Hair Transplant adventure part 3

So even though the last episode of this adventure was a letdown because of my inability to perform the procedure due to having high blood pressure the battle must still go on. I was advised by the English-speaking representative at the clinic to begin other treatment to protect and strengthen the hair that I have remaining before we move to the next step of actual transplantation, which I have tentatively scheduled for early January of 2024. I'm gonna sit the month of December out because there is a lot going on with friends during the upcoming Christmas holidays, and I don't want to be Mr. nobody is allowed to get near my head during those times.

_{this rapid receeding of hair hit express mode in the past 2 years}

So I have employed a number of products into my arsenal of weaponry against losing one's hair and to my delight, almost all of them were extremely cheap. They were advised by the doctor at the clinic in Saigon and I did my own research to see if they were the real deal.

First off we have Minoxidil, which is something that has been around for a long time in topical form, which I also have here as well. However, it can be a real pain in the ass to get into the right places on your scalp because as you may have noticed throughout your life, hair tends to absorb any liquids that gets near it. The idea behind the topical form of this product is to get it on the scalp so it hits the follicles, having it rest on your hair is a waste of product and time. Thankfully, with the introduction of a tablet form you don't have to spend time with an eye-dropper hitting just the right places because somehow through the magic of pharmaceuticals, this little once a day pill is able to get up to all the follicles and strengthen them. Hopefully it doesn't strengthen all the follicles all over my body because I don't really want that! It's easier to shave than it is to grow new hair so if that is a side-effect I will go with it.

This next product is the one that I find most promising because of the independent studies that have been done on it out of Japan over a 10 year period. The study was NOT funded by the manufacturers of the product itself and it was double-blind, which as far as I know is the way that medical studies are meant to be done. There have been a number of studies carried about by reputable groups and it is documented in many documents such as this one here

It is very reassuring that in these studies, after a mere 3 months an average of around 70% of all participants experienced a near complete stop in hair loss, strengthening of existing hair follicles, and even some regrowth of previously invisible or "dead" follicles. Over the course of 10 years in the Japanese study, 99% of participants saw a complete stop in hair loss and 91% experienced hair thickening and regrowth. These are very good odds indeed.

Since my hair isn't yet completely gone this is a very good options for me. If you are just starting to notice hair loss and want to stop it before you end up needing expensive transplants, it might not be a terrible idea for you to look up these products and get on them. Over here in Vietnam we do not need a prescription for them, but even if you do, if they are affordable, it is kind of difficult to argue with an over 90% success rate.

I am also using some sort of expensive herbal shampoo but I don't know how long I am going to stick with that. Some of the stuff that the clinic tells me I believe, such as drugs that have had studies done on them. When they start talking about me about $30 bottles of shampoo that have garlic in them and smell terrible or "aerating" my hair with a comb slowly once a week I feel as though we are getting into what I call "hoo ha" or "alternative treatment."

Here's an unrelated but cute picture.

Nadi never experiences hair loss. In fact, her hair is kind of out of control but I am not getting it cut because we are entering the cold season here in Da Nang. I am one of those dog owners that refuses to put clothes on animals, regardless of how cute other people see it as. She has "clothes" permanently built into her body and is a cold-weather breed, so that is good enough. Above you can see her being very well behaved during one of her least favorite things: Bath time.