Important (For Me) Post Op Question - When can I blowdry my hair?

[WeAreCured]

Hey everyone,

 

This is my first post, but I have been coming here for answers and hope for over a year now. I'm about to turn 26 in a month and after being on Propecia for one year and eliminating the loss of hair, I went to the amazing Dr. Cooley in Charlotte NC for a transplant yesterday. First off, I want to say that Dr. Cooley and his entire staff, Ailene, Brandy, etc. were completely amazing and everything went so smoothly it was unbelievable. I listened to my iPod for an hour or so, then dozed off for about an hour during the actual procedure. Then a nice lunch and a couple movies later, I was out of there. They gave me all these pain killers and Valium, but to be quite honest, I have absolutely no pain... I'm still poppin those suckers though... shhhh. I had 1500 grafts that renewed my original hairline, which had receded about 3/4 of an inch on the temples and 1/2 an inch in the front with no hair loss at all on my crown. I can't tell you how excited I am for the coming year. I'm starting law school next fall, so I'll finally be able to cut my hair in a more professional manner when the time comes without being self conscious. As shallow and cruel as it is, the professional world is definitely a lot easier when you're good looking, and as smart and naturally handsome as I may be, a receded hairline could cause self consciousness to a noticeable point, which my future employers in the cut throat law field could judge as something it's not and blah blah... I never reach my full potential.

 

Anyways, my hair is fairly long for a guy. I've got the whole skater sideways swoop thing going on with bangs that come down to my eyebrows, which worked out extremely well since I've rocked this do for the past 5 years so no one ever knew my hairline was receding, plus I've had no thinning in my crown or anywhere else.

 

However, my hair is wavy so I've always blow dried it straight to style it the way that I like and even use a straightening iron from time to time. Dr. Cooley told me to air dry for the first three days, then it would be okay to blow dry on low heat as long as I don't drag a brush over the skin in the area that I had hair transplanted. I'm not an idiot, so I'm going to be extra extra careful in the front when blow drying, but my question is:

 

After 3 days shouldn't the follicles be in there enough to blow dry over the area on low? I've searched the site and can't seem to find anything mentioning a definite time table for blow drying or the exact reason why you shouldn't. I mean, it's not as if a gentle warm breeze of air can uproot surgically implanted hair follicles is it? It's just that I want to style my hair exactly as it was before the surgery so no one knows that anything's up, know what I mean. Dr. Cooley said it's OK, but I could use some peer reinforcement from the knowledgeable contributors of this forum.

 

Thanks

[MrJobi]

Welcome

 

Be especially careful the first 8 -10 days with your new grafts. If Dr. Cooley said it was Ok I would use the blowedry at a far distance to just lightly blow the area. Again, the first 10 days are crucial so be careful in everyway possible

[Janna]

Hi,

 

I know you're looking for support from other ht patients, but I thought I'd chime in anyway.

 

I think Dr. Cooley gave sound advice on blow drying your hair. You are doing everything perfectly, don't worry about doing any harm to your grafts. Good luck with law school and congrats on getting your ht done by a great team.

[Ailene]

Dr. Cooley recommends using caution with blow drying. You can dry the sides and back normally but the newly grafted area he prefers that you use as little heat as possible. Dry on a cool setting and be careful with a brush or comb not to do any damage.

 

Good Luck,

Ailene

[Bill - Seemiller]

WeareCured,

 

Welcome to our community.

 

Congratulations on your recent hair transplant with Dr. Cooley. I'm glad that you've found our resource beneficial to your research and that it led you to a world renowned hair transplant physician.

 

Our members have already given you excellent advice about taking care of the transplanted hairs over the first few days.

 

I hope you'll take the time to create a hair loss weblog to share your experience and pictures with us.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[WeAreCured]

Thanks a lot guys, and Janna and Ailene.

 

Bill, I opted out of getting copies of my pre-op pictures because to be honest, I don't want anything to do with my receded hairline. I view the surgery as a step toward the future and I don't even want to remember the hurt I felt as my hair receded.

 

However, I'll start a weblog using my digital camera to return the favor that the people of this site have provided for me.