Waiting to see your results can be one of the toughest parts of hair transplant recovery. However, patience is your ally, as this process is a marathon, not a sprint. Most patients see their new hair grafts start to grow significantly after 4-6 months post-surgery [1].
Knowing what to expect can ease the anxiety of the wait. Find out how long it takes to see new hair growth after hair restoration surgery in our hair transplant growth chart. Learn what to expect each month and how to speed up your hair growth process post-transplant.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the hair growth you can expect in the months after your hair transplant, until you can enjoy your final results. It draws on expert insight from a top-tier Wimpole Clinic surgeon to explain the complex factors involved in post-transplant hair growth. And it contains valuable information on how to support this process and see your final results as soon as possible.
Key takeaways
“ Dr Gadhia is a specialist FUE hair transplant surgeon, focused on restoring natural-looking hairlines and enhancing hair density by combining the artistic nature of hair transplants with advanced surgical techniques. He is committed to providing compassionate care and empowering his patients to regain confidence and self-esteem through transformative hair restoration treatments.”
It’s natural to be excited to see your final hair transplant results as soon as possible. However, some natural processes cannot be rushed, and all good things are worth waiting for. Your hair grafts have to undergo some normal stages of recovery before they can start growing out full and healthy.
Here is what most patients can expect during the first year after their hair transplant:
However, please keep in mind that each person is unique and there are some individual differences in hair growth rates (to be discussed). Thus, some patients experience fuller hair earlier, while others need to wait a bit longer than most.
Image credit: We Grow Hair Indy; Nashville Hair Doctor
Normally, most patients see partial results about half a year after their surgery. However, some mistakenly believe that this initial hair growth represents their final result. The truth is that it often takes as long as 1 year after your hair transplant (and sometimes more) before you can achieve peak hair density. Here is how our experienced surgeon, Dr. Chirag Gadhia, explains this process:
I would expect most patients to start showing early results—namely, a visible improvement in density—by six months, particularly in the hairline and temporal regions, as vellus (thin) hairs begin transitioning into terminal hairs. However, final results may take up to 12 months. When it comes to the crown, I would expect very few patients to see noticeable improvement at six months, as this area often takes longer—sometimes up to 18 months—to show full results.”
However, many of our patients at the Wimpole Clinic are quite satisfied and optimistic about their results starting as early as 5-8 months after their surgery. Here are some of their experiences, written in their own words:
Read more of our patients’ accounts of their Wimpole Clinic hair transplant experience on our Trustpilot page. Our 4.9/5 TrustScore from thousands of reviews speaks for itself, reflecting our professionalism and excellent results.
Regardless of whether you are getting an FUT or FUE hair transplant, the implanted grafts usually consist of hair follicles harvested from the back or sides of your head. Once the grafts heal and become securely attached, they will behave normally and grow at the same rate as the rest of your hair. Dr. Gadhia explains what that means for your post-transplant hair growth pace:
Normal hair growth occurs at a rate of approximately 0.8 to 1 cm per month, although this can vary with age. These figures also apply to transplanted hairs. Beyond three months (12 weeks) post-transplant, further hair shedding is not typically expected, given the natural phases of the hair cycle and their respective durations.
Regardless of whether it has been transplanted or not, human hair undergoes 4 successive stages which make up the hair growth cycle [2]:
Several factors can account for the differences in hair transplant patients’ post-procedure hair regrowth speed. Here are some of the most important:
However, your hair growth rate is not the only thing that determines how soon you will be able to see satisfactory results. Your hair type can also influence this process. For example, while afro hair grows the slowest, it can look fuller faster. Dr. Gadhia explains this paradox:
Ethnicity is an important consideration, such as in African hair, the curlier nature means it may give a fuller appearance, perceived as quicker growth.
The best thing you can do after your hair transplant to improve your grafts’ chances of survival is to follow your surgeon’s hair transplant aftercare advice. However, there are also evidence-based treatments, therapies and life adjustments that can help your transplanted hair grow faster, denser and stronger. Here are some of the most reliable:
Minoxidil – This popular hair growth medication works by dilating the small blood vessels in your scalp, allowing more oxygen and nutrients to reach your grafts. The extra resources help them grow faster and thicker and can increase their survival rates [5][6]. It is safe to use topical Minoxidil after a hair transplant; just wait a week before applying it to be sure your grafts have become securely attached.
Finasteride – This drug works by reducing the levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in your blood. DHT binds to specific androgen receptors in your hair follicles, making them shrink and impeding hair production in people with androgenetic alopecia. Research shows that taking Finasteride after a hair transplant made hair regrow faster in 94% of patients [7]. Finasteride can also prevent additional hair shedding around your hair transplant area.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy – Research shows that getting PRP after your hair transplant can improve its results. This treatment works by drawing a bit of blood from your arm, separating the PRP from the other blood fractions and injecting it into your scalp. Its many growth factors speed up healing and promote the formation of new blood vessels to nourish your follicles [8]. There is evidence that getting this therapy during your hair restoration surgery can increase your graft growth and reduce the time it normally takes to see results [9].
However, getting PRP after healing from your hair transplant also helps stimulate your hair follicles for growth. Studies reveal that getting 3 monthly PRP sessions for 3 months starting 1 week after your hair transplant can significantly increase graft survival rates, as well as hair shaft length and density [10].
Low-level laser therapy – Also known as red light therapy for hair growth, this treatment involves applying red or near-infrared light to your scalp. The light is absorbed into your skin, improving blood flow and optimising the activity of your cell mitochondria. Research shows that it can promote healing, improve your graft survival rate and speed up hair regrowth [1]
Lifestyle adjustments – eating a well-balanced diet for healthy hair, reducing the stress levels in your life, exercising and giving up smoking can all support your post-transplant hair growth. Nicotine use can be particularly harmful, as it constricts the blood vessels in your scalp, which nourish your grafts, produces inflammation and worsens androgenetic alopecia. Thus, smoking can negatively impact your hair transplant results to a great extent[11][12].
Rarely, despite a long, taxing wait, your surgical hair restoration results fail to appear or remain underwhelming. Here are some questions that can help you determine whether your hair transplant has gone wrong or you simply need to give it some more time:
1. How long has it been since your surgery?
If it has been under 4 months, it is best to wait patiently, as results are likely to appear soon. However, if more than 6 months have passed, you can consider scheduling a follow-up visit with your surgeon to make sure all is going well. If it has been longer than 9 months and you see no (or very little) results, you should let your surgeon know as soon as possible.
2. How has your healing process gone?
If your recovery has gone well, with minimal hair transplant side effects and no complications, there is a good chance of high graft survival. However, if you have experienced infections such as hair transplant folliculitis or if some of your grafts have become dislodged during healing, it may have affected your results. In this case, scheduling a follow-up consultation with your surgeon sooner rather than later is the safest way to go.
3. What does your scalp look and feel like?
If your scalp looks healthy and feels normal, your hair may simply need some more time to grow. However, if you notice new rashes, bald spots, pimples, redness, crusting, inflammation, pain, or itching on your scalp, let your surgeon know as soon as possible. You may be experiencing a common scalp problem or a new type of alopecia that could be interfering with your hair growth.
Assessing your transplanted hair growth can be difficult if you see it every day. The most reliable way to track it over time is to take photos of your scalp every 2 weeks after your procedure. This will make it easy to build a timeline and observe your hair growth progress. Just be sure to use the same camera, same angle, lighting and zoom every time for an accurate comparison.
In very rare cases, the long-awaited hair transplant results fail to occur even a year after surgery. In those situations, it is very important to determine the reason your hair transplant has failed. In some situations, it can be due to poor surgical technique, poor aftercare on the patient’s part or a combination of both. However, in other cases, it can just be bad luck, such as a different, emerging type of hair loss sabotaging your grafts. Dr. Gadhia recalls this happening to one of his patients:
I recall a rare case involving a young patient in his mid-20s who was on hair loss prevention medications. Despite this, by 18 months, the area of hair loss had expanded beyond what was observed at the initial consultation, and the density in the transplanted region appeared patchy. By that point, he had also tried adjunctive therapies such as minoxidil, red light therapy, and PRP, with minimal improvement.
Given the progression, we felt further investigation was warranted to assess whether an alternative form of hair loss was contributing. We recommended a scalp biopsy—both from the transplanted region and from an area of newly affected native hair—as well as blood tests to identify any underlying markers that could impact hair growth. The biopsy revealed an autoimmune pathology, consistent with a type of scarring alopecia. As a result, the patient was referred to a dermatologist for medical therapy aimed at stabilising his condition.
At this stage, retreatment via hair transplant was not considered appropriate, though it may become an option after several years of stable disease. This case underscores the importance of considering alternative diagnoses in patients with suboptimal post-transplant results, and the need to manage such patients holistically—referring to appropriate specialists based on the underlying type of hair loss.
Should you be one of the unlucky few whose hair transplant has gone wrong, your surgeon will run all the necessary tests to determine the cause. Then, once the issue is revealed, they will offer the best, personalised advice. This could be a second hair transplant, or treatment for the underlying condition that caused the old one to fail.
You may have heard some of these hair transplant myths confidently made by influencers or people who have done online research about hair restoration surgery. However, they are nothing more than misinformation:
Myth 1: Shaving your hair after your hair transplant will make it grow back faster
The reality: Shaving your hair only cuts the fibres, it does not affect the hair follicle, which is under the scalp. Aspects such as hair thickness or growth rate are determined by the follicle, which is in no way influenced by getting a haircut.
Myth 2: If you don’t see hair growth after 3-4 months, your hair transplant has failed
The reality: People’s hair grows at their own pace, and 3-4 months is rather early in your hair transplant recovery. It is rather common not to see any results at this time, especially if you had a crown hair transplant, which takes longer to regrow.
Myth 3: You can wear a hat to disguise your hair transplant right after surgery
The reality: It is only safe to start wearing a hat 10 days after your hair transplant. Anything touching your sensitive grafts in the first days after surgery can dislodge them. However, here are some safe tips and tricks for hiding your hair transplant.
Myth 4: After a hair transplant, you don’t need to use hair growth medication anymore
The reality: Most surgeons recommend you keep using hair growth medications, such as Minoxidil or Finasteride, after your hair transplant. They can support your hair growth and prevent further hair loss around your transplant area.
Myth 5: Turkey is the best place to get a hair transplant
The reality: While Turkey may be famous for inexpensive hair transplants, many of its clinics also have poor safety records. When it comes to surgery, cutting costs often comes with cutting corners. Thus, a 2021 study conducted by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons revealed that 100% of complications following cosmetic surgery occurred in Turkish clinics [13]. So the lower hair transplant costs in Turkey may not be worth the risk.
If you are interested in getting a 5-star hair transplant performed by world-class surgeons, we are here for you. Book a free hair transplant consultation with one of our experienced hair restoration specialists. Their skill and cutting-edge technique can provide optimal graft survival rates and all-natural-looking results. They will also follow up closely with you after your procedure to ensure your scalp is healing properly and your new hair is growing as expected.
Since a hair transplant is permanent, you only want the best surgeons shaping your look for years to come. Due to our excellent results and almost 100% hair transplant success rates, the Wimpole Clinic was awarded Hair Transplant Clinic of the Year for 4 years running (2021-2024). See our work for yourself in our before-and-after hair transplant photo gallery and come meet us to discuss your personalised hair restoration plan.
Find out even more about post-hair transplant hair growth by reading the answers to these frequently asked questions:
Yes, transplanted hair follicles act the same as non-transplanted ones and enjoy the same hair growth rates. This even applies if you used body hair for your transplant. It may have slightly different characteristics, but its growth rate will often start to mimic that of your scalp hair over time [14].
Normally, transplanted hair cannot be told apart from non-transplanted hair. A skilled surgeon knows exactly how to angle the grafts to give you a natural-looking hair transplant. However, depending on your hair type, there can be slight differences in texture between the hair in your donor and transplant area. Thus, grafts harvested from the back of your head can initially be a little thicker or coarser than the rest when transplanted to your hairline.
This is especially true if you use body hair for your surgical hair restoration. Its significantly different length and texture can make it conspicuous. However, over time, the hair follicles are influenced by the recipient area, growing more and more similar to the rest of the fibres around them.
Yes, if more than a month has passed since your procedure and your hair transplant recovery is complete, you can style your hair any way you like. The hair that grows on your transplant area has mostly the same properties as the rest of your head.
However, it is good to know that excessive use of bleach or hair dye can cause hair loss by drying and damaging your strands. Moreover, chemical hair treatments and heat styling can also make your hair dry and brittle, leading to unnecessary hair breakage. Moreover, heat-damaged hair is also hard to fix, so it’s best to keep invasive styling practices to a minimum to preserve your hair’s fullness and health.
Keep in mind that the above applies to the vast majority of hair transplants, which use grafts made of natural hair follicles. If you had an artificial hair transplant (e.g. a biofibre hair transplant), cutting your hair is final, as the fibres do not grow back. Moreover, using dyes, chemicals or heat on the fibres can severely damage them and/or produce unsightly outcomes.
While most people start seeing hair regrowth around 3-4 months after their hair transplant shedding, that is merely a statistical average. Some patients’ hair starts growing back sooner, while others need to wait a bit longer to see regrowth.
Moreover, your hair growth rate is influenced by a variety of factors already discussed (e.g. age, ethnicity, transplant area location, adjuvant hair growth therapies used, lifestyle choices, etc.). So it is not necessarily a sign of concern if your hair takes a little longer to grow back.
The best thing to do is to just give it a little more time and wait patiently for your initial results to appear. If it helps set your mind at ease, you can call your surgeon and schedule a follow-up appointment to make sure that everything is going well.
There is no difference in how soon you see results after a follicular unit extraction (FUE) procedure compared to follicular unit transplantation (FUT). The main difference between FUE and FUT consists in the way your hair grafts are harvested, without affecting their reimplantation.
However, FUT patients have a greater risk of experiencing hair shedding in their donor area as well, as this technique leaves a larger wound that requires sutures. The surgical trauma to the scalp can lead to telogen effluvium. Fortunately, you should start seeing regrowth from this condition around the same time as your shock loss clears on your transplant area.
Wimpole Clinic Services:
Hair Transplants, Beard Transplants & Eyebrow Transplants.
Talk to a specialist
Dr. Michael May (GMC No: 1642315) is the Medical Director and Principal Surgeon of the Wimpole Clinic. He has 25 years experience in the field of hair transplant surgery has completed over 10,000 hair transplant procedures, accumulating an unmatched breadth and depth of experience that is exclusively available to Wimpole Clinic patients.
Dr. May entered private practice in 1982 when he first became involved with hair surgery, since then, he has dedicated his career exclusively to the science and practice of hair transplant surgery and hair restoration.
He qualified at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London after which he trained and registered as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Dr. May was instrumental in developing the revolutionary technique of follicular unit transplant (FUT), and subsequently he also presented papers and lectures in the UK and Europe to professional colleagues. He quickly became recognised by his peers and colleagues as a leader in the field of follicular unit hair transplantation. He specialises in hair restoration surgery covering; FUE, FUT lateral slit, eyebrow, eyelashes, beards, side burns, burns, repairs
As a leading authority in his field, Dr. May became a founder member and past President of the BAHRS and is the current president of the European Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons. In addition, Dr. May is a registered member of The Trichological Society and a Diplomat of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS) in 2002. Dr. Michael May full list of associations are as follows:
Dr. May is available to prospective Wimpole Clinic patients during their consultation and carries out many of the hair transplant procedures at the clinic.
