Can You Shave Your Head After Hair Transplant?

One of the greatest unknowns I find with hair transplants is patients not knowing what they can do with their hair afterward. There are so many questions – when can I cut my hair? Can you shave your hair after a hair transplant? Can I dye my hair after a transplant?

All of these are important, but in the below article, we look specifically at shaving post-surgery together with do’s and don’ts, and a rough timeline for shaving after your procedure.

Immediate Post-Transplant Care

Immediately after your hair transplant, your surgeon should provide a post-transplant guide. This includes washing procedures, how to position yourself during sleep, and what you can and can’t do.

For the first few days, you need to be careful to avoid unnecessary pressure and contact with your scalp to protect the newly transplanted hair follicles. It also means taking care of washing your hair, and you may be prescribed specialist shampoo and even hair growth medicine like Finasteride.

When Can You Safely Shave Your Head?

Shaving your hair puts strain on your scalp and depending on the method, can potentially damage the transplanted hair follicles.

It is, therefore, incredibly important to know the guidelines and when shaving your head after a hair transplant is safe. If you get a consultation with a Turkey hair implant clinic, the surgeon will reinforce this advice together with additional guidelines to maximize the chance of your transplant success.

Shaving with clippers

Using an electric shaver with clippers is less hazardous than a cutthroat razor or safety razor as you are not applying direct force to your scalp, and the blades are guarded. Regardless, we still recommend waiting between 2-3 months before shaving your head with clippers after your transplant.

If you want to cut your hair and keep it short, this should only be done with scissors until that point. This avoids any unnecessary stress or scalp damage from the clippers.

Close shave with a razor

Even if you are skilled with a cutthroat razor or double-edged safety razor, you will still have to wait 2-3 months before shaving your scalp. The same reasons apply as with clippers, but with razors, there is even more chance of damaging your scalp and transplanted follicles.

Even the most skilled razor wielders could still nick their scalp and you don’t want to cause any more trauma to your head after surgery as it has already been put through considerable stress and pressure.

Also, wet shaving can cause irritation and redness which will cause further discomfort and potentially damage your transplanted hair follicles.

Risks and Considerations

I have touched briefly on some of the dangers, but let’s look at the risks and considerations associated with shaving after your hair transplant below. The main issues are potentially damaging your newly transplanted hair follicles, and causing more trauma to your scalp.

Damage to hair follicles

The primary concern is that by shaving too early, you could damage your grafted hair follicles and reduce the chances of success for your hair transplant.

During the early stages of your hair transplant recovery, your follicles are delicate and require time to heal and stabilize in their newly grafted position. Shaving applies pressure, and even with a sharp blade, it can still cause some tugging which could potentially dislodge your hair follicles.

This could essentially undo the surgery and mean you have wasted time and money. This is why it is vital to wait to shave your hair until 2-3 months. By this time, the hair grafts should have healed and stabilized properly.

Scalp soreness

A secondary concern is the additional trauma and stress you place on your scalp as a result of shaving.

After a hair transplant procedure, your scalp will be tender and sore. There may also be some redness and scabbing. This eventually disappears and the healing process is relatively quick.

However, if you shave your scalp during this time, it’s not going to be pleasant. Not only are you risking damaging your follicles as described above, but you will give yourself more discomfort and potentially delay the healing process of your scalp.

Although the swelling, redness, and soreness will disappear usually within 7-10 days, the 2-3 month waiting period before shaving is vital to give your follicles a chance to stabilize.

Shaving is Possible But With Caution After a Hair Transplant

So, can you shave your hair after a hair transplant? Yes! But in time. It is recommended to wait at least 2 months (ideally 3) before shaving your hair – either using an electric shaver with clippers or wet shaving with a razor.

By waiting 2-3 months, you can allow your scalp to heal properly and make sure that your transplanted hair follicles have taken root, are stable, and don’t be damaged from shaving.