Common questions after a hair transplant
We are often asked about what a person can and cannot do after a hair transplant procedure. Here are a few answers of the most commonly asked questions.
Q: Can I exercise and when?
A: Most patients can resume mild to moderate exercise about four days after their procedure. This means lifting light weights (but no bench pressing), treadmill, elliptical, walking, bike riding, jogging, and similar things. No very heavy lifting until about 14 days.
Q: When can I wash my hair?
A: Ideally, we shall have our team shampoo your hair the day after your procedure. You can begin washing the second day after your transplant. In fact, we want you to shampoo your scalp twice per day for the two weeks following the surgery to keep the areas very clean and without scabbing. We recommend Copper Chemist products for best results.
Q: When can I color or tint my hair after my transplant?
A: Four weeks. We strongly recommend that you color your hair a day or two before your surgery so that you won’t have to color it too soon after the procedure.
Q: How soon should I begin to see results from my transplant?
A: The initial hairs transplanted will grow and fall out after about 2 weeks. Then the follicles that were planted into the bald or thin areas will be empty for about three to four months. After that, the hairs will grow at a rate of about a half-inch per month. That means that after post-op month six is when you’ll begin to see cosmetically significant results. Remember, too, that final growth results for most people are at the 18-month timeframe.
Q: Will my transplant stop progression of the other hair on my head?
A: Absolutely not! Hair transplantation only restores growing hair to areas that were thin or bald. It has NO positive impact on your remaining native hair, which definitely will continue to thin out over time due to your androgenetic alopecia. It is so important for our patients to use non-surgical treatments to stabilize progression of the rest of your non-transplanted hair; especially effective is the Auxo A300 laser device for all patients; Propecia (for men) and Rogaine Foam are helpful in appropriate patients, as well. If you do not stabilize these hairs, you will have to have more transplants to replace them in the future.