Identical twin from Derbyshire has hair transplants so hairline matches sister's - and it cost £5.5k

Rebecca Chadwick, 29, went ahead with the procedures to help boost her confidence after comparing her receding hairline to her sister's.

She first noticed the difference when she was 18 as she began to notice the subtle differences between her and her sister. After lots of research, she underwent her first hair transplant in January 2016 to "round off" her hairline.

She followed this with another procedure in March 2022 to give her a properly formed widow's peak. The consultant is now speaking out to educate people and "change the narrative" on the cosmetic procedure and to normalise it for women.

Rebecca, a consultant from Derby, said: "There was something about my face I was struggling with. I have an identical twin sister and her line is so symmetrical, but mine looked like it hadn't formed properly. "I started to hyper-fixate on my looks and it was all I could see when I looked in the mirror.

"When I went into my twenties I started to focus more on my looks to improve my confidence. I came across a random post on Instagram from someone who'd had a hair transplant. I'd researched Turkey as an option but their method was more outdated and invasive.

"From the research I did, I found that UK clinics made it look more natural. 'It was a lot to research as they're much more common for men. I would like one more hair transplant because you can't get the fullness. I'm not trying to look like my sister, but she's the reflection of me.

"Over the years it has amounted to quite a bit of money, but now when I look back at photos from when I was younger I can tell I wasn't confident. Now I am, and I attribute that to spending money on my looks. 'My sister was the same as everyone else at first, and thought it was so minor. But now when I show her my before and after photos, she gets the importance of it."

After noticing her receding hairline during her early teens after noticing a difference between herself and her sister, Rebecca started to ''seriously'' look into hair transplants in 2016- aged just 22.

She quickly decided against options abroad and eventually settled on a clinic in Lenton, Nottingham for her surgery. Rebecca sent in photos of her hairline before booking in for a consultation December 2015.

"The first one I paid upfront with savings, and the second one I did on finance and paid for on a monthly basis," she explained. "I'm still paying for it now, I've got two years of payments left.

"A good surgeon will always tell you the risks, but the main complications were a risk of infection or the body could reject your own hairs, and it doesn't take or grow, but that's very rare.

"We talked about my expectations and whether they were realistic. Then, if I was happy to proceed I could book in with a consultant for the procedure."

Just weeks after her initial consultation, Rebecca attended her first hair transplant appointment on January 6th 2016. Rebecca, said: "I went on my own just in a taxi there and back both times as it's a less serious procedure. I was ready for it to be done after my research. 'My first procedure was just two hours!

"On the day, the surgeon marks up the area, and the donor area of hair to be taken from the back. It's in the middle of your head so you can cover it with your hair. With men who are balding on top, they take it from the back of their head, but with women they just take a line from the middle of the head at the back so they don't have to shave the donor area."

''Surgeons then took hair follicles and inserted them into my hairline. I had 800 follicles inserted costing £2,500. You're not allowed to wash your hair for a few days after because it needs to heal, and around 10 days after the hair will fall out before slowly growing back.

"When you first come home you have to be spraying your hair with salt water solution every one or two hours for the first week of having it done. You have to keep it wet, because if it dries out then the hair dries. After that, the first time you wash your hair you have to use baby shampoo and use a cup to pour the water.

"You have to be gentle washing it for the next two weeks, and you can't go swimming for a month. I was a bit worried about the judgement from people as it was such a small area I had done.

"I took some time off work afterwards, but went back in quite quickly. I naturally told people and it was fine."

Around three years after her first transplant, Rebecca noticed there were other differences she wasn't happy with. "When the hair started to grow out after the first one, I did think 'why does this side of my face still not look symmetrical,'" she said. That's when I realised my widow's peak was not formed properly, and needed some filling in."

In March 2022, she had another surgery at the same clinic, with 800 follicles inserted into her widow's peak - costing £3,000. Rebecca's latest procedure has now grown out, down to her ear but is not yet quite long enough to tuck behind it.

"I've just started to notice how fuller and thicker it looks," she said. “You can tell if you've had it done because the hair is thicker at the back rather than the front.

"When you have it done, you can hear them inserting the hair so it's a bit gross, and after it looks like you have a painful bruise."

Rebecca's surgeon informed her that they get a lot of women having hair transplants if they don't like the size of their foreheads, as it can be a way to correct it, as well as transgender women too.

Sharing her hair transplant journey on TikTok, she often has women reaching out saying they "didn't know it existed".

Rebecca said: "Some people react to it and say, 'you don't need it', or, 'there are a lot of other ways you could spend your money'. The thing I've noticed from office gossip is men talking about it.

"When I tell them, 'actually I've had one done', they're genuinely inquisitive about it all. I like to give people more of an education and to change the narrative. It's normal to have chats about lip filler, but not this."

To other women considering having a hair transplant, Rebecca encourages them to go for it. She said: "If you've done enough research and don't just go for the cheapest option, you can try out different options too on a budget. My confidence has definitely improved, it's enabled me to go for jobs I wouldn't have done in the past.

"Since I've approved upon my looks, I've found the confidence to be more assertive and stand up for myself too. I'd like a bit more fullness in my hairline, so I'd look to have another hair transplant in the next year or so."