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Hair Coloring After Transplant

Hi Dr. Rassman.
First I would like to thank you and Dr. McClellan, for doing such a great job. It has only been a week since my surgery 1,700 grafts. 5 Years ago I had 1,100 grafts. Healing is occurring quite rapidly, and I feel the positive results around the corner.

I have somewhat fine, and curly hair age 38. Auburn brownish is my natural color. Redhead when I was younger. My father grayed heavily in his thirties, as did my brothers & I. I use either “Grecian Formula”, or “Just for Men” 5 minute hair coloring. (Light Brown to get as close to my natural color as possible). About a month prior to surgery, I had my hair highlighted bleach blonde, and the results were fantastic. I looked a lot less bald, with wonderful full blonde curls, and my brown underneath. It looks so natural and subtle that everyone thinks I have just been in the sun for a week. I am very pleased with this coloring. Because I only highlighted, the brown color treated area remains, its brown status.

The main question becomes at this point, is when can I use the “Grecian Formula”, or the “Just for Men 5 Minute Hair Coloring again as my base?

And, when can I “bleach” highlight again?
A) My regular area.
B) Donor, and Transplanted area.

Thanks again to Dr. McClellan for doing such a great job last week.

Thank you for your kind words! I am hesitant to post this for fear that readers may think this is a ‘planted’ question, but you do raise some issues that have not been addressed in this blog. You can begin to color or bleach your hair once there is no more scabbing present and the skin is smooth. This usually happens within the first after surgery (in some people in days). I generally advise people to dye their hair immediately prior to the surgery so that there is no significant disruption to their schedules.

You also bring up an important point on the value of hair coloring. Lightening the hair always adds the look of fullness. In a question posed to me on April 21st (see: Platinum Blonde Patients), the question of blonde hair came up in a different context. That question has bothered me since it came in and as I looked through hundreds and hundreds of patient photos, fewer blondes were in my hair transplant group than non-blondes. Then I realized that the lack of blondes in my database of photos came about for two reasons:

  1. There are fewer blondes in the population (estimated at less than 10%). We are led to believe that the actual number is higher because there are many, many blonde women. Could it be that because ‘Blondes have more fun” women are becoming blonde far more frequently than men are?
  2. A platinum blonde man can lose 85% of the hair on the front, top and crown without knowing that he is going bald. This is because of the low color contrast between hair and skin color and that the shiny hair platinum blondes have makes balding less prominent.

In conclusion, men who are balding should think more like you and consider taking charge of coloring like some of the women out there are doing regularly. Maybe, just maybe, coloring can solve the hair thinning problem without a hair transplant for those who are not quite bald yet.

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Hair Cloning

Benjamin asked…

Are there any doctors who can clone donor hairs so that the amount of available donor hairs is no longer an issue with transplants?

The hair cloning issue keeps coming up because it seems to be promoted by some unscrupulous people who use the cloning ‘card’ as a way to elevate their own position of authority in this business. There is no cloning on the short-term horizon for hair, despite claims to the contrary. If and when the cloning problem for hair is solved from a research perspective that can be replicated , it will take legislation to make that reality into a clinical tool. Hair was first cloned by Jahoda in Scotland in the late 1980s. Since then, there is been a relatively long silence in the industry on repeating his work. His report stands alone as a successful cloning experiment. Attempts to do this in mice and other animals have produced many dead animals in at least one study I have been told about. Attempts to do this in humans have met with failure after failure. Fortunately, no deaths have occurred. I would urge all of my readers to be cautious about the cloning option and look skeptically at anyone who promotes it at this time.

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Is Hair Cloning Right Around the Corner?

I saw this article yesterday about hair cloning on the UK’s Times Online: Baldness cure firm heads for AIM

Here is an example of a business deal coming down the pike shortly which mixes the anticipation of raising a large amount of money with the excitement of hair cloning. Growing hair in a test-tube from parts of the hair follicle that might eventually produce a head of hair in a balding man is the dream. How far from reality is this? I suspect that the clinical trials will tell us that, but as you may know, clinical trials take time to get from testing to fruition and an FDA approved process that is both safe and effective. Many of these processes fail to make the final mark, so this is a high risk deal for those of you wanting to put your money behind the cloning endeavor. It is even a higher risk deal for those of you waiting and waiting and waiting for the cloning answer to your balding prayer.

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Hair Change After Chemotherapy

why does your hair change after chemotherapy. hair is a genetic code in your DNA so does that mean that it changes your DNA?

Hair has a very high metabolic rate just like the cancers you are treating with chemotherapy. These chemotherapeutic agents get to cells that have a high metabolic rate, which include: hair, elements of bone marrow, intestinal cells. So when you get chemotherapy, it gets to all of the fast growing cells. That is why people become anemic on chemotherapy, or get diarrhea from damage to the intestinal lining of the stomach and intestines, so I would expect that if the hair is not forced into its telogen cycle, the hair growing out would not be normal.


2008-09-15 15:11:29Hair Change After Chemotherapy

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My Hair Was Burned With a Relaxer and It Falls Out and Grows Back Every 3 Years

I had my hair relaxed 9yrs ago and got a burn in the balding area. the burn healed but hair from that area started thinning. 3 yrs later it fell off then grew back again, thinner and on a larger area. 3yrs later same thing happened again. Last yr was another 3yrs later when it fell off again. i haven’t used hair relaxer on my head since 9yrs ago.my scalp hurts a lot on that area.what can i use to restore my scalp and get my hair back. Please please help

You seem to describe a cycle of 3 years where your hair thins and grows back. I have never heard about such cycle and I am not sure how it relates to the chemical relaxer from 9 years ago. Our hair does grow and fall out in cycles but it is not very predictable nor synchronous. Human scalp hair is constantly growing and falling asynchronously. We can lose 100-200 hairs a day but there are 100-200 new hairs growing elsewhere on the scalp at the same time. So this cycle should not be readily perceptible. On occasion some experience telogen effluvium where there is significant hair loss without any inciting cause. There is no treatment for telogen effluvium other than time, as hairs do grow back within a year.

Pain on your scalp is not normal and you should have it checked by your dermatologist.

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Hair Breaks on Top of Scalp

I am 33 years old female and I am having a problem with hair breakage, it is been going on for about 5 years .The breakage is only in the top of my head ,and that part of my scalp is very sore. I do not know what to can you please tell me if you know about this condition. thank you

I am having trouble connecting the breakage of your hair with the soreness of your scalp. I think that an examination by a good doctor may be helpful. Most dermatologists can address this problem for you.

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Hair Breaks 3 Inches From Root

I have a question for my friend.. She has had hair breakage about 3 inches from the root. She has had over 15 surgeries in the past 7 years due to a motorcycle accident.. Her hair breaking has been an issue for over a year or 2.. She has had blood work done and nothing was found wrong. She has made an appointment with a hair specialist to do a test on a piece of her scalp. Is there any other simple reason that the doctors would be looking over like her nutrition? I am concerned for her and I wanna help her as much as I can.. If you have any answers for me I would appreciate it.

Stress from surgery can cause hair to fall out. I have often stressed (no pun intended) the importance of miniaturization mapping of the scalp to see the pattern of hair loss. This may be of benefit to your friend.

With regard to hair breakage (if it were you), I would want to know more about how you manage your hair, how you brush/comb it, what shampoos and conditioners you use, what changes you have implemented prior to noticing the breakage problem, and what the nutritional status of your body is (the hair may reflect vitamin and other nutritional deficiencies).


2006-08-10 07:03:10Hair Breaks 3 Inches From Root

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Hair Breaking After Chemical Straightening

I recently had chemical straightening and have now noticed that my hair is breaking of a lot. i am scared i am getting bald. i have had straightening done in the past but havent ever had this much hair fall. is there anything special i need to do. how do i stop hair from breaking off. Please let me know i am getting very stressed out

Thanks

If you’re seeing a lot of hear breakage from chemical damage, there is not much you can do since damage is already done. The good news is that your hair will grow out if it is not damaged at the root. The only thing you need to do now is be patient. Stress could lead to other problems, including additional hair loss. If you are worried, see a dermatologist or your primary care doctor.


2010-09-16 11:25:09Hair Breaking After Chemical Straightening

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Hair Becoming Minoxidil Dependent

Dr Rassman
I have heard anecdotal reports that the use of Minoxidil for diffuse thinning in men can cause the good terminal hair one currently has to become Minoxidil dependent and change the “good hair” into a fuzzier Minoxidil produced hair—any truth to that? Thank you

Minoxidil dependence does occur for the thinning hair associated with balding in both men and women. When it works, it can be dramatic, but the dependence is a reality that you must face, for if you stop the drug, you will lose all of the benefits including the hair that is preserved. Those men and women with normal hair do not have to worry about minoxidil dependence.

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I Had a Hair Ball with a Hair That Was About 5 Inches Long from a Hair Transplant I Had One Year Ago

If the graft was placed upside down and it grew for months, it might have grown to full length inside your scalp at a rate of about 1/2 inch per month. I am sure that your doctor remove the hair that came from the cyst (and it most likely was created from an ingrown hair).


2018-06-22 12:31:08I Had a Hair Ball with a Hair That Was About 5 Inches Long from a Hair Transplant I Had One Year Ago