Can I Shave My Head 3 Weeks after Hair Transplant Surgery?

This question, from a member of our [tag]hair loss[/tag] social community and discussion forums, was answered by Coalition hair transplant surgeon Dr. David Josephitis: 

Almost 3 weeks post op [tag]follicular unit strip surgery[/tag] ([tag]FUSS[/tag]) and some of the newly implanted hairs have started shedding as expected, but there are still a few sticking around and it (unsurprisingly) looks a bit ridiculous.

Is there any harm at all in shaving them so it doesn’t look so bizarre? Especially given that they’ll probably fall out within the next month anyway.

My only concerns are:

– Shaving the new hairs will upset them in some way
– Shaving them will take them longer to fall out (and enter the resting phase)

I’m certainly not going to pluck them or anything like that.

Three weeks after [tag]hair transplant[/tag] surgery the grafts are safely secured and there is very little risk to losing any. There is really no concern to getting a haircut at this point. I would advise not to shave the hair very close to the scalp as there may be a possibility that you could cut or injure the newly healed scalp. This could lead to infections. Also too closely cropped hair might predispose someone to getting ingrown hairs which could be tender and also might become inflamed.

The best bet would be too use some sort of guard on your trimmer and make everything even. This would not harm the grafts and give a nice and even look.

Dr. David Josephitis

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David
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.