King of the Wild Frontier

No, just his own destiny…

This is a story about a friend of mine. A former patient who, like a good number of other patients, keep in touch with us over the years. In order to retain his anonymity, I’ve called him Davy. Why Davy? Because when I first met him he somehow reminded me of ‘Davy Crockett’ Or should I say, the impression I had from being a child of an artist’s impression of how Davy Crockett was supposed to look. Sharp features, lightweight beard, dark blonde hair, pony tail. It was all there……. It could have been him!! All he needed was the famous DC hat! And at first glance, he had that too!!

You see, Davy had grown his hair very long at the front where he still had a strong front hairline. The full extent of his hair loss was from directly behind his front hairline through to his crown. He had also grown his hair very long from his crown down the back of his head.

Davy, like a good many other guys I have met over the years had developed an ingenious way of disguising his hair loss.

He would ‘insert’ his hairpiece behind his front hairline and comb the frontal hair into his hairpiece, continuing through to join the long hair he’d grown at the back.

The overall effect resembled something close to a Rastafarian style pony tail. Thick and unkempt looking which was in keeping with the style anyway. In fact if I was to describe Davy at that time, it would have been as a White Rastafarian guy with an uncanny look of Davy Crockett about him,

Naturally, his acquired hair style was time consuming and difficult to manage. As his mum will tell you, ‘he was never seen without it’. His mum used to call it his ‘rug’ and spent years trying to persuade him to discard the piece.

However, for Davy it was a major decision. Imagine going from having the ‘look’ of the proverbial ‘thick head of hair’ one day and appearing without it the next! Certainly, not ‘Our Davy’.

Often we can help our patients utilise a hairpiece and continue its use until their new hair grows through from their hair transplant but Davy’s case was a little different. He had ‘Big Hair’ and to go from that to a short hair style wasn’t an option. The only time our Davy was going to ‘go public’, so to speak, was with a full length pony-tail of his own natural growth. Davy continued to utilise his hairpiece throughout the growth periods. After each session he would replace the piece and patiently wait for hair not just to grow but to grow to length.

As I said, it was some time ago when I first met Davy. That was at the time of his having his first Choi procedure with us. Yet it took a further two procedures and a good deal of time before my good mate was finally able to make the brake.

In truth, it took a total of 3 hair transplant surgery sessions over an extdended period of time for Davy, now 40 years of age to part with his former ‘image’. As his hair loss was quite extensive it was always going to take two procedures to give him anything like the density he needed to have the confidence to remove his hairpiece but again, Davy’s case was more complex.

As one’s hair grows in length, it also grows in weight. The combination of both elements increases the propensity for the hair to separate or’ clump together’ at root level. This affect can often be seen where people plat their hair very tightly.

This action, over a progressive period of time can also cause ‘stretch alopecia’. Where bald patches are caused by pulling the hair back too tightly, Often a problem for Asian, Afro Caribbean, Latino ladies, where it’s fashionable to grow to grow their hair long and wear it tied tightly back. Although Davy hadn’t suffered from stretch alopecia to his front hairline, the sheer length and weight of his ‘contrived’ hairstyle had added to his problems. By putting additional pressure on hair that was already getting weaker from Male Pattern Baldness, Davy had accelerated his hair loss.

Transplanted hair is effectively the strongest growth on one’s head – It retains the characteristics it had in the donor area. Slightly coarser than the hair on your top scalp and stronger. It also grows at roughly twice the speed of hair it’s replacing. Theoretically, Davy could grow his pony tail down to his knee’s without risking damaging his new growth by stretching it but the hair would still separate and clump together at skin level. Which is why he opted for a third and final procedure, to ensure he had the density to compensate.

The great day arrived, early spring of 2007. His mum emailed me with the news of her son having removed his ‘rug’ as she called it, for the very first time. That at the next chance they got, they would take me up on my invitation for them to stay with us in Greece. During which time we could have the ceremony that she had suggested some years before.

So on that hot summer’s day in June 2007, we finally had our ‘Burning of the Rug’ ceremony

To onlookers the event of that day may well have resembled a scene out of a comedy sketch. In reality, only people who’ve had to deal with losing their own hair can truly understand the significance of the event itself. The sentiments expressed by Davy and his mum as he set light his ‘piece offering’ (forgive the pun) to the Greek God’s, were quite profound.

It was end of an era for Davy. The end of a time when his hair loss had literally ‘controlled’ his life. The end of a time when his self esteem and self confidence had reached their lowest ebb. Not least, the end of an almost daily drudge that took almost 2 hours of his time to complete.

As they say, you have to have ‘been there’ and ‘worn the T-shirt’ to understand the feelings of Davy’s relief to have escaped the burden of these past years. It took me back a good few years when I too used all sorts of wild and wonderful methods to disguise my own hair prior to having resolved my own hair problems with hair transplant.

It was a good day – although nobody was jumping about for joy. On the contrary, Davy and his mum kept the actual ‘ceremony’ itself quite solemn. In fact toward the end, Davy’s mum simply leaned over the ‘funeral pyre’ and uttered some strange, unintelligible words at the smoldering, burning appendage of her son’s past problems. It almost sounded like she was very quietly cursing it?
Being the lovely Lancashire lass that she is, she probably was!

Then it was down to the beach bar across the road, where the real celebrations took place.

MM September 2007.

The Burning of the Wig

Davy displaying the remnants of what for so long was part of his daily regime. Is it alive?

Davy asking me in disbelief, if he really did spend 6 years with this ‘thing’’ on top of his head?

Davy’s mum seemingly paying her last respects? I don’t think so!