How Long After a Facelift Can I Color my Hair?

I generally advise my patients to wait 4 to 6 weeks to color their hair after a face lift. As the chemicals used for coloring are very irritating, I want to ensure  that the incisions are well healed. If there is a delay in healing, I recommend waiting longer. Most hair dressers in my area are well familiar with the incisions of a face lift and can apply the dye limiting exposure to these areas for the first application. 

As part of our pre-operative instructions package for a face lift, I generally advise my patients to dye their hair 7 to 10 days prior to surgery. This minimizes the inconvenience of having to wait the 4 to 6 weeks prior to  applying color. Any closer to surgery risks an irritated scalp at the time of the procedure.  

I would recommend discussing this, and any other question regarding your recovery, with your Plastic Surgeon.

Best regards, Andrew Lyos, MD, FACS

I recommend waiting 4 - 6 weeks to make sure the incisions have healed completely so the dye chemicals don't cause any irritation. If you still have some scabs in some areas of the incisions I would wait.

I advise my patients to color their hair before surgery. After surgery you want to wait until incisions are completely healed with no scabs, usually 4 to 6 weeks. Good luck.