Hair Loss InformationValue of White Hair – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have white hair. Most of the pictures on your website are of people with dark hair. Are white haired people also candidates for hair transplantation? Are the results of transplants on white hair people as good as darker hair people?

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White hair is always better than dark hair for hair transplants. There is a good reason why white is better — it glistens and reflects light. The reflection of the light impedes the eye’s ability to descriminate what it is seeing and the reflection always makes the hair shaft look bigger. I always tell my white or gray haired patients not to dye it black, because they give up the value that the white hair gives in producing a fuller head of hair. That’s the up-side.

For a good example of a patient with white hair, please take a look at Patient OD in the NHI photo gallery. Also, another example is the close up below photo of white hair that glistens by reflecting ambient light. Please click the photo to enlarge and you well see only the dark hairs in focus. The white hairs are almost invisible, yet the light that is reflected shows far more value than even the dark hairs that are so well defined on the close up.


The down side for people with white hair is that it is almost invisible to the eye, even on magnification. To get good yields from the harvesting of white hair, you need to use very high powered microscopes so that you see every hair and do not unintentionally damage it.

Note: This video is of surgical nature and may be too graphic for some viewers.

Eyebrow and Pubic Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Can I grow eyebrow hair by applying Rogaine (minoxidil) to the minimal eyebrow hair that now exists?

Also, would I bring my concerns about eyebrow hair loss (I also have completely lost my pubic hair which doesn’t bother me) to a dermatologist rather than internist? What related lifestyle, medical, physical, emotional information should I note to give the physician the information needed to make a proper diagnosis? Do you recommend any physicians in the Boston area who are experts in the area of eyebrow hair loss in women and corrective transplant?

I really appreciate being able to ask questions based on the information you provide on your website. Thank you again. I look forward to your guidance with this matter.

Rogaine should not grow eyebrow hair where there is none. A dermatologist would help you with the correlation between pubic and eyebrow hair, if any. The physician will know what to ask you to help make a diagnosis.

FNS Follicle Nutrient Serum – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Doctor,
I was reading an article on FNS Follicular Nutrient Serum. It was researched by a dermatologists, and I have not yet found anything bad about it. It claims to stimulate growth and grow thicker hair. Do you know anything about this product? please post your answer quickly (my time is running out).

I often receive questions from patients like you stating, “quickly.. my time is running out”. What does that mean? Is there a deadline? If so, how long do you have left? More importantly, what happens after your “time” runs out?

If you have been following this blog, I receive questions everyday regarding various hair growth / regrowth products. My answer has always been that it is a “buyer beware” market. Just because a doctor or a scientist endorses a product does not mean a product works. Likewise, the scientific evidence behind a product is subject to many interpretations and biases that may falsely lead the general public. Often times most products contain the same basic ingredient (minoxidil) packaged with a different name. It is not my role to be a pessimist, as it may seem, but a medical doctor that practices medicine with a scientific background. This does not mean your FNS Serum (or any other cream or serum) will not work. Even with its endorsements and “proofs” and “before and after” pictures, I suspect most of these creams, serums, potions, or lotions can never meet the strict FDA approval process that can guarantee its efficacy (see FDA approval process) . Otherwise I would love to market a six pack of beer as the new drug that enhances the sexual appeal of your date, but I do not think I can get an FDA approval even though I have personal proof and testimony from hundreds of ‘patients’. That was a joke, by the way.

In summary, we are all looking for a quick and easy fix to all our problems. Our time is always running out. You can try using the FNS Serum, but what happens if that does not work? Will your time be up? If you want a medical solution for your hair loss, you should see a qualified hair transplant doctor for a formal evaluation of your hair loss. But that is on your own “time”… before it runs out.

Hair Raiser – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I was just wondering if you had any information on Billy Jealousy’s new product, Hair Raiser. It claims to regrow lost hair and recently won an FHM grooming award.

It is said to contain Methyl nicotinate and 2 DHT blockers (Swertia and Licorice Extract). Their website says “Hair Raiser takes about 4 months of every day use to experience the beginning growth of terminal hair. Regrowth will not be experienced if hair follicle has been dead for more than 10 years. Hair Raiser was created by world renowned bio-chemist C. Sanders.

I am not familiar C. Sanders, the bio-chemist — but I am familiar with Colonel Sanders, the purveyor of original recipe and extra crispy fried chicken. Kidding aside, if you have been following this blog, it has always been stressed that it is a “buyer beware” market. Anyone can claim effects of a cream/lotion/potion. What strikes me is that there is a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision preventing these products being advertised or sold in the U.S., yet these types of claims are made and products are sold every day. There are only 2 FDA approved medications to treat male pattern baldness: (1) topical minoxidil (such as Rogaine) and (2) oral finasteride (Propecia). Since Propecia is still protected under patent, I suspect this Hair Raiser product contains Minoxidil as one of the ingredients, if it actually does do anything for your lost hair.

More information on this product can probably be found at the official site, BillyJealousy.com.

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Lost Hair at Hairline After Damaging Hair With Bleach – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am female and recently bleached my hair and then dyed it. The problem is that I lost track of time while bleaching and left it on way too long. Not realizing the extent of the damage, I then put a color on it. A couple of days later, when I pulled my hair back I realized that my hair line had receded noticeably in certain areas leading me to believe that I melted my hair to the scalp in those places. My questions are: will my hair grow back in those spots and will I continue to lose my hair? I am seeing a stylist in a couple of days to have it cut very short to try to minimize more damage through breakage but would like to know what kind of fallout I can expect — unfortunately, I have no one to blame but myself in this situation and realize that your forum is for those experiencing some very devastating conditions and although my situation seems vain in comparison any answers you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

The good news is that your hair will likely grow back. The bad news is that you will have to be patient and wait until the hair grows back. In the mean time, I suspect you will come up with a new creative hair style — you have little choice.

Transplanting Hair Into Scars – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi again Doc! First off, I want to say that I really appreciate your site and plethora of knowledge of this very “thin” topic. My question today concerns whether or not it is possible to transplant hair successfully onto a site where a scar exists? I have had several sebaceous cysts removed over the years, and two of them left very noticeable scars. That coupled with my thinning hair, has made me very self conscious. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

By the way, I have begun using that “horse” conditioner, Eqyss Megatek as well as applying some emu oil on my scalp at night. After about 3 weeks or so I do find that my hair appears to be responding well to this combo. I notice less fallout and I have to say am surprised to find quite a few little sprouts along my entire frontal hair line. I am not saying I stumbled upon the cure, however as far as I’m concerned, I’ll keep trying this regimine.

Keep up the great work

Transplanting hair into the scarred area can be done with good success. Generally it may take more than one session to get the thickness you want/need. Thanks for the feedback on Eqyss Megatek and emu oil.

Wearing a Hair System While New Transplants Are Growing – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I have been wearing a hair system for almost 10 years and want to transition to a transplant, my concern is really with the transition..how to do this without letting the world know that I am infact wearing a system..or was wearing a system and am gettiong transplants.

Is there a way where I can keep wearing teh system, get transplants and as they start growing just crop the hair as short as aesthetically okay,a nd then just toss the system?

Please let me know I am a level 6 or so, have fairly realstic expectations about what hair transplant can do for me, but am simply confused about the transition period and thus have nto taken any steps.

Yes, many people in your situation continue to use the hair system. The systems must be switched to clips and great care needs to be taken not to allow the piece to irritate and rub the new hair. I generally recommend using a hat when you are not needing the hair system and taking off the system at night (easy to do with clips). Keeping your hair and scalp clean is important. I ask that you hold off using the hair system for the first week after the transplant, and recommend that if you really want to keep it covered, use a hat during this time.

Hair Loss InformationHow Are Grafts Removed From Strip? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

My brother had a hair transplant with you last summer and I’m seriously considering it myself. I’m still on the fence, but I know that my hair isn’t just going to magically regrow in the front and my brother’s hair is coming in quite nicely. That’s a very positive thing. Anyways I’ve been reading a TON of stuff online (thank you so much for this blog) but I have not read anything about how you cut the hairs out of the donor strip. So I’m just curious to know what is involved with removing the hairs from the strip once the strip is cut from the donor area? Thanks

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It is natural to be curious and even nervous if you are considering a hair transplant procedure. The best thing is to come to one of our monthly Open House events to see a live surgery take place (on closed circuit TV with the patient’s blessing) and meet NHI patients in person to see the quality of our work.

If the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, then I wonder what a video is worth?

Another great option is to watch this quick, informal video filmed during a hair transplant procedure, shot earlier this week at the New Hair Institute’s Los Angeles office. The video, found below, shows a quick scan of the surgical room, followed by a technician dissecting the grafts from the strip under a microscope. The video is narrated by Dr. Rassman — you can try to count the words, but hopefully, this video speaks more than just a “thousand words”.

Note: This video is of surgical nature and may be too graphic for some viewers.

There’s also more videos available on the NHI Videos page.

Depressed Over Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had major hair shedding at age 19-20 all of a sudden. My father said he experienced the same (!) when he was young and he’s now 51 and still has a full head of hair, he just loses a lot (but he has a lot of hairs just like me). But his father went bald in his mid 20’s and because the hairloss was so agressive (you could compare it to the shedding of hair from animals at a certain period in the year) i thought for sure i was going the same way. So I visited 3 doctors/dermatologists and they all concluded it was genetic hairloss, although they didn’t seem to know much about how hairloss/hormones exactly work and were easily agitated when you asked a lot of questions.
Anyhow, i got prescribed proscar together with minoxidil (and nizoral shampoo) and took it for 1-1.5 years, after that I just stopped taking it, followed by rather intensive hairloss (which is normal, and it wasnt the same as when i was 19) i never saw a bald spot. Now at age 25 I still have all my hairs left, although I do lose a lot of them, there’s never a bald spot. I should have listened to my father who said he experienced exactly the same thing(!) when he was younger, he’s now 51 and he still has a full head, and yes he also loses a lot of hairs on a daily basis.(we both have a lot of hairs aswell).

Since i know for a fact that my father and brother both grew (2-3 inches, 5’9 and 5’11 respectively) after the age of 18 and i didn’t (i was 5’7.5 at age 15-16 and still am at age 24) i am very certain that massive hairloss was a testorone surge, and as such probably the start of a second growth spurt.
And i’m quite certain that because of taking proscar I caused premature closure of the growth plates (more production of estrogen due to DHT blocking?). Is this hypothesis correct Dr.Rassman? It’s really depressing to know that one small pill can mess your future up in such a grave way, as my height truly bothers me now. I thank you in advance for your effort.

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I am not sure what you are asking. I assume that you lost hair after you stopped taking Propecia and minoxidil and that you noticed that more hair is falling out, yet you still have a full head of hair. Stopping these medications should not cause you to lose more hair than you would have ordinarily lost. I use the term ‘catch-up hair loss’ which means that your hair and scalp will behave the way it wound have gone without the retardation impact of these mediations on your hair. Now you are saying that you have a reasonable head of hair, but that there still may be thinning present and want to know if short term bursts of testosterone could cause hair loss. The answer to this question is yes, but generally when this happens, the lost hair is permanently lost. I have discussed many times on this blog, the need to have your scalp mapped out for miniaturization to establish a working diagnosis. If you have miniaturization in any pattern, you may still lose hair, so one would want this process to be an intelligent process with some metrics to understand what is changing on your head over time.

Using Arm or Armpit Hair As Donor? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I have an unusual hair replacement question. I suffered from alopecia and my entire hairline fell out along with some of the fron of my browline. I have been using organic products with great success and finally after a year, My hair line is returning, but the space between my brows has not filled in and now my features are greatly imbalalnced. i was wondering if it is possible to have a browline restoration procedure on a very small area, about 5/8inch on front of right brow and 1/4 or 2/8inch on left brow? As technology has advanced so much with the advent of hair restoration, I think this would be great for me, but would it be very expensive as it is such a small area of hair to be replaced/enhanced? ANd would armhair or armpit hair be eligible as donor hair as it more closely resembles the bushy brow area hair. I am AA by the way.

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The technology is available to transplant hair from one part of the body to another. However, the catch is that the hair transplanted from one part of the body, such as your armpit, will retain the same characteristics from the donor site (in this case being the armpit area). So hair moved to your eyebrows will still look like armpit hair. I generally like to use scalp hair as the donor because it most often reflects normal eyebrows. Bushy eyebrows are easy to create if needed, the art is in making it fine and less bushy from any donor site.