Washing? Shedding? Sex?

[Coverdale]

These are basic questions and although I just had my first HT, it seems the internet is filled with so many different opinions on this.  I did a wash 24 hours after my HT and have done one every day at the same time so far. I also began using finasteride again… and have not yet experienced any shedding (day 4).. so what I’m saying is that I have some questions for those of you who have done this a couple times, because I’d rather know your experiences than the dozens of opinions online..

1. When did you experience shedding after your HT? Does everyone shed the HT hairs or do some remain and grow out entirely?

2. How often were you washing your scalp after?

3. How long after did you begin minoxidil? Doctor said 2 weeks, I believe.

4. when did you begin going to the gym, having sex, etc?

 It just seems like there are so many questions and so many different answers and opinions. Even the doctors seem to provide advice that isn’t concrete or is answered with, “well, you could do that, or this”. 

[Coverdale]

“Isn’t concrete”, meaning isn’t a direct answer.

[TorontoMan]

4. i had sex one week post... lfggggg 

[Curious25]

16 minutes ago, Coverdale said:

1. When did you experience shedding after your HT? Does everyone shed the HT hairs or do some remain and grow out entirely?

2. How often were you washing your scalp after?

3. How long after did you begin minoxidil? Doctor said 2 weeks, I believe.

4. when did you begin going to the gym, having sex, etc?

1. The majority of patients tend to shed some or all of their grafts between 2-4 weeks post op. Some don't shed at all, some shed a little, some shed a lot, some shed early, some shed late. 

2. Follow your clinics post op instructions. My clinic required me to wash daily with a johnsons baby shampoo from day 9 - day 30, if I remember correctly. 

3. Again, follow your surgeons advice. 2 weeks post op is a fairly common recommendation amongst top clinics. 

4. Gym, 2 weeks (after FUE), FUT requires a longer downtime. Sex - personally I'd probably wait 4-5 days post op, to ensure the grafts are anchored. 

[Coverdale]

14 minutes ago, Curious25 said:

1. The majority of patients tend to shed some or all of their grafts between 2-4 weeks post op. Some don't shed at all, some shed a little, some shed a lot, some shed early, some shed late. 

2. Follow your clinics post op instructions. My clinic required me to wash daily with a johnsons baby shampoo from day 9 - day 30, if I remember correctly. 

3. Again, follow your surgeons advice. 2 weeks post op is a fairly common recommendation amongst top clinics. 

4. Gym, 2 weeks (after FUE), FUT requires a longer downtime. Sex - personally I'd probably wait 4-5 days post op, to ensure the grafts are anchored. 

Thanks. Surgeon said 24 hours surgery I can wash my head, which I did and I didn’t notice any loss of the HT, but most online sources say 48 hours to 4 days before washing… which is kind of worrisome.. lol

[Al - Moderator]

17 hours ago, Coverdale said:

1. When did you experience shedding after your HT? Does everyone shed the HT hairs or do some remain and grow out entirely?

Shedding starts as early as one week, but it can start as late as about a month. Most people shed most of the transplanted hair. If you're really lucky you won't shed much and a lot of it will just start growing, but that's rare and you can't count on that. Some will stay as stubble for a few months before either finally falling out or just suddenly begin growing.

 

17 hours ago, Coverdale said:

2. How often were you washing your scalp after?

The first 3 days I just spray it with a mist from a spray bottle. The next 2 or 3 days I pour soapy water over it with a large cup or plastic container and then pour clean water over it to rinse the soap off. At about day 5 and 6 I lather up a lot of shampoo in my hands and then sort of dab my head with my soapy (shampoo) hands and then let the shower rinse it off, but put the shower setting on a light spray if you have an adjustable shower head.

 

17 hours ago, Coverdale said:

3. How long after did you begin minoxidil? Doctor said 2 weeks, I believe.

2 weeks sounds about right I would say. My opinion is you want to wait at least until all the scabs come off and then maybe a couple of days after that just to make sure any inflammation or tenderness from the scabs is gone.

 

17 hours ago, Coverdale said:

4. when did you begin going to the gym, having sex, etc?

For FUE I start doing light workouts after a week. If I start going too much I can feel my head start to get hot or start to tingle and I know to stop. After about 2 weeks I can get to normal. For sex it depends on what you mean. I was getting blow jobs and hand jobs after just a few days. My gf was good to me 😄 but for actual intercourse with me doing a lot of the work I'd say maybe once the scabs are all off.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by BeHappy

[Coverdale]

5 hours ago, BeHappy said:

Shedding starts as early as one week, but it can start as late as about a month. Most people shed most of the transplanted hair. If you're really lucky you won't shed much and a lot of it will just start growing, but that's rare and you can't count on that. Some will stay as stubble for a few months before either finally falling out or just suddenly begin growing.

 

The first 3 days I just spray it with a mist from a spray bottle. The next 2 or 3 days I pour soapy water over it with a large cup or plastic container and then pour clean water over it to rinse the soap off. At about day 5 and 6 I lather up a lot of shampoo in my hands and then sort of dab my head with my soapy (shampoo) hands and then let the shower rinse it off, but put the shower setting on a light spray if you have an adjustable shower head.

 

2 weeks sounds about right I would say. My opinion is you want to wait at least until all the scabs come off and then maybe a couple of days after that just to make sure any inflammation or tenderness from the scabs is gone.

 

For FUE I start doing light workouts after a week. If I start going too much I can feel my head start to get hot or start to tingle and I know to stop. After about 2 weeks I can get to normal. For sex it depends on what you mean. I was getting blow jobs and hand jobs after just a few days. My gf was good to me 😄 but for actual intercourse with me doing a lot of the work I'd say maybe once the scabs are all off.

 

 

Man.. thanks for all the replying! I’m worried, because I was dabbing soap and rinsing with a cup of water 24 hours after the procedure lol

[JoeMan]

What clinic did you go to where they didn't provide good post operative guidance. 

[Coverdale]

Dr. Haber derm. A lot of help has been given by them and it’s been well so far.. just a very slight lack of post-op car instructions, or at least somewhat. 

[Al - Moderator]

18 hours ago, Coverdale said:

Man.. thanks for all the replying! I’m worried, because I was dabbing soap and rinsing with a cup of water 24 hours after the procedure lol

 

The reason you need to be extremely gentle with the grafts in the first few day is because they can easily be dislodged and popped out, so you don't want to be rubbing them or having high pressure shower water hitting them. As long as you haven't seen any obvious issues then you should be fine. This is why I always say if the clinic allows it and/or encourages it you should go to the clinic the day after the procedure to let them do the first cleaning and check if everything looks good. If it's your first hair transplant that can really make you feel a lot better knowing that you didn't screw anything up the first night, plus they will get some of the dried blood off which helps a lot over the next week when it starts scabbing.

 

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Coverdale,

These are some good questions and each doctor will have their own set of postoperative instructions associated with them. However, I can certainly give you my advice and opinion based on my experience and based on what I know.

For starters, shedding typically occurs between 4 to 6 weeks after the procedure but this can vary and happen a little before or a little after. Sometimes, not all of the hair will shed and those that don’t will continue to grow and never fall out. This is rare however, as most people experience a full shedding and hair growth begins between 3 to 5 months after the procedure.

You can resume most activities between a week and 10 days after the procedure. Other activities you can begin even sooner as long as you are cautious. For example, you could essentially have sex the same day of the procedure if you are very careful. Nothing crazy or wild that will cause any strain and no touching of the transplanted hair.

Pouring water gently on the transplanted area the day after the procedure shouldn’t be a problem so don’t worry.  The only time you should really worry is if you’ve dislodged a graft which would be followed by pain and bleeding.  After a week or so, it’s practically impossible to lose a graft and the only way to do so would be to undergo surgery to extract it.

I hope this helps  

Rahal Hair Transplant

 

Edited February 28, 2022 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[Coverdale]

3 hours ago, BeHappy said:

 

The reason you need to be extremely gentle with the grafts in the first few day is because they can easily be dislodged and popped out, so you don't want to be rubbing them or having high pressure shower water hitting them. As long as you haven't seen any obvious issues then you should be fine. This is why I always say if the clinic allows it and/or encourages it you should go to the clinic the day after the procedure to let them do the first cleaning and check if everything looks good. If it's your first hair transplant that can really make you feel a lot better knowing that you didn't screw anything up the first night, plus they will get some of the dried blood off which helps a lot over the next week when it starts scabbing.

 

Understood. I was told not to shower for 8 day.. the day after I was told I could wash with light dabbing of baby shampoo followed by rinsing with a small cup of water, very gently. Only after 24 hours. 

[Coverdale]

22 minutes ago, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

Coverdale,

These are some good questions and each doctor will have their own set of postoperative instructions associated with them. However, I can certainly give you my advice and opinion based on my experience and based on what I know.

For starters, shedding typically occurs between 4 to 6 weeks after the procedure but this can vary and happen a little before or a little after. Sometimes, not all of the hair will shed and those that don’t will continue to grow and never fall out. This is rare however, as most people experience a full shedding and hair growth begins between 3 to 5 months after the procedure.

You can resume most activities between a week and 10 days after the procedure. Other activities you can begin even sooner as long as you are cautious. For example, you could essentially have sex the same day of the procedure if you are very careful. Nothing crazy or wild that will cause any strain and no touching of the transplanted hair.

Pouring water gently on the transplanted area the day after the procedure shouldn’t be a problem so don’t worry.  The only time you should really worry is if you’ve dislodged a graft which would be followed by pain and bleeding.  After a week or so, it’s practically impossible to lose a graft and the only way to do so would be to undergo surgery to extract it.

I hope this helps  

Rahal Hair Transplant

 

Thank you! That’s great news. Dr. Haber has been great about helping when needed, but I always feel the need to get a second opinion. I was told I could wash 24 hours after the procedure, as long as I used baby shampoo with light dabbing of the shampoo on the areas, followed by very light rinsing with water from a cup. Currently on day 6 of “recovery”, so I’m hoping to get back in the gym soon. I’m having donor area pain, which is uncommon at this point, so I just reached out to Haber in regards to what to do next. I have had a few instances where I’ve scratched my head during sleep or something, but no obvious graft loss.. so I hope that I haven’t. 

[Coverdale]

Donor area after 6 days.