@standbyme

A transplanted hairline can and regularly look very natural and in the hands of a skilled surgeon they can look outstanding.

The problem with ht's is that while practically anyone has the donor to design a great hairline there are very few if any that have the donor to duplicate a full head of hair if the person in question has any level of baldness beyond say a 3 on the norwood scale.

This is precisely why you see so many people who have had ht's on this and other hairloss forums.

I myself have had in excess of 5,000 transplants by one of the most respected surgeons in the world. I had a good amount of existing hair when I started on this journey so it looked really good for the first couple of years but as time has passed and my natural hair thinned further it is evident that even if i could harvest another 3,000 there is just no way that the density would ever be satisfactory.

I'm still trying to decide if wearing behind my natural hairline is a viable option, I'd really like to but I'm just really hesitant to shave all but my hairline and find it just doesn't work. It's been really hard finding any good examples of this being done.

But I'll say it again... there is just now way in hell that Ben Afleck's hair is the result of ht's, perhaps the hairline but the rest is way to thick.

Thanks porcupine.

However I don't completely understand your situation.

Do you mean your transplanted hair looked good but the rest of your hair thinned?

if so that's not a slight on HT's that just proves how good ht's are.

Ht's arent a cure to baldness, you will still lose the non transplanted hair (unless you respond to med's). The pic's I've seen through the years look amazing even with people who have lost a huge amount of hair, but the more you lose the more important donor hair becomes.

Sorry if I misunderstand what you mean.

Here in the UK there is a TV celebrity who has had a much publicized transplant done in the USA.
As the picture shows, the result looks pretty good.
However, ALL pictures that are printed are taken from the same angle and he has to comb his hair in this particular style.

He was recently on TV and the camera shot him from a different angle and his hair was clearly sparse and you could easily spot the concealer he was using.

I really worry about people making judgements on the quality of HTs from pictures alone.

Standbyme,

You have it correct... the hair transplants themselves look natural but as my native hair thins more each year the density is not as desirable. I now look as though I just have a normal head of thinning hair. If I had not had the transplants done I'd imagine that I'd be pretty bare on top. If the goal is just to frame the face and have a thin head of hair then transplants can be a good option for someone with advanced balding.

I did a ton of research before i went ahead with ht surgery and knew that I wouldn't be satisfied in the end with the final density that ht's alone could achieve. Because of that I always had the plan of eventually wearing a hp behind my transplants but I always thought I could get away with transplanting the front half and just wearing a piece in the crown. I have come to realize that the density in the front half will not be enough to do this effectively so I'm focusing on using about an inch of my own hairline and wearing behind that.

I had hoped to buy a little more time before i had to do this but my issue is that I was taking propecia to preserve the crown but had to stop recently due to undesirable side effects. I quit the propecia almost a year ago and I have to say that my crown has held up fine without the drug but I just know it won't last.

Hersute is correct when he states that judging ht's on pics isn't a good representation of how it actually looks in person. I also suspect that most of the pics of ht's are enhanced with a healthy dose of concealers.

So in summary I would say that ht's under the care of a qualified surgeon
(very important) can and do look very good and natural. The issue is one of density, if you have any level of balding that is over approx. a norwood 3 it is almost impossible to achieve a decent density.

This is why ht surgeons are always talking about "expectations"... If you would be happy having a full head of diffused thin hair then ht's are fine but if you desire a full head of hair they just don't cut the mustard. The pics you see of men with severe balding that look like they have restored a full head of hair are usually deceptive or the very rare exception to the rule.

Hope this helps

I had a very high density HT with one of the world's best HT surgeons. Trust me, if you haven't had the chance to see a few people with HTs in real life in bright light, don't judge the possibilities on pictures and videos you find online. HTs in their current form will never look as good as a good hair system can. I have extremely good donor hair with crazy high density and had over 3000 FUs put in just my very front hairline and it sucked. For the doctors it was a great result. But it looked sparse and unnatural in real life. I got tired of people talking to my hairline instead of me so I got into hair systems and have never had a single odd stare since.

Hersute and I have been through this whole HT debate here before and it is such a waste of time when the guys who say HTs give the best results of any option out there are throwing this information out of their bums because they have looked at countless images they found on the internet. Go see half a dozen people with them in person and then come and tell us it looks better than a good system. It is simply not possible to get the density required to mimic a thick natural head of hair.

Hair cloning will not be available to us normal folk in the next 10 years so in the mean time glue a wig to your head and make the most of it because that's the best we have right now.

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One thing I wanted to ad is where I see HTs being of tremendous use and that's to rebuild temple points. With the right surgeon you can get a decent looking pair of temple points restored to compliment your hair system and allow for a lower, better hairline. That's the one good thing that came out of my extremely expensive and incredibly painful HT.

Hair cloning will be the way to go, without a doubt!
Still think it will be easily 10 years away before we get that option unfortunately!
But in the meantime the only ht option for wearers, imho, would be a FUE ht on the sides and temple points.

I agree that cloning will be the answer as far as ht's are concerned but when that technology becomes available I don't even want to know what the cost will be.

HT's can look like great natural hair only if you have moderate loss, not aggressive.

HP's look like great natural hair anyway,it's also much cheaper and you don't have to go on the meds (which cost as much as the HP's anyway).

seriously a topper here is $200, that $25 a month if you make it last 8 months, that's like a mobile phone bill.

Transplants are a total rip off in comparison.

I don't know how you're getting your toppers for $200. Toplace charges $250 plus another $50 for shipping, making it $300 for one topper.

well it's cheap enough and shipping is $20 inside U.S. and there are other vendors.