When does transplanted hair thicken? Quicker than you think.

When does transplanted hair thicken?

If you’ve had a recent hair transplant one of the first questions you have of course is, “how soon can I start seeing results?” When does my newly transplanted hair begin to thicken? You should start seeing your newly transplanted hair begin to thicken in about four months from your first hair transplant procedure. At about four months you should be seeing about a half an inch of growth. 

Normal hair grows at the rate of about 1 cm or a half an inch per month. depending on your age, health etc. it can even grow faster or slower than that.

Well, to take a conservative estimate, let’s say your hair grows at a half an inch a month. 

Normally after a hair transplant, once the scabbing begins to fall away, the transplanted hair in those hair grafts follicles that have been recently transplanted into your recipient areas, will begin to fall out anywhere from 10 days to a month. 

This is perfectly normal and your hair transparent surgeon will have probably told you this. 

In fact, the sooner this hair falls out, the faster your new hair will begin to grow in. 

You see, the hair falls out because it’s basically dead tissue once it was cut off from its original blood supply.

However, as the new blood supply begins to attach itself to those newly transplanted hair follicles, they will begin to grow new hair. 

There is of course, a dormancy period you should account for as well. 

As far as how soon your hair will thicken and make a noticeable difference on your scalp, will all depend on how many sessions and grafts you’ve had.

If you’ve had the FUE hair transplantation technique, the amount of time will depend on the extent of your baldness as you may have to go back more than once. 

These will normally be spread out over about a month’s time, maybe less, maybe a little more depending on how fast you heal.

So let’s say you’ve had two sessions done within a period of one to two months your hair should begin to thicken at about six or seven months.

Is slow growth normal for a hair transplant?

Slow growth is perfectly normal for a hair transplant. 

In fact, in the beginning as I have already said, you will lose that newly transplanted hair as the hair follicles growth cycle restarts once the blood supply is reattached. 

Once those blood supplies are reattached, the hair growth cycle will continue just as it had in your donor areas where the hair was extracted from. 

This process will take about 4 months conservatively. 

It could take you a little more depending on your age and your genetics. 

However, in the beginning, newly transplanted hair will seem like it grows slower due to your own impatience and anticipation. 

You want to see results and you want to see them yesterday. So this makes the waiting period seem longer. 

Second, since those newly transplanted follicles are growing from basically nothing, it will take you about 6 months before you really notice the results.

Does transplanted hair thicken over time?

Transplanted hair does thicken over time. As your hair grows to its normal length it will also grow to its normal diameter, just as it did in the original donor areas from where they were extracted from.. 

This diameter is the same as it had been when it was growing in the back or sides of your head.

How many months after a hair transplant do you see results?

Depending on how short you keep your hair, you could be seeing your hair transplant results after 6 to 10 months. 

If you like to grow your hair long, of course it will be closer to 10 months, maybe longer. 

However, if you are used to getting short haircuts, even if you’ve had two procedures, you would expect to see your hair transplant results really filling in after about 6 to 8 months.

Does transplanted hair thin?

If the transplanted hair was extracted properly from the prime donor areas at the back or sides of the head, then that hair is not normally not pre-programmed to thin or experience male pattern baldness. 

So that hair will continue to grow just as the hair on the sides and back of your head grow and don’t thin.

However, there are rare cases where men experience thinning hair even in the back and sides of their scalps, although, this is quite rare. 

The key here is that you really need to go over where exactly your hair transplant surgeon is going to extract your grafts. 

If you are having the FUE technique done, which is the most recommended and modern technique available today in hair transplantation, then the extractions need to be not only taken from prime donor areas, but they also the extractions need to be evenly spread out. 

This will do two things. It will minimize scarring. And it will also save you from the “moth eaten like appearance” in the donor areas, if you get your haircut too short. 

You can check out the diagrams in the links that I provide here. This diagram shows the prime donor areas for extraction. 

The next diagram shows an example of what a moth eaten appearance can look like if the hair follicles in the FUE technique are extracted too close together.

You see, not all hair on the back and sides of the head are ideal for hair transplants. 

If the surgeon takes hair too far up or high on your scalp, even on the sides and back, those areas may also be susceptible to male pattern baldness. 

All you have to do is look at examples of men who have gone totally bald and look how low their hairline is around their head i.e. that “horseshoe” look. 

Some men have very low horseshoes, meaning that they’ve lost additional hair where many men don’t.

Also, if hair is taken too low towards the neckline, this hair is often too fine to provide substantial coverage in the recipient areas. 

Sometimes this hair is ideal for extraction, if it’s used to soften the frontal hairline. 

But this hair is quite precious and many hair transplant surgeons avoid extracting hair too close to the neckline simply because they don’t want to take the chance of unnecessary and possibly more visible scarring.

How can I thicken newly transplanted hair myself?

You can thicken newly transplanted hair yourself once it’s fully grown in. 

If you are still self-conscious about your thinning areas and coverage, you may want to try going back to hair thickening shampoos, conditioners and serums.

If you are in desperate need of thickening those newly transplanted hair areas in order to disguise the appearance of a fresh hair transplant, you can also use hair fibers.

However, first you should only use these hair fibers once the recipient areas have fully healed and the scabs have cleared away. 

It’s always best to consult your hair transplant surgeon for their recommendations first though. 

But hair fibers can be a good option for thickening transplanted hair before they grow in fully.

That’s it guys. As you can see, if you’ve had a hair transplant, it can take some time for the transplanted hair to thicken. 

Only then, will you be able to truly evaluate how well the hair transplant has taken.