I would just shave my head but I have a medical condition (bumps on the scalp) which doesn't make me look professional in the work setting. Otherwise I would just buzz everything down. Also I'll have to go for FUE, I've been researching this stuff for a decade and its finally becoming reasonably priced. Now that I'm getting older I've realised its about confidence, some people can have that wearing hair and not wearing hair, but I want to have less things to worry about and have more time on my hands.

Wow!! $20K FOR 2500 FUE grafts... that's really expensive.

Well if you are looking at simply rebuilding the hairline 2,000 - 2,500 is more than enough. I have only heard good things about Rahal and he is known as one of the better surgeons for hairlines.

If money isn't an issue at all then go with who you are comfortable with but that is a lot more than most top surgeons charge for FUE. As I stated before I had FUT but I know Shapiro charges $6 per FUE graft. So that would be $15k and he gives a travel discount as well (I think like $500). If you aren't afraid of the dreaded scar then you could get 2,500 FUT grafts for around $11K.

The scar really hasn't been a big deal for me, I cut my hair with a 3 guard on the sides and back and the scar is not visible at all. I could probably get away with a 2 guard. Having said that, if I were to just have the hairline done with intentions of wearing behind I would probably play it safe and do the FUE.

MorkFromOrk
"Btw does anyone have a good routine for hiding lace hairline? I find that at certain angles lighting can reveal the lace. "
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Have a look at this idea, it might help
http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums/messa...erthread=y

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As a matter of interest, is there ANYONE on this forum that has had a recent hairline transplant and now wears a piece behind it?

I've read a lot of people saying thats what they want to do, but no-one ever saying they've been successful actually doing it.

took the words out of my mouth Hersute.... that is the main reason I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm just very apprehensive to shave all but the hairline until I've seen some good examples of this approach.

I did see a youtube video of a guy that used this technique but it wasn't a very good example due to the fact that the gent in the video's transplants were all body hair. I'm sure it was the only option the poor guy had but it just wasn't an ideal example.

Here is the link to the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aqg-5WKNi8

My feeling would be that the density disparity between the transplants and the piece would be obvious, unless all the hair was brought forward and in that case, what's the point because you're not exposing the hairline anyway.
To expose the transplanted hairline, I think you'd need to also use a bit of concealer to thicken it up.
That concealer would then get stuck in the glue/tape of the piece behind.
I know I couldn't do it with my transplants, but these are 20 years old now, so that's why I'm hoping someone with a more recent transplant might speak up.
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Porcupine,
I've not seen that video before.
I thought the back and especially the temples were quite impressive considering what they were working with.
That poor guy though.
The actual hairs of his hairline looked odd because they were body hair, but, that's about the density I have.
I would need a VERY low density piece to even attempt to blend them.
And then it would be more like I just wasn't bald because there was hair on my head.
But really, I like having hair so I can style it and do things with it, not just so I don't look bald.

Hersute,

when I first contemplated using a combo of hair transplants and a hp I thought that I would get the front 1/2 transplanted as dense as possible and then get a crown piece for the back half. I soon realized (as you stated) that this approach wouldn't work that well because of the difference in density between the two.

I now believe that the best way to approach this method is to just use the very front hairline (like 1/4 inch deep) and then wear behind that. I think this way the natural hairline in theory would act as a graduated density and provide real hair growing from the hairline.

I think the guy in that video would be better off with a lighter density piece behind his hairline but your correct I think they did pretty good with what they were working with.

the drawbacks are that the template would have to be exact and I think that it would be very hard to do the bonding alone. I really think that this approach would be best handled by a professional stylist... at least in the beginning.

So what are everyone's thoughts on what type of system would work best for this approach? I'm thinking an injected skin piece would be better than lace because the natural hairline would disguise the skin pieces' major flaw which is it's hairline.