Softening hairline

[imissthebarber]

One thing I never really understood is when people say that the hairline will soften during the period 6-18 months after a HT.

 

I thought that hairs initially grew thin and thickened up during this same period. If hairs are getting thicker how can the hairline get softer? What does softening of the hairline actually mean?

[Bill - Seemiller]

Imissthebarber,

 

This is a great question.

 

When transplanted hair starts to grow, it's usually thin, wispy, and colorless and in time, the hair thickens, darkens, and matures. During this maturation process, transplanted hair will eventually reach it's full thickness, but have not yet fully acquired all the other characteristics of your natural hair. Sometimes transplanted hair will be coarse, straggly, off-color, and seemingly hard to tame.

 

As a result, your hairline may appear "harder", rather than soft and natural looking. It's during the later months of a hair transplant that transplanted hair acquires all the characteristics of your natural hair, causing it to blend in naturally.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[imissthebarber]

Thanks Bill. That does make sense. Yet again you have provided a helpful explanation.

 

I think one thing you said could be misinterpreted out of context. One characteristic the transplanted hair won't acquire is the susceptibility to DHT that causes MPB (assuming it was taken from the safe zone.) Obviously you know this already, but just wanted to clarify this.

[CuriousJungleGeorge]

Bill, how does transplanted hair acquire the characteristics of the hair in the recipient area? I was under the impression its resistance to doing so, the retain its own nature, is what permits it to continue to grow once re-located.

[scar5]

I have to disagree here. I think transplanted hair aquiring the characteristics of native hair is a bit of myth. In my expereince, it is growing out the hair that makes it look more 'blended in' or natural and people mistake it for the hair actually changing. Try cutting the transplanted hair really short again and you are back where you started - that wirey texture.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Let me clarify my post...

 

I'm not saying donor hair acquires the characteristics of previous recipient area hair. I'm saying it acquires the characteristics of itself over time because it doesn't start growing that way.

 

The hair on the sides and back of your scalp is going to be similar to your natural hair on top of your head prior to being susceptible to DHT. But once it's transplanted and starts to grow, it grows in thin and colorless, very unlike it's previous characteristics.

 

What I'm saying is that as the transplanted hair matures, the follicle produces thicker hair and eventually will appear like it once did before it was moved.

 

Does that make sense?

 

Bill

[aaron1234]

"Does that make sense?"

 

Yes.

[scar5]

"The hair resembles its original calibre" - Yep, totally makes sense Bill. We have to keep in mind that hair from the rump of the donor is pretty thick and when planted at new angles in the recipient area can really stand out when short.I think that clinics often spin the line that the transplanted hair will 'soften up' and 'settle down' naturally after six months or so. It doesn't 'soften up' it is just growing the hair out make sit blend in better.

[CuriousJungleGeorge]

Yes, that makes sense.

 

Unfortunately, it also indicates hair transplanted to the temple region will always be of a different quality and texture from that native to the region.

[Dr. Mohammad Humayun Mohma]

by softmimg of the hairline means two things

1) as Bill have pointed out that the coarse hair will gain back its character in aboiut 18 months to 2 years, that softning of hair due to the reactivation of pilosebacious glands which cease to work after surgery for about 9 to 12 months.

 

2) The softning of hair line is due to proper placing of grafts , the single hair grafts and the soft hairs as oppose to the thick caliber hairs, with an acute angle of exit from skin, the curvature showing proper orientation of the hair growth, in short if you cannot recognise a hair transplant even with a close up view its a soft hair line.

 

On the other hand if you can see the hair as an unnatural growth and in one line and can be recognised from a couple of feet away or close up, I call it not a soft hair transplant.

 

my way of looking towards the softness of hair line is not a physical aspect of the hair but the accumulative effect of the hair line.

 

With respect to the recepient area growth effect, it has been shown that there is some thing called recepient rea dominence just like donor area dominence, and the hair transplanted on an area will behave to some extent like the recepient area original hairs. A graft from the body was planted on scalp and then the growth was checked and that hair grew to about 15 cm long and none of the graft from where it was taken grew that long ever, the donor area was chest and receipient area was scalp.

[Dr. Mohammad Humayun Mohma]

This receipient area dominence was presented in ISHRS meeting two to thre years back.

[scar5]

THanks Doc. I notice the softening of HT hair keeps coming up. Just today I read Spex telling another newbie that it his hair will soften and relax. Dr. Mohmand, I have to say I honestly beleive that since my first HTs in 1988 until my last less than a year ago, the HT hair itself has never softened enough to achieve a natural look when the hair is too short unless it is coloured or is losing pigmentation. And hearing others lament about the same, I say it is the resposibility of good HT clinics to warn patients that with short hair, HT hair will NEVER look like the hair it replaced once the surrounding hair is native hair is dying IF it cut too short. Prudent hair styles help. Longer than an inch for a start. (I could when I had enough hair),. And as you point out, angulation is key - including the orientation of the graft at the point of placement not -just the slit angle- much neglected in HT talk IMO With people thinking of the buzz cut FUE route, i think they need to be extremely careful with angulation for this reason.

[jd]

Originally posted by scar5:

THanks Doc. I notice the softening of HT hair keeps coming up. Just today I read Spex telling another newbie that it his hair will soften and relax. Dr. Mohmand, I have to say I honestly beleive that since my first HTs in 1988 until my last less than a year ago, the HT hair itself has never softened enough to achieve a natural look when the hair is too short unless it is coloured or is losing pigmentation. And hearing others lament about the same, I say it is the resposibility of good HT clinics to warn patients that with short hair, HT hair will NEVER look like the hair it replaced once the surrounding hair is native hair is dying IF it cut too short. Prudent hair styles help. Longer than an inch for a start. (I could when I had enough hair),. And as you point out, angulation is key - including the orientation of the graft at the point of placement not -just the slit angle- much neglected in HT talk IMO With people thinking of the buzz cut FUE route, i think they need to be extremely careful with angulation for this reason.

Scar5 , who did your last procedure ?

So the idea of a natural buzz cut after ht is a myth in your opinion ?

Im not sure what you mean by angulation.Do you mean direction of the hair?

I thought the angle of the hair in relation to the scalp was decided by the slit made by doctor.

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

Softening of the hairline should be addressed by the surgeon during the procedure. It is critical that the thinner/finer hairs be used in the hairline. Thick/ coarse hairs will most likely have a similar look and feel no matter where it is placed. It is true that sometimes hairs will be more brittle and kinky during its first growth cycle. After repeated growth cycles and hair cuts those same hairs might begin to look and feel softer, but are probably just finally returning to their original state.

[scar5]

jd- A buzz is possible IMO, but everything has to go right and hair coloring maybe needed, so don't give up that and don't be talked into strip on account of it being impossible. It also has one factor in it's favor - time. The loss- even partial loss of pigmentation helps too.

 

As Dr. Mohmad mentioned, it comes down to ANGULATION (the angle of the slit the doc makes) and ORIENTATION (the way the tech is holding the graft when he/she pushes the hair into that slit).

 

Now IMO..

It maybe relatively easy to spot the optimal orientation for hair that has a clear curl but

the slightest bend in the hair could turn out into a misangled hair. Subtle misangulation actually HELPS HTs in the sense of creating the illusion of volume. Comb back your HT hair and you will feel more spring in it for that reason. This might be all great until you decide that a buzz is needed.

 

Dr. Charles adds an excellent point by saying it is crucial to use fine hairs for the front, but is that always practical? Where are these fine hairs to be found? Dr. Umar seems to use nape hair for this reason. Others say nape hair may not be stable genetically. It may be easy enough to say, well, we'll use all singles at the front but that is not enough. It must be a balacing act between the existing native hair and how those hairs are gonna look (when they are buzzed?) on a barren scalp in the distant future.

 

JD - I'm not talking names, sorry man but I got burned before - I like to ask questions and I don't want any allegience to anyone/clinic.

[scar5]

EDIT to above - I use the term "misangled hair" in the third paragraph in the common way it is referred to.

By my logic it could/should be "misorientated hair" but that sounds so daft, no one would no WTF I meant. Hope that's clear. Hence,

"Subtle misangulation actually HELPS HTs2

could mean , "subtle misorienation" meaning the hairs were not orienteted 100% when they were placed. OK?

[stamos]

I know this topic is 5 months old, but I wanted to say that it was an excellent read.

[Treaduk]

Wish I'd read this prior to my procedure. Really don't like the texture of transplanted hair and I think it is little talked about. As important as placement and density.