AA Woman on a Journey to Restore my Edges to Glory

I highly recommend Dr. Frank for African American/afro textured hair. I'm an AA female with 4B hair who was suffering from traction alopecia that really zapped my confidence. I was looking for an FUT doctor with experience with afro-textured hair and I saw a few reviews from Black women on here so I decided to check him out. Our hair type needs a very experienced doctor due to the curl pattern of the follicle. He was nice, very patient, and music to my ears that I wouldn't have to shave off the front of my hair. Dare I say the FUT experience itself was actually pleasant, it was painless and I definitely fell asleep. His staff was very nice to chat with and I got to listen to my music of choice and have lunch. It was over in 5 hours and I was able to go back to work (working an office job at home) 2 days later. Be prepared to be gentle with your grafts for a month and to wait 12-18 months for the final result, but it's worth the wait. Also be prepared to avoid making the same mistakes that snatched your edges out in the first place - when we know better, we must do better with the excessive weaves, tight braids, and cornrows. While this is a big investment, his pricing was the most reasonable of any of the doctors I contacted. Don't go the rest of your life with no edges and hiding your hairline from the world. This was definitely worth the investment. Hope this helps another woman with textured hair looking for the right doctor.

So...14 months later and I can say that the FUT procedure was worth it and I had a great doctor. Here is a breakdown of my experience:

Month 0 - 1 post-op: Was super careful about not messing around with the grafts - very gentle. I slept upright on my couch for a week even though that was only required for a night or two. I used the saline spray quite a bit to keep the environment moist. No forehead swelling - the tape really helps! Very gentle about how I washed it. Just mostly wore it in an pineapple with hair scarves and headbands. Boring but we were in the middle of a pandemic and luckily I work remotely so this was easier to pull off. Getting the stitches out was easy peasy.

Months 2 - 3: No progress, continued to be careful and wear my hair in an afro with headbands. The hair started shedding in this time period.

Months 4-5: The shedding continued big time, and honestly looked worse than before the transplant as the hair around the transplanted area also fell out. I started to get concerned but doctor assured me the shock loss is normal.

Months 6-7: The shedding stopped and the hair grew back to look exactly as it did pre-transplant.

Months 8-9: At this point I finally felt comfortable enough about not damaging my results to do a braided fulani cornrow style but I made sure the stylist did not braid the transplant area and instead let the hair drape across the bald area. At this point I could finally see peach fuzz in the transplant area and a clearly defined hairline (but quite weird looking because the hair was so short).

Month 10: Peach fuzz grew out a little but still looked really weird to have such short hair in that area, but definitely showed real progress and a defined hairline.

Month 11-12: More growth of the peach fuzz and by the one year mark felt comfortable wearing my hair back again. Had some knotless braids installed which were done very gently.

Month 13: When I took the knotless braids out, I was very pleased with the progress. The hairline was defined, and the transplanted hair is catching up to the rest of my hair. No one looking at my hairline would think I previously had a serious issue, it's pretty normal looking now, though still short.

Month 14: Did a big chop so now all of my hair can grow out at the same rate, and definitely no one could tell that there was ever a serious problem at this point.

I'm still waiting for month 18 for my final results but I'm happy with what I've achieved. I think the keys to success are definitely patience - I can't say I started getting "happy" about the results until month 12-13 so be prepared to wait. Keep the hair spritzed with water/moisturized often, and I liked Haitian Castor oil. No braided styles or wigs until at least 6 months. I'd give up weaves and microbraids forever as though are the worst for traction alopecia. Any style should avoid direct tension on the problem areas - go to a good stylist who can find creative ways to leave the edges of the hair out or make it very little tension.

I'm an AA women in my early 40s with natural hair and I've been suffering from traction alopecia for over a decade at the upper temple areas, which I think was made worse by post-partum associated loss and stress. The original loss was caused by weaves and microbraids and it's gotten progressively worse. Having the bald spots on my edges means I'm so limited in what I can do with my hair, and wearing wigs and braids to hide the problem is just not what I want to do for the rest of my life. So I decided to take the plunge and get a hair transplant, after combing the internet for reviews for a few months, and consulting with several doctors. My procedure was August 2021. What I found in my search for information was that there are not a lot of reviews available from black women specifically so I want to do my part in sharing my experience and results with other women with curly texture who may be considering the procedure. These weaves, braids, and other hairstyles are killing the edges softly lol. I chose the doctor I did mostly because he had good reviews here, he has experience with AA hair, his pricing was reasonable, and he promised he didn't need to shave my recipient area like I've seen in the videos on YouTube. That was important because I did not want to walk around with the entire front of my scalp shaved for months. The procedure: As for the procedure itself, it was not bad at all. I had the FUT which is strongly recommended for afro textured hair vs. FUE. The procedure sounds awful - I mean cutting away a piece of your scalp?! But for me it was completely painless - the only pain was a few sharp jabs when putting in the anesthetic to numb the scalp. I was comfortable and even slept through part of the procedure thanks to the sedative. Post-op I wasn't taking any chances so I slept on my couch upright for an entire week, though the doctor said this wasn't necessary, especially past the 3rd day. That was probably the worst part, but not too bad because my couch is comfy. As advised, I spritzed with saline solution religiously for 5 days, I wore the tape on my forehead for three full days and had very minimal swelling. After 5 days I washed with baby shampoo, and after 2 weeks I gently removed most of the scabs and was able to give my hair a good wash. Obviously at one month out, no results but I'm prepared to wait patiently and hopefully start to see results after Thanksgiving which would make the 4 months when grow may start. Because my hair wasn't shaved it's easier to conceal though it doesn't look great. I will say that I went with a doctor located in NYC, feel free to contact me for info about the practice I used. I am waiting to post that info pending my results. I will also post some photos of before and progress.