It is well known that men who are insecure about their receding hairline have a hair transplant. It doesn’t really mean that you as a woman can do the same.
Sonja van den Berg (33) was insecure about the size of her forehead and decided ten months ago to do something about it. Right after the procedure we talked to her and now we are calling her for an update.
'The Sun'
In those ten months a lot has happened, Sonja says at the beginning of the phone call. The TikTok’s she made about the hair transplant she found everywhere on the internet “I saw myself on a Turkish website but also in America on the website The Sun. It was crazy!”
That tells it is still special to get a hair transplant as a woman. Even though it has been a very exciting and unknown year, she is still very happy she has done. The hairs that have been implanted on her forehead are growing along nicely.
Hair growth
“The first 3 months were not that great because you don’t notice any hair growth. But then month 4 gets better when you start noticing sone growth. In month 5 I started to see my new hair line getting more and more visible. And from that moment on it started to grow fast. According to TikTok comments I have “micro bangs”, which are considered very short bangs haha.”
She has never hidden her partial short haircut. Besides posting a lot about it on TikTok, she also doesn’t wear a cap or headband over it on the street. “Fortunately, it wasn’t really noticeable, because it blended right into my normal locks. In addition, many people did not even notice if I did not tell them. It’s a very subtle difference, but for me it really had a big effect.”
Stiffer
So Sonja is very enthusiastic about the procedure. She can’t even think of anything that has been disappointing in recent months. “The only thing is perhaps that the hair on my forehead is now a bit coarser, because it was removed from the donor area on the back of my head. But actually that’s not even annoying, because I have very straight hair and this gives it a lot more volume.”
Donor area
Not only my new hair line is growing well; also, the part that was shaved, the donor area, starts growing back quite fast. “It is a bit longer than it is in the front, that is because – in contrary to the front – the hairs start to grow immediately after the procedure. Whereas the implanted hairs first fall off (called shock loss) and then starting to grow back in month 3.
With such a positive experience she also made other women enthusiastic about having a hair transplant. “I get a lot of messages from women that they are finally brave enough to also get a hair transplant. Some of them never knew that it was also possible for women and thought it was only possible for men. I also got many questions of women who have done a hair transplant but – like me at the time – didn’t really know how to take care of the new hairs after the procedure. Because after the hair transplant you have even more questions than before the hair transplant! Now I am able to help women with the experience I have.”
Group trips
Those questions come from women all over the world. Because there are so many questions and also a feeling of fear regarding the procedure, Sonja decides to guide other women with the process from beginning to end. “Now I organize group trips for women to Turkey so that they don’t need to travel alone, and they can ask me anything because I join the trips as well. I collaborate with two very professional clinics and also offer an aftercare program, because that is something I was missing after my own hair transplant.”
For example, she explains how brushing new hair works and how you can best care for it. “The time just after the procedure is very exciting, so it’s nice that I can put them at ease.
“In March I went on my first group trip with 2 women. Everything went well and we also had a lot of fun on the trip!” This month Sonja is going to Istanbul again along with 4 other women. “In this group there are women joining from New York, London, Egypt and Norway. I really enjoy being able to help others and contribute to their journey.”