I Tried Everything Before The Hair Transplant... One Woman's Tale

Disgust, fear, worry.. that’s what I felt when I pulled out the weekly, wads of hair from the shower drain. What was going on?? My entire life I had thick, long, curly hair… so thick, it was hard to manage. I was now in my early thirties, and my hair had different plans.

For the first five or so years of thinning, I worried about it, but did not take any action. The remaining hair was still thick and looked good. I hoped (prayed) that the thinning would stop at some point.

A few years later, I discussed this with my primary care doctor, who took some blood tests and could not find anything wrong. But, I had to take some action.

I started using women’s Rogaine. It was messy, irritated my scalp and I did not notice any difference in the hair shedding. Therefore, I tried it for about 6 months, and then stopped.

I then found a company called PK Walsh, which specializes in women’s hair loss options. At this time, I still had lots of hair and no-one (but me) could tell that it was thinning. So, they recommended that I try laser hair therapy. These were laser light treatments designed to prevent further hair loss. I plopped down several thousand dollars and began participating in ongoing sessions. When the sessions were up, I did not notice a difference, so I did not pay for any more.

In my late 30’s I sought the advice of a dermatologist who specializes in women’s hair loss. She examined me and did a scalp skin biopsy. Unfortunately, the results were not what I wanted to hear. She said that she believed I did have female pattern baldness. She further shared that this means different things for different women. I could keep losing my hair, then stop before it was noticeable. Or I could keep losing my hair – indefinitely. “Women rarely lose all of their hair” she shared. Not very comforting!

She recommended that I begin using Men’s Rogaine Foam, as it was stronger and neater than the women’s version.

The same month I visited a Hair Transplant doctor, who specializes in women’s needs, for a consultation. He examined my head and determined that my hair was thinning, but not thin enough for a hair transplant. He recommended that I try Men’s Rogaine Foam and restart laser hair treatments.

He said that all hair laser systems are not the same… some companies use older technology or outdated bulbs and the treatments are not effective. He assured me that his lasers were top quality.

Considering that I now had two recommendations to use Men’s Rogaine Foam, I decided – what the heck, and continued using it for the next two years. I actually took the time to remove the labels from the Rogaine bottles so if anyone saw them including my husband, they would assume the bottle was a regular hair styling product.

You heard correctly….my husband was left out of this part of my life for years. I was too embarrassed! Who wants to be married to a balding woman? I had become an expert at styling my hair in ways that masked any imperfections. I learned to worry and obsess, silently. He had no idea this was going on.

Rogaine Foam, like everything else I tried, did not seem to stop the thinning. Honestly, it was hard to measure the before and after hair loss, but I decided to just stop using it and went “cold turkey” on hair thinning solutions for about a year.  I was feeling VERY frustrated! They can send a man to the moon, they can cure these complex diseases (e.g. the TV show House) but they can not find a solution to hair thinning.

Now in my early 40s, the next 12-14 months I began to notice the hair thinning at the top of my head- front and back. When I saw my hair stylist, I could see him taking extra care to style certain sections carefully to make the hair look thicker. I would stare in the mirror every day and obsess about the scalp I could see peering out from below my strands.

I then found a product that I really love and recommend to anyone with thinning hair- Toppik. Toppik is a fine powder that you gently apply to the thinning areas of your head and it masks the problem. You purchase a color that matches your existing color and the fibers fill in the empty spaces. You apply it as part of your getting ready routine and wash it out when you shampoo. It looks totally natural, once you get the hang of applying it.

But Toppik only masks the problem, it does not fix the problem. My hair was getting thinner and I was getting more and more anxious.

This led me back to the Hair Transplant Doctor. He examined my head again and determined that I was now a transplant candidate, since my hair was thinner. This was a good news, bad news diagnosis.

We discussed the details and I decided just to “go for it”. We looked at calendars and picked a date. A $500 deposit later, I was locked in.

One caveat.. I now had to tell my husband.

To my readers: This is the first installment in a series about my personal experience with a woman's hair transplant. Please stay tuned!