The first two weeks look worse than they are, and the anxiety is mostly caused by nobody having described in advance what normal looks like. Here it is.
Days 1 to 3
The recipient area is covered in small scabs, one per graft, and the donor area feels tight and sore. There may be some oozing on the first night — sleep on a towel, at about forty-five degrees. Swelling usually begins on day two and travels downward: forehead first, then around the eyes. It can be dramatic on day three and it is not a complication.
- Sleep elevated, on your back, for the first week
- Nothing touches the recipient area — no hats that pull on, no pillows against it
- Cold compress on the forehead only, never on the grafts
- No alcohol, no smoking, no exercise
Days 4 to 10
Swelling resolves. Washing begins as the clinic showed you: lotion on, left to soften, then rinsed with a cup rather than a shower head. The point is to soften the crusts so they release on their own. The point is not to remove them.
Days 10 to 14
The crusts have gone and the transplanted hairs are visible, short and fine. The donor area has settled to pink dots that are already hard to see. This is the point at which most people look normal to anyone not inspecting closely.
Then it falls out, and that is fine
Between weeks two and six, most of the transplanted hairs shed. This is shock loss, it happens to nearly everyone, and it is not the grafts failing — the follicle stays in the skin and re-enters its growth cycle. It is the single most alarming stage and the single most normal one.
| When | What you see |
|---|---|
| Weeks 2–6 | Transplanted hairs shed. The area looks as it did before. |
| Months 3–4 | New growth begins, fine and often lighter than your own |
| Months 6–9 | Real density appears; texture starts to normalise |
| Months 12–18 | Final result. This is when you judge it, not before. |
When to actually call somebody
- Fever, or spreading redness and heat around the donor or recipient area
- Pus, as distinct from the normal crusting
- Pain that increases after day three rather than decreasing
- Bleeding that does not stop with ten minutes of gentle pressure
None of these are common. All of them are worth a message the same day, and any clinic worth travelling to will answer one.
