Shaving slick bald after FUE

[Grouse]

Is it possible to shave your head slick bald years after a high quality FUE transplant?

 

The consensus seems to be I have very poor donor hair. I could probably have a good result for a while, but I'm not confident it would look good in 10+ years. To be blunt - I mostly want hair to maximize my dating life and find a wife, which I think would be significantly harder bald. Later on, I'm very open to shaving slick bald.

 

Is it possible to shave years later and not look terrible? Or is this truly a 1 way door, and you're stuck with thin hair if your donor / transplanted hairs thin out later on?

[Bucky O Hair]

Slick bald may be tough.

Buzzed down to a one guard (similar to that actor Jason Statham) would be better.

I say this because you may get visible FUE scarring in either the donor or recipient area during a transplant.

I ended up getting no visible scarring in my donor, but oddly enough, I have FUE scarring in my recipient area.  I'm still only 3 months postop, and I expect it to improve, but I expect there to be at least some visible scarring left there (which is people can see in bright light if I were to wet shave my head).  However, it's not noticeable at all when I have buzzed hair there (which was evident during week 3 and 4 postop, before my newly transplanted hairs had shed).

My plan is the same as yours, where I think I'll look good for about a decade, but I'm not confident it will hold long term and I want to buzz my head (and still at least retain some of that stubble to give me a nicely framed hairline despite the density going south).

I don't ever plan on shaving slick bald though.  I prefer a thinning buzzed look (with a nicely framed hairline) instead.  I'm hoping this should hide any of the FUE scarring.  Maybe try it out with some SMP mixed in there to add some density and blend it with the remaining terminal hairs.

 

 

[A_4_Archan]

@Grouse Shaving your head would be i think not possible as its not a scareless procedure ...but as the above poster suggested you can trim your hair very short....if you wish to keeo such a hairstyle than you can do a HT where you fix your hairline with good density and than evenly spread the other available grafts from scalp plus beard and chest all over the scalp and than combine SMP with this and you are all set to go....this will look much better than i think less dense thin long hairs...

[asterix0]

It depends on how you scar, your hair to skin contrast ratio, a lot of things.

Generally speaking i think it would look bad without SMP, so assume you won't be able to shave down to the skin, but perhaps buzz down to a 2 guard.

[mr_peanutbutter]

ld it like that

 

[Fue3361]

Joe rogan has no issue doing it

[Bucky O Hair]

2 hours ago, Fue3361 said:

Joe rogan has no issue doing it

It's because he lost so much hair that he has to.

He's stated before that he regrets getting a hair transplant.  Mind you, he got FUT and has a nasty looking strip scar on the back of his head, so this is likely the main reason why he regrets it.

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Bucky O Hair

[Fue3361]

1 hour ago, Bucky O Hair said:

It's because he lost so much hair that he has to.

He's stated before that he regrets getting a hair transplant.  Mind you, he got FUT and has a nasty looking strip scar on the back of his head, so this is likely the main reason why he regrets it.

 

It was an example of someone who shaves head and has no apparent issues in recipient area post transplant.  No scars/pits etc

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@Grouse,

Yes, it is definitely possible to shave your head completely bald after undergoing FUE hair transplant surgery. Of course, the level of scarring that will show depends on the skill and experience of the surgeon performing the FUE procedure and your healing characteristics.

Keep in mind however, that any time a surgeon scores the skin, there is going to be some kind of scar. This scarring, if done right will be minimal and practically invisible to the naked eye.  

Keep in mind also that there is a difference between completely slick bald and shaving down to a one clip for example.

Shaving down to a one clip will still show very short length hair which will camouflage any minor scarring pretty well.

However, if you shave it completely down to the skin, there will be no shadowing or camouflaging from any existing hair. Instead, assuming the physician is highly skilled and experienced, the scarring should be very small and circular in appearance and blend quite well with your own skin tone.  That said, under close inspection, you might still see evidence of scarring.

The good news is, any donor areas shaved down to a one clip that look good and doesn’t show any real signs of scarring will likely look good shaved all the way down to the skin. But like I said, shaving all of the skin may show some appearance (though minimal) of scarring under close  supervision simply because this is the way we heal in general and there’s nothing we can do about that.

In the next post, I’m going to provide some examples of closely shaved donor areas from our clinic after the donor area has healed.

Best wishes,

Rahal Hair Transplant

Edited July 25, 2023 by Rahal Hair Transplant

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

@Grouse,

Below are some examples of cropped/shaved donor areas after FUE surgery from our clinic (Dr. Rahal).  Mind you, they're not all skin on skin, but some of them are quite close.  And as you can see, when done right and in the hands of an exceptional clinic, scarring will be practically non-existent when cropped/shaved down.

Example 1 - Post-op

Example 1 - 2 Weeks

 

Example 2 - Post-op

Example 2 - Donor 6 Weeks

Example 3 - Post-op

Example 3 - Donor - 1 Month

Example 4 - Post-op

Example 4 - Donor - 9 Days

 

 

[Sunset Dune]

The whole point of getting a hair transplant is so you’ll have nice looking hair, if your going to shave your head don’t get a transplant at all

[asterix0]

@Rahal Hair Transplant Do you have any examples of patients 1 year+ after surgery? Scars take a long time to form, generally shortly after surgery you will not see any.

[Bucky O Hair]

5 hours ago, Sunset Dune said:

The whole point of getting a hair transplant is so you’ll have nice looking hair, if your going to shave your head don’t get a transplant at all

Well you may need to shave your head anyway, if you continue to lose hair over the long term.

Shaving your head is a long term play, in case your hair continues to fall out and your hair transplant no longer can stand on its own anymore.  

 

 

[AladdinSane]

What about people who get beard transplants? I was told in the hands of a skilled surgeon clean shaving transplanted facial hair (beard to beard, scalp to beard etc), the skin should have no obvious scarring. Because it’s more likely that a beard transplant will be clean shaven, the face would have to be an area where you couldn’t have any obvious signs of surgery.

Edited July 25, 2023 by AladdinSane

[Bhumik Shah MD]

 

The only bright side of having a poor donor area, is that since the hair shafts are usually smaller in diameter you can use get away with using smaller punches. This can translate into better scaring. However the size of the punch is only one factor in overall appearance of the scar as a lot still depends on your physiology. If I were in your shoes, and absolutely wanted to do a transplant, with plans of shaving it in the future, I would do a small test area of 50-100 FU punch scars, let it heal and see what it looks like with a tight fade at 9-12 months. It is not a perfect solution as you are still left with 50-100 FUE scars but at least it will give you an idea before you take a bigger plunge.

 

4 hours ago, AladdinSane said:

What about people who get beard transplants? I was told in the hands of a skilled surgeon clean shaving transplanted facial hair (beard to beard, scalp to beard etc), the skin should have no obvious scarring. Because it’s more likely that a beard transplant will be clean shaven, the face would have to be an area where you couldn’t have any obvious signs of surgery.

Facial and beard skin heals differently than scalp. That is why FUE scars are not as visible in these areas.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Bhumik Shah MD

[Grouse]

13 hours ago, Fue3361 said:

It was an example of someone who shaves head and has no apparent issues in recipient area post transplant.  No scars/pits etc

Right, but he had FUT. So there would be no pits anywhere, just the long strip scar. Which I actually think looks better / cooler than a bunch of weird white spots tbh.

10 hours ago, Sunset Dune said:

The whole point of getting a hair transplant is so you’ll have nice looking hair, if your going to shave your head don’t get a transplant at all

Right, but doesn't your donor continue to thin? What happens to those that get Fin side effects 5 years later - their already thin transplanted hair will thin out as they get into their 40's, 50's, 60's etc. I guess I am not convinced a transplant is a life long solution (at least for me), and that is ok. I only want hair to help find a wife - then it can go  

6 minutes ago, Bhumik Shah MD said:

 

The only bright side of having a poor donor area, is that since the hair shafts are usually smaller in diameter you can use get away with using smaller punches. This can translate into better scaring. However the size of the punch is only one factor in overall appearance of the scar as a lot still depends on your physiology. If I were in your shoes, and absolutely wanted to do a transplant, with plans of shaving it in the future, I would do a small test area of 50-100 FU punch scars, let it heal and see what it looks like with a tight fade at 9-12 months. It is not a perfect solution as you are still left with 50-100 FUE scars but at least it will give you an idea before you take a bigger plunge.

 

Facial and beard skin heals differently than scalp. That is why FUE scars are not as visible in these areas.

I hadn't thought of this. I would need to travel a long ways for my hair transplant, so need to think about how I could do this. Thank you for your pictures and recommendations!

[mr_peanutbutter]

tbh there isnt much of a difference between a buzzcut jason statham has and the wet shaven look when it comes how the „opposite gender“ perceives you. i never understood the logic behind wet shaven, the whole "if i shave it wet being bald is a choice etc etc“. bald is bald. a guy with hair who decides to wet shave looks dramatically different compared to a bald guy who wet shaved. and the horseshoe will always be visible regardless of wet shaven or not.

 

so if its personal preference i understand but other then that its

1. more maintanance (you have to wet shave at least every 1-2 day)

2. irritates skin

3. doesnt really makes a difference regarding attractivness (compared to a buzzcut, not talking about a comb over from the 60s)

4. in case of ht scarring will be more obvious 

 

 

it makes a lot of sense though in case you combine it with smp 

Edited July 26, 2023 by mr_peanutbutter

[Fue3361]

7 hours ago, Grouse said:

Right, but he had FUT. So there would be no pits anywhere, just the long strip scar. Which I actually think looks better / cooler than a bunch of weird white spots tbh.

Right, but doesn't your donor continue to thin? What happens to those that get Fin side effects 5 years later - their already thin transplanted hair will thin out as they get into their 40's, 50's, 60's etc. I guess I am not convinced a transplant is a life long solution (at least for me), and that is ok. I only want hair to help find a wife - then it can go  

I hadn't thought of this. I would need to travel a long ways for my hair transplant, so need to think about how I could do this. Thank you for your pictures and recommendations!

I said in recipient region.