Hi Bucket,
I’ve been in the same situation for the last 8 years and believe me I know where you are coming from… Although it looks ok in the photos I know the reality.
I have the same deal, same hair colour and characteristics. My full story of 7 FUE sessions to date is on other forums but when I read your post I decided to register.
The problem we have my friend, as has already been correctly pointed out, is our white skin and dark/ coarse hair characteristics.
Thick, non miniaturised donor hair will never match natural hairline hair, especially with our characteristics. A God given hairline is soft, fine and and doesn’t suffer from the black dot “bulb” effect where the transplanted grafts enter the skin.
I’ve tried for years to create a perfectly natural hairline and while in my opinion it is actually impossible, you can get close with a few tricks.
Blonde, grey and light hair or those with dark skin, this doesn’t necessarily apply to. The minimal contrast between hair and skin makes transplants far more natural to the naked eye.
- Density is key. With dark hair any gaps will make the isolated grafts stand out a mile. They’ll just look wrong in the hairline if you can see light through or space around them. Problem is with good natural density like yours and mine you have to go very dense to make it work.
I failed for years to create the density require for me to be satisfied that my hairline would look natural in all situations. I just couldn’t achieve it despite going to some of the best doctors. I believe the “illusion of density” doesn’t work with our hair characteristics. I think you actually need more density than your original natural density to hide the thicker shafts of the donor transplanted hair… and that just isn’t feasible with our limited supply.
- Hair angle. This has been the answer to the density issue for me.
Central hairline: hair should beplanted so they point almost down the forehead or at least straight out from the centre. Then when they grow, gravity (or the natural fall of the hair) allows the shaft of the hair to hide the hair root.
Temple angles: these again should be planted downwards or as in one my temples as a cowlick where the grafts are planted acute to the skin at an horizontal/ downward angle back and towards my temple points/ ears. This means the density can be less as they lie on top of one another.
This results in allowing me to either wear my hair down in a fringe … or if I want to sweep it back, because the hairs are angled down, then each hair has to double back on itself, hiding the root and in the process, naturally adding more density.
Problem is most doctors plant up and out along the hairline and this shows the root and shaft.
- Nape hair (and maybe body hair?). I’ve used softer nape hair but you need so much of the damn stuff to make a cosmetic difference. I have a few transplanted nape hairs that are so beautifully fine and soft … but they may as well not be there. Cosmetically they are too fine and delicate to be any use. I’d probably need two or three times as many as my back of the head donor hair.
I can’t quite see how bad the situation is and how many are transplanted grafts that grew. From what I can tell you might be better of getting rid of them by laser or FUE and just sticking with your original hairline (which was good!).
If you won’t be happy with that then it will require a a fair bit of effort and grafts and a smart surgeon to create a satisfactory result.
All the best with what ever you decide.
Shanti
