2 months post op FUE hair transplant, can I color my hair? (photos)

Question

Hi Doctors .. I have had FUE hair transplant 2 months ago ... I have about %40 gray hair,when is it safe to color my hair? and what kind of hair coloring can i use... if i could not use normal chemical dyes can i use henna to color my hair? I also would like to know if the hair in the donor area grows back after extraction ? i know i should know the answer but i am not sure .. thanks for your help ..

Ken Anderson, MD, FISHRS · Answer

When a hair follicle is transplanted into the scalp, a tiny incision is made with a specialized instrument in the scalp, and the hair follicle is inserted into its new location.  The body immediately starts to heal in the new graft, and since the incision for the follicle is so small (~1mm or less), the healing progresses fairly rapidly, and should be fully healed in their new location by 10 days following your procedure.  Typically if a patient colors their hair once every 6 weeks, I advise them to color it 3 weeks before and then 3 weeks after their hair transplant procedure.  21 days is plenty long enough for the wounds to completely heal and is safe to color your hair.  Certainly at 2 months it is safe to color your hair.To answer your second question about hair growing back in the donor area following extraction, the short answer is no.  The hairs that were removed from the donor area were literally removed and transplanted to the areas of loss in the front.  It's in a way like transplanting a tree; if you remove a tree from a given location and move it to another, you don't expect the tree to regrow where it was take from, as it was removed.  The FUE procedure removes entire hair follicles from your donor area.  A person is born with a finite number of follicles, roughly 100,000, and a hair restoration procedure, whether FUE or FUT only moves around whatever hair is remaining on your scalp.  The beauty of the FUE procedure is that the follicles can be moved without using a scalpel, without creating a linear scar, and without using stitches.  The surrounding hairs around the FUE sites where they were taken from in the donor area grow to camouflage the tiny circular scars left behind following an FUE procedure.  And to clarify, both FUE and FUT leave scars; there is no such thing as a "scarless" hair restoration surgery.  Every time you incise through the skin a scar will result.  There are no exceptions.  Since the hair follicles originate under the skin, the skin must be incised to obtain the hair for transplantation.  So with the FUT linear procedure, a linear scar is created.  With an FUE procedure, such as one with the ARTAS robotic hair restoration system, a very small, flat, circular scar is left behind in the location in which the follicles were removed.

Anna Petropoulos, MD, FRCS · Answer

Hello 11_11, and thank you for your questions! Typically, it's recommended to wait at least 6-12 months post-transplant before coloring your hair with either chemical dyes or henna. This allows the newly transplanted hair follicles time to settle and mature. Coloring too early might interfere with the healing process or affect the newly transplanted hairs. The donor area, usually at the back or sides of your head, typically recovers well after an FUE hair transplant. The hair in this area should grow back normally, though it might take a few months for the full regrowth to be noticeable. The donor area is usually less affected because the extraction process is minimally invasive compared to other types of hair transplants. If you have any concerns or specific questions related to your hair transplant or hair care, consulting with your hair transplant surgeon is advised. Best of luck in your hair journey! Best, Genie Alexander, RN BSN for Dr. Anna Petropoulos, MD FRCS at Center for Classic Beauty, Danvers & Boston, MA

Jae Pak, MD · Answer

Always follow up with your doctor but in general you can start coloring your hair after about 3 weeks.

George Abrahamian, MD · Answer

Hello, Dr. George Abrahamian here from LA FUE Hair Clinic in Pasadena, CA. Typically your scalp has recovered well enough to start dyeing your approximately 3-4 weeks after a hair restoration procedure. However, not any hair dye should be used, as many hair dyes contain harsh chemicals that can cause chemical burns to the skin which can impact graft integrity. Organic hair dyes are best, and I recommend that hair dyes should be tried out prior to transplant, to see how the skin reacts to it as I have seen even organic hair dyes cause inflammation to the skin. I generally recommend to my clients that they wait 2-3 months before attempting to dye the recipient areas, to give the skin ample time to heal and the grafts to take root and start their maturation cycles before dying the hair. This will significantly reduce the risk of chemical trauma to the grafts. 
Secondarily, the hair that is grafted from the donor area, typically does not grow in the donor area again. With FUE hair restoration, the hairs surrounding the removed follicles will mask the areas that the grafts are taken from, but the exact areas from where the grafts are removed will not grow hair. I always make the following analogy, if you uproot a tree from your backyard, and plant it in the front yard, do you now have two trees, or did you move the tree from one area to the other? Same logic applies to hair restoration. The hair follicle is removed by the root, and planted in the area that we prefer to have it. So the overall number of follicles stays the same, but what we are doing is changing its location from the donor to the recipient site. We are born with a finite number of hair follicles, all we are doing is changing their location to be more aesthetically pleasing. I hope this helps.

Sean Behnam, MD · Answer

Generally, after one month you can consider your hair being back to normal, and you can treat it however you would treat your normal hair. Dye, cut, and style away.

Jeff Donovan, MD, PhD · Answer

There is generally no problem dyeing 3 weeks post transplant. A great deal of healing has taken place by that point and dyes are safe. Now onto your second question. Hairs don't grow back once they are taken from the back of the scalp donor area. Once they are taken they are gone and the donor area now contains fewer hairs. Fortunately, humans have such an excessive number of hairs in the donor area that many thousand can be taken out without the area appearing thin.

Michael Meshkin, MD - Account Suspended · Answer

At this point after two,months, you can return to your normal.  The scabs are gone and head should return to how it looked prior to the procedure. You can do hair coloring, if you desire.

William Rassman, MD (retired) · Answer

Yes, everything should now be normal on your head. You may use normal dies with out worrying. Many people worry about their hair transplanted area after a hair transplant but time works in your favor and you can return to full normal activities including using any shampoo you want of hair dye you need that is safe.

2 months post op FUE hair transplant, can I color my hair? (photos)

Answers (8)

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