Shave Head Before Hair Transplant

No...it is unnecessary to shave your head before undergoing a hair transplant. The surgeon needs to be able to see the direction of hair growth, so it is best not to shave.

It is common not to shave the recipient areas for follicular unit hair transplants. If strip harvesting is done, only the hair on the strip is trimmed down. Therefore when the donor site is stitched up, the sutures are usually completely hidden by the surrounding longer hair. The recipient area is best not shaved so the surgeon can assess hair direction. If FUE (follicular unit extraction) is the method of harvesting and you are receiving 1000 to 3000 grafts ( which today is a a... more

DO NOT shave the scalp prioor to hair transplant surgery. It is very important to see the direction of the hair shafts when harvesting the donor hair to avoid injury to the underlying hair follicles.

We never shave the head in 30 years of doing hair transplants and flaps. The most important thing is how much density you will need and how much donor area you will have in the future. You might look at the Fleming-Mayer flap before deciding which technique you will like the best 20 years from now as well as the total cost.

It is not necessary to shave your head prior to undergoing a follicular unit hair transplant by either the strip technique or follicular unit extraction.