I have posted my story on here before, however it doesn’t appear it carried over from the old forum, and under “My Experience” is a story by JT?
Anyway, bare with me….I tend to waffle, but this is how I came to be where I am today. My issues started as early as 9 years old, I suffered with a cradle cap problem on my scalp. This is where the scalp scabs over, and what with being young and stupid, I picked at these scabs when they became itchy….and when they came off they took with it clumps of hair. Unfortunately for me, my scalp never healed, and I grew up a decent sized bald patch / scar tissue right on the top of my head.
As you can well imagine, through secondary school this destroyed me. I had a terrible hair style to cover it (a comb over believe it or not) and as I am sure you are all aware, secondary school is hard enough at the best of times. I hated school, sometimes picked on and found it very, very hard.
As I got older though, when I started work after I came through college, I really came into my own. I had a decent group of friends, and I really began taking pride in the way I looked. I guess you can say the group of friends I had were vain, but they were good lads. I found a new hair style (thank you David Beckham!) and I had a more spikey look, bit shorter at the sides etc. Thanks to moulding Clay and L’Oreal FX gel, I could style my hair and position it in a way where no one knew I had a bald spot, and it looked good.
As well as this I was hitting the gym more and more. Through my 20’s my confidence just grew and grew. I don’t mean it in a big headed way, but I got more and more attention from girls and my social life was amazing. I’d be out every weekend, lads holidays every year…..life was good.
Life wasn’t perfect though. Behind this new found confidence, I still had my moments that got me down. I was always worried about people finding out about my bald spot and taking the pi*s. You know what lads are like, I love the banter myself, and can give and take it….but my bald spot had become such an issue I was petrified someone would notice it and make fun. It stopped me doing things, I love playing football…however, if it was ever raining I would cry off and pretend to be injured. If my hair got wet, my bald spot would be visible for all to see! I even missed a semi final cup game once because of it…and I was top scorer that season. I felt bad for letting them down, but I just didn’t want to put myself in that position. We lost that semi final to. As I said before, I was always on lads holidays, but I could never get involved in the swimming pool fun….I would make my excuses as to why I couldn’t go under the water, but there was no way ever could. The lads used to call me a “ponse” and joke it was because I just “didn’t want to get my hair wet”….well they were right, but they just didn’t know the reasons why I didn’t want to get my hair wet! I could live with these things though, I still have a good social life, I was popular, things were….overall, good.
Then at the age of about 27, I noticed I was starting to recede a little. It didn’t bother me to much at first, as my hair style still easily covered that…as well as my bald spot on top of my head. However it really started to kick in, and as I receeded more and more, one or two people started to notice and pass comment. As my “hair” had always been an issue with me, I found these comments devastating, and my confidence began to crumble. I noticed it was taking me longer to do my hair, sometimes before going out in town on a Saturday night I would spend as much as 90 minutes trying to style my hair…sometimes longer!! I’d go to bed on a night and try to lie in a way that wouldn’t mess my hair up, just so I didn’t have to spend much time on it first thing in the morning!! It was crazy. My fringe was getting a bit thinner to, and where as I had always had quite thick hair, I was now starting to look (just a little), like the typical balding bloke who was trying to hide his secret, and failing lol.
As I said, my confidence started to crumble, I started to go out less and less, as just didn’t feel confident enough. Unfortunately we live in a vain world, and where I had spent the last 7 years or so feeling good looking and popular….I just didn’t anymore, and it was killing me.
I began really looking into treatment, I had a consultation on a transplant however the sheer volume of bad reviews on line put me off. Then by sheer luck, I was trawling through a forum online for people with balding problems and how to deal with it….and one poster had posted on there “I have three words for you people …..His Hair Clinic”.
I looked it up, and wow…..I couldn’t believe it, I really couldn’t. The pictures looked amazing and everyone seemed so positive. My attitude has always been, try new things, and if you don’t look into things properly…you never know. I spoke to my girlfriend about it, and surprisingly….she was amazingly supportive. We had been together 10 months, I had never even showed her my bald spot / scar on top of my head….yet here she was, offering her support. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I could have done it without her.
I booked a consultation and met Ian, who was brilliant and made me feel at ease straight away. I met a guy who was having the treatment done himself, and we all talked about our issues. It was nice just to know I wasn’t alone and that there were other people out there in the same position who could all relate to what I was going through! I knew then and there…I wanted this done and wanted to book an appointment. Fair play to Ian though, he as good as told me to go away, think about….and contact him a few days later.
I had the appointment booked for about 4 weeks later, and to say it dictated my life for the next 4 weeks is an understatement. All I could think about was “what the hell am I doing?” and “do I really want this?”. I spoke to Ian about my fears, and asked to come visit more clients. Again, he was more then happy and I travelled up to Birmingham again. I met two lads who were back in for their 2nd treatments….and I immediately knew this was for me. It blew me away, it really did. I also met Damon, who was having the treatment done and it really did look so good.
To explain how big a decision this was for me, first time I went up I wore a cap, and no gel etc, so they could obviously look at my problems. Second time, I did my hair, styled it…..and Ranbir exact words were “I didn’t recognise you there, it doesn’t even look like you have problem”. Damon was the same, he said it didn’t look like I had any problems and he even said he wished he had hair like mine! Lol. In my head though, my hair was receeding more and more into my bald spot/scar, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I could no longer carry off my style. I wanted this treatment before I was to far gone, so people wouldn’t question why I suddenly “had a hair line”
The day of the treatment I travelled to Brum and checked into a hotel. My appointment was at about 6pm, and I didn’t want to travel back the same night. I was so nervous, and sat in my car outside for half hour before….still wondering if I was doing the right thing. That minute when Ian stood in front of me with clippers, my stomach was churning! Then ‘zoooooom’ it was gone. It was weird, looking at myself with no hair, it almost felt liberating! Then came the realisation that I was now about to have needles stuck in my head lol!
The treatment itself took about an hour and a half with one or two short breaks. I wouldn’t say it hurt, more “annoying”. I found the side of the head quite painful and made me wince, but I wouldn’t describe it was unbearable.
I can still remember leaving the clinic now and feeling the cool air on my “baldy” head. I’ve always had a mop on my head, so was a strange feeling. I felt amazing though, I was buzzing all night and kept looking in the mirror. Yeah it was different to what I was used to, but I loved it. It was a bit red, and a bit dark….but I was told it would soften, so I was fine with that.
It was the next morning it hit me. I woke up to realisation that I now “had a tattoo on my head”. I went from being on top of the world, to being flat as a pancake, and very depressed. I was gutted. I no longer had hair “what had I done??”. My girlfriend just wanted me to come home, but I was dreading seeing her….what if she hated it??
I drove home, and wore a sock hat. I got round my girlfriends on the evening, and still had my hat on. I was still so sad, and was so scared I had made the wrong decision. I eventually plucked up the courage to take my hat off……and she absolutely loved it! Her reaction was amazing, and almost instantly I felt better about myself. She said it suited me, and looked so natural.
Over the coming days, it softened a lot, and I had my second treatment about 5 days later. It only lasted about 15 minutes or so, but it just touched up certain areas, mostly in and around my scar, which Ian said from the off could take a few treatments.
It was nearly a week before I showed my family, as I wanted to wait for it to soften completely. They were shocked, and my mum wasn’t sure (she is quite old fashioned) but no one questioned it. They still don’t know to this day its not real……
Going back to work was the difficult part, as I had the treatment done whilst on holiday. I work in a very laddish work place with a lot of piss taking and banter. I actually bottled going back to work on the Monday, and took a day sick. I plucked up the courage to go back on the Tuesday and yes, I got a lot of stick, but it was to be expected. I had a skin head which was the complete opposite to what they were used to !!!! It was all in good humour though, and surprisingly I had a lot of compliments. The best one being ”why have you shaved your head, you got a good hair line?” I just said I had lost a bet, and thought it looked good once I got it tidied up professionally.
Right, I’ll wind it up now….wow, what an essay! Its 12 months on now and am I happy with it? Absolutely! Do I miss having hair? Of course I do. I won’t lie, I still have days when I wish I had hair to style, but the facts is…if I hadn’t had had this treatment, by now, I know I would have had to have given in and shaved my head. My way of life has improved loads though, I went on holiday last year shortly after the treatment and for the first time in about 15 years, went under the water in the swimming pool! Small things like this….you cant explain how good it feels doing it knowing you can do it without worrying about your hair!
My girlfriend still loves it, and says she fancies me more now then ever before. So that helps obviously. All my friends are used to it now, so no one bats an eye lid.
It sounds cheesy, but this has really changed my life. Little things that used to be such an issue for me, are a distant memory and I don’t even think about it anymore. I am so grateful to Ian and Ranbir, not just for their work…but for their support through what was an immensely tough period.
So that’s my story….apologies for going on and on….and on, but I did warn you at the start, I do waffle a lot J
