When do the follicles (that do not survive) die?

[GHTJourneya]

I also asked this on Reddit and it seems a lot of people are interested in this question.

 

Although there is no definite answer to this, my theory after reading a lot of articles and trying to get my head around it, is this:

When follicles are transplanted (moved into other areas of the scalp), they have a really short lifespan without constant blood supply, hence clinics do their best to keep them refrigerated, hydrated and properly stored and they can only do so for 3 hours. 

Before the ugly duckling phase, and right after the new follicles set in place, (within the first 14 days), the follicles start growing a bit. This is because they are now connected back to the blood supply grid, and they get all the nutrients they need to grow. If you see follicles growing a bit, then it probably means they are well connected to the grid and will most likely make it. The ones that remain there without growing too much, are less likely to survive. When the hairs of these follicles shed, there will be no new hair coming out (!?). There are a lot of doctors that achieve >90% survival and off course each transplanted follicle might be in different hair phases (some of them might just be right before telogen, or anagen), and it might be more complicated.

What do people think about this subject?

[yalla8]

I don't know what accounts for why some grafts keep growing and why some don't. It's a good questions. But your theory isn't true from my experience. After my first HT, I had follicles that didn't grow and fell out, but which resulted in hair growth down the line.

[NARMAK]

Usually the survival of a graft is based on a fair few different factors but in some cases, if a hair follicle does become traumatised it can take longer to grow but this graft is surviving underneath. Some however have the bulbs fall out during the shedding and never grow. So there's no 100% answer. 

I actually thought your question based on the title was going to be about the hair that we "lost" as a result of MPB. Apparently the follicles are still there under the skin, so weak and unable to grow up and out the skin but not "dead" but almost dormant. What leads me to say this is the amount of transgender cases of complete regrowth in previously high Norwood hair loss areas to a full healthy hair with the intervention of some of their medications used to block certain hormones. 

For any people wishing to remain biologically male and not transition, this isn't a feasible restoration method but it does give rise to the possibility it could be studied to see what's going on and if you could transfer that safely for hair regrowth. 

Ultimately, even so called DHT resistant hair cloning will have its challenges and not be as smooth sailing as people think imo.