History
My hair loss story began when I was 22 years old. While I never had incredibly thick hair nor did I hold it as my best feature watching my hair begin to recede was disheartening nonetheless. My father lost his hair in his mid-twenties as well and I felt doomed for a similar fate. I started buying Nioxin and Rogain and did all that I could to hold off the hair loss but nothing seemed to be working. At this point I realized a hair restoration procedure would be the only solution for my situation. So at 24 years old I began to do my research. I looked into FUE and Strip procedures and researched doctors. I even had a consultation with Bosley and before I decided to do the procedure I Googled “Bosley Reviews” and I was horrified. Review after review was horrible, people who were not just upset with the procedure and the results but some who were actually filing suit. At this point I came to the conclusion that the only thing worse than going bald at 24 would be to have a horrible botched surgery and live with scars all over my head. I did some more research and scrutinized the results on the websites and I was less and less satisfied with what I found. Hairlines looked fake or wispy and temples were ignored; I came to believe that hair transplants were only for people with a bald spot on the back of their head where the biggest issue was the swirl that it had. Since I had recession from the front back and along my temples I gave up and started cutting my hair shorter and shorter as my hair continued to thin.
Then the bald jokes began to start. I began to start to make them myself and laugh them off in a light hearted fashion but you can’t help be wish you weren’t the center of those jokes. Since the end of High School I have lost nearly 40 pounds and am in the best shape of my life but when I see people I haven’t seen in a long time I don’t have any of the confidence I feel I should. And when they make a comment like “Oh, I didn’t recognize you” I knew it had as much or more to do with my hair loss than my weight loss. I started to avoid running into people I hadn’t seen in a long time despite that I have been able to do a ton of world travel and have lost a bunch of weight because I didn’t want them to talk about or comment on my hair loss. Meeting new people was becoming less and less enjoyable and I hated the fact that people thought I was at least 5 years older than what I was.
In early 2012 I was offered a new position that would move me to London for several years. I wanted to have that confidence back. I wanted to be able to meet tons of new people and clients and WOMEN without any of the reservations that I had acquired over the previous few years. I began to look at restoration again. I knew celebrities had their hair done but the problem with that is they are so secretive about it that there is no way for you to find the doctor that they used. But I began my quest again and came across Alvi Armani. The results looked amazing. All of them. There was attention to detail on the temples, the hairlines were incredible. It couldn’t be true. I began to find reviews and the only complaint was that a few people thought hairlines were too low or that the hair was too dense. Too dense?! I hated most every other doctor’s results simply because they didn’t make any attempt to give the hair density again. The other thing that the Alvi Armani team is great at is their discussion with the client regarding what they want. So if you are in your 50’s and don’t want your hairline to be quite as low as someone who is in their 30’s you don’t have to. Have that discussion with the doctors.
Getting in touch with Alvi Armani
After spending large amounts of time looking through the Alvi Armani website, reviewing testimonials, looking through photos and reading discussion boards I decided that I would get in touch with the clinic. I sent an inquiry into the site and received a response back from Eric who was an Alvi Armani patient himself. Eric was fantastic to work with; he was very honest with all of my questions and was quick to provide information on his personal results as well as direct me to several other patients who had procedures and hair loss similar to mine. Eric requested that I send in several photos (front, back, sides and top) so that he and the doctor could get a good look at my current hair loss and determine the approach that would be best for me. He provided me with several other patient’s photos so I knew exactly what types of photos they wanted from me. Eric became my main contact throughout this entire procedure and was enormously helpful from arranging my phone consultation with the doctor, scheduling my appointment, helping to arrange my financing and even providing me with information and assistance about hotels near the office and when to schedule my flights. At no point did I feel like I was on my own; Eric’s willingness to assist me in every step of the way made a tremendous impact in helping to ease any worries I might have. Throughout the process there are a lot of moving parts but instead of being sent around to 5 or 6 different people for each step of the process I had one person who I could contact, someone who became familiar with me and my situation. This was a huge benefit and convenience and a huge factor that separated Alvi Armani from the others.
The Consultation with Dr. Baubac
My research had made Alvi Armani the clinic I was leaning towards using to have my procedure, but there was still a very big piece that needed to be addressed; the consultation. I wanted to make sure the doctor that would be performing my procedure could understand what I was looking for and could provide me with some more details regarding the specific procedure. Through Eric, I scheduled my consultation with Dr. Baubac. Scheduling the consultation with the doctor is another huge factor that sets Alvi Armani apart from a lot of other clinics. Most clinics use consultations as sales pitches and are done by the sales people of the clinic but with Dr. Baubac it was a very candid discussion about my history with hair loss and what his thoughts were regarding my unique situation, and all of this was much more valuable since Dr. Baubac would himself be performing my procedure.
During my consultation we talked about other methods that I had tried previously, what my goals and concerns were regarding this procedure and what I should expect with my results. Dr. Baubac is incredibly well read in the sciences surrounding hair loss and we discussed the transition from FUT to FUE transplants and discussed the most recent studies in the industry and what his thoughts were regarding the future of hair restoration. During my consultation with Dr. Baubac I had the impression that he was there to make sure that this procedure was right for me; I wasn’t another number in a high volume low quality clinic, rather the doctor wanted to make sure that this procedure was going to be a positive experience for me. Actually having the ability to speak with the doctor at this stage of the process was a huge advantage and helped to eliminate all of the fears that I had going into the procedure.
After my consultation Dr. Baubac got back to me with his initial suggestion for the number of grafts I would be getting and how the distribution would go. I became excited. I got in touch with the clinic with a challenging request, to have the procedure in the next two months so that I would have the initial growth and healing completed prior to moving to London at the end of the year. I was ecstatic with the amount of effort Eric and the team at the clinic went through to get me scheduled in time, Dr. Baubac does not have a ton of openings in his schedule so for the team to fit me in so quickly was fantastic. I have begun looking in the mirror with less frustration, rather I would look in the mirror, picture my new hairline and think how many more days I would deal with my hair loss. That is the long story which I am sure many of you can relate to, which has brought me to this point. My procedure is in less than two weeks and I am getting very excited. I will keep you all posted with the results!
