Hair!

Yay, rich, thick, luxurious hair!

Yeah, I know it’s not typical to want to declare out loud that “hey, I’m not wearing my own hair,” but I know there’s enough people who’ll want to know about this, so f— it.  For those like myself who were unfortunate enough to put off transition until middle age — at which point the forehead had grown very large and the hair damage had become permanent — sometimes it looks like the only option is to wear wigs for the rest of our lives (or else save up thousands of dollars for hair transplants).  But I’ve found (well, actually been pointed to, by a member of the local community) another option.  Right now, there’s only one company that makes this available, and I do risk giving a kind of sales ”plug,” but because I’m not being paid for this, I can give you all the unbiased skinny, including clear indications as to who should not use this method.

 

It isn’t, however, easy to locate this option.  What I have right now is called a “Ventra Graft” by the location that I deal with (HRS of Calgary), but obviously other locations use different names for it.  And typing “hair replacement system” into a browser will get you a huge mess of different things.  Doing a search for “HRS,” “hair” and the name of the nearest major city to you will probably be the best way to locate your nearest outlet.  Not every city has an HRS location, so you may have to travel.  The parent company is apparently based in Florida, possibly in Palm Beach Gardens?  They are also somewhat proprietary of their trade secrets, so there are some things that I can’t tell you because I simply don’t have access to the information.

Basically, what I have is a partial hairpiece that matches my natural hair (closely — because we fished grey hairs out to avoid overbiasing it toward grey, but obviously also took a few too many light hairs out) , which covers the area that has most severely thinned.  It is then attached by a bio-friendly adhesive, I’d assume of a medical grade but can’t guarantee that, which enables me to wear this when swimming, etc.

Please keep in mind that this option is not for everyone, and there are some things that you should try before resorting to this.  A graft system is really a last resort, for reasons I will discuss shortly.  Minoxidil / Rogaine is a must to try for a reasonable period (say, a year) beforehand.  Finasteride (Proscar) is another, and they can be used in conjunction.  For those transwomen taking estrogen, that will usually also help considerably.  Taking these for a year or so will help regenerate those hair follicles that haven’t completely died.  If you start getting light, thin growth where you want it, then you’re on the right track, and don’t need the system I’m talking about.  Sometimes, this can be supplemented by a small amount of hair transplants, and you’re set.  In my case, the follicles had been so damaged for so long that Rogaine + Proscar + Spiro / Estrace accomplished next to nothing.  The follicles had completely died, and the area of damage was so large that a consultation for hair transplants resulted in a price quote upwards of $16,000 (an amount I don’t expect to have during my life, especially with the other expenses of my transition and already facing the unlikelihood that I’ll ever own my own home, etc.) to achieve a result that I would still not be completely happy with (and which would apparently use up all the best donor hairs, so further transplants were not much of an option).

(There is a bitter irony in this.  I initially attempted to transition when I was not quite 20 years old, and encountered one stonewall after another by doctors, until finally I found one who seemed to know what he was talking about, and who discouraged me with the astronomical information of what it would cost to go through the process — including a price tag of $15,000-plus, for the final surgery.  But in fact, Alberta Health has always paid for GRS, so I actually could have accomplished this back when I still had hair.  Instead, I decided to try to “fix my brain,” failed, and now face that same price tag just on hair transplants alone.  And for those who remind me that I’m now opting to go without GRS, yes, that is also an irony in this equation, but was also a much later decision, one that largely arose because of my initial acceptance based on false information that I would never be able to afford the surgery — I’ll explain a bit of that in a later article in progress, “The Decision to Keep It.”)

So the Ventra Graft is a reasonable option for me, having tried and exhausted those other options.  Here’s the skinny:

The Good

• I’ve found the hair system to be secure and quite realistic-looking.  Even the part / scalp looks natural, unless someone knows enough to really scrutinize it closely to see the netting. 
• It’s also worry-free, and for someone who’s had to worry about wigs slipping / shifting / scalpline showing, this is a godsend.

The Bad

• Care of it is slightly more crucial than with normal hair.  This is sort of a ”good or bad,” depending on your perspective.  Personally, I’m fine with it, and don’t think it’s as bad as it could have been — but you have to know to use caution, i.e. condition it religiously, use care in blow-drying it or avoid doing so, etc.
• It is expensive long-term.  The initial expense to me was under $2000 CDN, for two grafts.  I wear one and switch during my follow-up visits.  That itself isn’t bad, but maintenance needs to be done every 4-6 weeks, and those visits run about $70 CDN.  Prices may vary elsewhere.  Maintenance visits are necessary, though, because the hair underneath keeps growing (for a few years, anyway), and sweat etc. gradually loosens the adhesive.  I’m lucky and my scalp stays pretty dry, so I don’t have to go in as often.  Over the years, in fact, the transplants could very well be less expensive, but as an up-front initial expense, transplants are beyond my reach (and still inadequate).  HRS also pushes their own shampoo and conditioner (slightly more expensive than regular shampoo / conditioner, but not bad), which I think can be varied from, but there’s a “Revive” formula which is necessary maintenance that I wouldn’t recommend doing without.  Fortunately, you don’t use a lot of this.
• The grafts will gradually lose hair, as will anything, and need to be replaced every few years.  Careful maintenance will help prolong this.
• The first few maintenance sessions can be uncomfortable, especially if you have a dry scalp and it proves difficult to remove.  The eucalyptus used for scalp cleansing burns a little.

The Ugly

• However medically-friendly the adhesive is that’s used, it will undoubtedly continue to cause damage to hair follicles underneath the graft, by suffocating them.  This is why this is a last-resort option: I will be dependent on this system permanently, and can no longer expect to grow my own hair there.  If the company goes out of business, or if I’m not able to afford the expense as I get older, I will be even more desperately dependent on wigs.

So it’s not an ideal option, but if you’ve exhausted every other reasonable possibility, it is still something that a person can be very happy with. 

For those who thought that moving to something more secure than wigs was impossible, I hope this info helps.

~ by dentedbluemercedes on March 23, 2008.