Exercise advice

[Gareth]

Hi everyone, 

Had HT at Farjo three months ago, so still at an early stage. 

Am wondering - can anyone give any advice around how to manage the scalp and hair during exercise? 

I work out quite a lot - two or three short bursts a day around my work, with a mixture of running, short gym circuits, cycling and occasional football matches. So lots and lots of showers! 

At the moment I'm limiting shampoo and conditioner to once a day - the other times I just wash my hair with water - and apply the water by hand rather than the showerhead. Also, try to avoid heading the ball when playing football, although I've forgotten a couple of times! 

Is there any advice people can give around how to manage the scalp and recipient area when working out? 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Gareth

[ciaus]

When talking about early stage post op that's in terms of days, and the grafts are anchored under the skin and secure by 10 days.

3 months after the procedure you can't damage the grafts anymore than you could damage your other native hair. Go back to working out and shampooing like you did before the procedure and get ready to start enjoying your results coming in, around 4 months is when it starts to pickup for most guys.

[DenverBuff1989]

At 3 months in there is literally no action that would positively or negatively affect growth. 

As the above person said, grafts are anchored in by 10 days and would need surgical intervention to be removed. 

To err on the very conservative side for overall scab and scalp healing, I would avoid intense exercise or physical head contact for the first month. 

But by 3 months, you could be a boxer getting hit on the head, do handstands, etc. Nothing will have an impact good or bad 

[Britanium]

Agreed with the above. 3 months you can pretty much do whatever exercise you want. You should be nearly at the growing stage now. So hopefully over the worst waiting phase. 

[uklex0608]

My doctor has intense exercise listed at two weeks, I'm looking forward to snowboarding a month after mine, helmet and all.  Enjoy your workouts!

[Gareth]

Cheers guys! I didn't do any exercise for the first 10 days and kind of eased back into it from there. Still taking it easy on the shampoo though. Trying to limit it to once a day. Cheers, Gareth

[TrixGlendevon]

FUE or FUT? FUT has the consideration of the scar too. My clinic said no weights for 6 months (!!!) which is a very long time but they did say I could boxing and swimming after a month I think. This was not because of the grafts but because of the scar and to avoid stretching it. It did feel tight on the back of my head too when I went back to doing weighted chinups after 6 months. Admittedly, this is the longest amount of time advised for avoiding weights I have seen but my scar is also a pencil line so who knows. Other clinics say there is no evidence to support the scar stretching from lifting weights - Feller and Bloxham is one such clinic (although I have actually only seen Feller comment on this so not sure if Bloxham holds the same opinion) and they also have great scars, from what I have seen.