When I was younger I made a lot of promises to myself that I think a lot of other people also do. I promised myself I would never NEVER have a gut.... I have one now but it isn't that bad. I promised myself I would never allow a woman to break my heart - which was a stupid promise to make since that is completely out of one's control, and I promised that if and when I started to go bald that I would just accept it, shave my head, and move on with life.
Well, there's another promise out the window because I have scheduled an appointment to get hair transplants in the next few weeks at Vietnam's one and only internationally recognized hair transplant center.
The decision to do this was based on a couple of videos and pictures I saw of myself when I was unaware the videos were being taken. I always knew that I had some hair loss, which is basically the norm for a guy in their 40's but I had no idea how profound it was because we don't often get to see our own heads from the angles that other people can see them at.
This still from a video that was taken from a post-bowling venue was the one that really shocked me. I knew that I had the yarmulke to some degree, but I had no idea it was so noticeable. This is because when I brush my teeth or look in the mirror for any other reason, I can't really see the back of my head.
Because the only clinic in this country is located in HCMC (Saigon) I wasn't going to fly all the way down there for an initial consultation. Thankfully, this clinic speaks English perfectly and is willing to do a lot of the "legwork" via video chat and photos.
A friend of mine with a much better phone than mine came down to take some overhead shots of my skull and well, even this was very disappointing to me because again, I had no idea it was this bad.
It was a few years back that I decided to grow my hair long again and the major reason for this is because 4 times in my life I have grown my hair out and then cut it all off to donate to Locks of Love which is an organization that makes wigs for children with cancer and alopecia... that's right! I do altruistic stuff!
As my hair got longer this time, I couldn't help but notice that I was pulling a Michael Bolton and trying to push my hair this way or that in order to cover up the places where I no longer had hair. This wasn't a conscious decision at first, but eventually it just became the norm.
You can see here that my "M" or as I call it my "Kevin Spacey" is pretty profound and even though I look in the mirror when I leave my house and think that I look just fine. I don't know if I am really ready to join the world of Jack Nicholsons just yet.
I think that the circle on the back of my skull is actually more disappointing to me than the front because a lot of guys have the receding hairline at the front and we just kind of work around it. The bit on the back though, that bothers me because I can't even see it. I remember something that I think it was David Spade that said it about people that grow their hair like me when he said "no matter how long you grow it on the sides, we can all see that there is nothing in the middle."
This isn't a decision that I take lightly, because I am fully aware of the fact that this is not a "one off." Just because you get new hair implanted in the places that you are losing it, doesn't mean that the other hairs around it are all of a sudden going to stop disappearing. In all likelihood I will have to have the procedure done many times again in the future if I want to keep up with having a full head of hair. The process is relatively expensive even for a cheap country like Vietnam and it has been estimated that it will cost around $2500 to $3000 for this first go round.
It also takes many months before the new hair actually takes hold. In all cases that I have researched up to this point it is basically guaranteed that the transplanted follicles will fall out in the 2nd month and then they grow back. Basically, you are looking at a 4 month period before the new hair actually takes form.
I know I am going to look silly for a while but that is ok with me. I am not going to try to pretend as though I didn't get hair transplants to my friends. I have been very open with them about the fact that I am going to go and do this and they are all supportive.
The worst part about all of this is that I am a naturally sweaty person and one of the things that they tell you that you must not do during the first 2-3 weeks after transplant is sweat. So this means I am going to miss a few weeks of the thing I love the most... bowling.
I'll keep everyone updated on the progress but at least in my mind I think that I'd like to hang on to a bit of vanity for another decade or so. Then we can just let ourselves go.
The hair that they take for the procedure comes from the back of your head... you know, those hairs that even the baldest of bald people always have. So my question is why is it that the scientists can't just figure out what makes those particular hairs so damn indestructible and apply it to the rest of the scalp?