22, 2022 1:10 am

I just got mine 3 months ago from LA FUE Hair Clinic -- it was $18K. Going from a fivehead to a forehead is worth it in my opinion, there's a real psychological toll that comes from knowing you're not at your physical peak.
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Lieutenant Lucid
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Mon Aug 22, 2022 6:05 am

almost30 wrote:
Sun Aug 21, 2022 10:32 pm
I only have one small thing to add - if you're gonna go bald then you should do micropignation so that it looks like you are bald by choice. Tbh, looking at your profile picture, I feel that medium to long hair would suit you better. But I think getting jacked will fix that.

Can you grow a full beard? You can try minox to help you (https://www.reddit.com/r/Minoxbeards/). Minox has helped me somewhat but I still need to get a beard transplant. I didn't get any side effect from minox but I know that some people do, so gotta be careful with that.
Yeah if I don't do the hair transplant then I'm at least gonna go with the micropigmentation

Can't grow a full beard, sadly. Just the goatee. If I can tolerate the minoxidil without any sides I'll try it for that as well. Thanks for the suggestion
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Lieutenant Lucid
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Mon Aug 22, 2022 6:06 am

klondike wrote:
Mon Aug 22, 2022 1:10 am
I just got mine 3 months ago from LA FUE Hair Clinic -- it was $18K. Going from a fivehead to a forehead is worth it in my opinion, there's a real psychological toll that comes from knowing you're not at your physical peak.
Dang $18k for micropigmentation?! I saw pancake mouse quoted $4k-$5k on his looksmaxxing guide and thought that was bad enough. Guess i gotta save up
almost30
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Mon Aug 22, 2022 6:32 am

Lieutenant Lucid wrote:
Mon Aug 22, 2022 6:06 am
Guess i gotta save up
Do you have any reasons for not doing it in Turkey? It would be much cheaper
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Paid Renegade
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Mon Aug 22, 2022 4:40 pm

Oral minoxidil made my hair thick as fuck. Even regrew my temple points which I’d lost since 19 years old. It also made my eyebrows and eyelashes thick as fuck (in a good way, they were kind of sparse before)
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pancakemouse
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Mon Aug 22, 2022 4:59 pm

Lieutenant Lucid wrote:
Mon Aug 22, 2022 6:06 am
klondike wrote:
Mon Aug 22, 2022 1:10 am
I just got mine 3 months ago from LA FUE Hair Clinic -- it was $18K. Going from a fivehead to a forehead is worth it in my opinion, there's a real psychological toll that comes from knowing you're not at your physical peak.
Dang $18k for micropigmentation?! I saw pancake mouse quoted $4k-$5k on his looksmaxxing guide and thought that was bad enough. Guess i gotta save up
He means a hair transplant. FUE = follilcular unit extraction.

I paid $4000 for SMP for a a Norwood 7b, you would pay less as you have more hair.
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