Hair Loss Discussion Forums

drake · Site Admin Joined: 02 Aug 2005 Posts: 82

David, thanks for sending in your HCM picture, it looks great. Sorry about the delay, I was on vacation for the last week. Now it's back to the real world.

It looks very good, I think, quite natural. If the itching isn't bad, it looks like a good solution. It's always good to get both sides of the story:

davidfox · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 14

Thanks for posting that pic.

I guess JPG's get a little fuzzy after being edited a few times. This doesn't really show how good the hair line can look, but at least it shows how I wear it when the hair line looks good. Some times I do a crappy job of applying it and don't bother fixing it so I wear bangs until I get around to re-doing it.

Notice that I only let about 3/4 of an inch show. I don't let the entire hair line show because it is too much of straight line and doesn't look realistic. HCM provides solutions to this problem but they are out of my price range.

Anyway, I hope this information is useful to someone who is thinking about the HCM option. Any questions, just lemme know.

kowrip · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 14

davidfox, I'm glad that you have had a pleasant experience with HCM. I, on the other hand, did NOT have a good experience with them. I didn't have any complaints about how the system looked or the itching being that bad. I had 2 major problems with the system (I actually had WAY more, but I'll stick to these 2 just to keep the post as short as possible).

First of all, the weekly maintenance that has be done on the frontal adhesive was a a nightmare. When they first instructed me on how to do this, they made it seem like it was an easy 5-10 minute job. That was the furthest thing from the truth. I had the system for about 5 months and I almost never had an easy time doing it. It was almost impossible for me to keep the glue out of hair. I could also never get the adhesive completely lined up with the system. So, I'd end up either having a little loose flap in the front or I'd have adhesive too far down my head and hair would stick to my forehead. Both of these made it look terrible. I'd have to spend lots of time fixing these problems, which made the whole process take 45 minutes to 1 hour. On top of that, the weekly maintenance was actually DAMAGING my system because I'd constantly get glue in the hair piece and hair would get ripped out as I was cleaning out the glue.

One thing I have to mention is that I was not informed of this "weekly" maintenance until AFTER I had the system on. Before I purchased the system, I was told that the only maintenance required was a monthly full service which cost $75. After I had the system, I began to absolutely hate doing the weekly maintenance. I don't see how anybody could do it in the 5-10 minutes that they claimed.

The other problem I had was the cost. Again, I was misled about this. I was told that the initial system was $1500, but I was not told that they should be replaced every 3-4 months. So, I was under the impression that I would only be paying $1500 + $75 per month. The contract DID mention that they have to be periodically replaced. However, since I was informed that the only maintenance required was the monthly full service, I figured that the system would last quite a long time. What made a new system necessary every 3-4 months was the damage I was causing from the "easy" 5-10 minute weekly maintenance.

Also, they didn't even tell me about the membership program costs until after I had the system on for 4 months !! They advertised the system as requiring only the initial cost of the system plus $75 per month. Only after I had my system for 4 months and complained loudly about the difficulty of the weekly maintenance did they tell me that I needed to join a "program", which costs anywhere from $220 to $600 a month. I was furious when the stylist told me that. They had now misled or lied to me several times and I had had enough. That system that I absolutely HATED was going to cost me around $3000 a year plus a load of frustrations.

I am so glad I ended my involvement with HCM after only 5 months. It felt GREAT to take off that stupid hair system. I had hair restoration surgery done about 1 month after I stopped HCM. It cost me $11000, which is cheaper than even 4 years on HCM's cheapest plan. It's been 6 months for me now and my hair is coming in very nicely. It looks very natural. It requires no maintenance. I don't worry about a hair system coming loose or shifting on me. It was easily one of the best decisions I've made.

davidfox · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 14

I agree about the sales techniques. They should just tell you, "Look, this is going to cost you $1500 one time plus $250 per month forever. If you can't afford that, leave now."

If they would just come right out and say that, they would get a lot less negative publicity. Like I said in an earlier post, I was told about this up front by a member and I thought it was so ridiculously cheap that I kept wondering what the "catch" was.

Anyway, I don't blame anyone who is furious about their sales techniques.

As for the weekly maintenance, my stylist showed me a trick - you use two adhesive strips rather than one. With two strips, there is something solid to grab when its time to remove it.

kowrip · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 14

davidfox · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 14

If you thought that your natural hair was supposed to grow through the matrix, you were defintely misled. I am going to write the company about the fact that they oversell their product. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot.

I would like to see a really well done surgery. We have all see plenty of bad ones, which I consider to be walking advertisements for HCM. My father got a transplant done and has been back to them probably 5 or 6 times, threatening them with legal action and/or physical violence. They accomodated him every time by giving him 700-ish free grafts, and his hair is now a lot thicker. But given the choice, I would rather shave my head, do steroids and go for the Vin Deisel look than have it look like his. This was 7 years ago now, so if you are happy with your results then I guess the technology has advanced significantly.

Since then my brother started the hair transplant process. He got two batches of 2000 graphs for a total of 4000. Again, the technology used on him must have been inferior to what your transplant company does, because the hair was not very thick and he now has two extremely ugly scars along the back of his head - the "donor" area. He nows feels as anti-transplant and pro-HCM as you feel the other way. At some point he will contact a surgeon to see if he can remove the scars.

To me, one of the big benefits of HCM is that you can stop any time you want, but my brother is hooked on HCM for life - if he were to stop, his terrifying hair transplant would be exposed. He can't even shave his head now because, when shaved, the graft marks create this crop circle effect on his head.

The thing that scares me about hair transplants is that the companies that my father and brother went to both had "clients" available for you to inspect their hair to see how natural the results are. And they did look great, they just didn't tell you that you have to come back for like 12000 grafts if you want it to look right. The results that Dad and Bro got scare the crap out of me.

Can you tell us what company you dealt with for your transplant? I am not married to the HCM idea, I am just looking for the best solution. If I can find another solution that shows absolutely no "balding" areas and my hair can look thick and wavey ("GQ style") then I would consider switching.

kowrip · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 14

I went to Medical Hair Restoration (MHR) in Philadelphia. They were very honest about everything. I went in there thinking that I wouldn't even be a candidate for it. The HCM people did a great job of convincing me that surgery wouldn't be a good option because I had such extensive hair loss. Boy, were they wrong ! MHR was certainly able to give me what I wanted, which is complete coverage without being overly thick and a very natural look. If I decide that I want more thickness, I'll go back for another procedure at some point. I'm sorry to hear about your father's and brother's experiences. Clearly, their surgeons were either using outdated techniques or they just weren't very good. Nowadays, they should be using only follicular units and micro grafts. My surgeon used follicular units along with grafts of 2 and 3 hairs. I also did a lot of research before taking the plunge. There were a few other companies that looked decent, but MHR has an office pretty close to where I work and I was satisfied with what I read about their surgeons and methods. By the way, I don't know where you got that number of 12000 grafts, but you shouldn't need to go anywhere close to that number to get a full look. Again, I urge you to do some online searches for hair transplant pictures. Find the good websites that tell you the names of surgeons that performed each transplant and the number of grafts done. I don't recall seeing a single one with more than 6000 grafts. Most were in the 2000 - 4000 range. The MHR website has great photos along with the graft count as well.

irishjon · Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 1

I have to agree with everything said in the first post of this thread. I too was a member of HCM for approximately 5 months. During which time, I constantly had to tell people that "my wife colored my hair" because they could never match the light-brown/blond shade of my natural hair. Of course, I'm sure that no one bought my excuse, but no one said anything . . . except my wife and my mother. They were the only ones who were nice enough to tell me how bad it looked.

My experiences at HCM included mis-coloration, constant itching, glue getting stuck in my hair, the system falling off while I slept & many, many more uncomfortable moments. They say you can swim with it. . . yeah but everytime you come up from the water, the first thing you do is reach for the top of your head, terrified that this thing glued to your head will fall off.

The people at HCM were nice. . . . but then again they were salespeople, they are paid to be nice. The bottom line is even if you think your system looks natural, it doesn't. The front hairline is so evidently fake, and the system never works on the sides and back beyond the first 3 or so days after your appointment. Also it is absolute torture trying to apply the adhesive yourself. Try doing everything backwards over your head in the mirror. You need to be a contortionist.

The day I left there, was the best day of my life. I know there is someone reading this right now feeling suckered into paying hundreds of hard earned dollars a month, and looking like Donald Trump. Your the person who looks at every other guys head in the waiting room before your styling, and say to yourself "these guys look ridiculous." Guess what? They are saying the same thing about you.

To those people, I simply say this . . . your hair does not look natural. Don't let these people sucker you any longer. Get rid of them and the rug on your head. By a hair trimmer, buzz your hair with a 2 or 3 clip, and you'll never have felt better about yourself. Confidence isn't totally about looks, its about taking control of your life. Don't let HCM run yours.

Charisma · Joined: 29 May 2006 Posts: 11 Location: NY