How To Make Your Hair Grow Faster After Having A Hair Transplant

After having a hair transplant, there are a few measures you can take to make your hair grow faster. These include:

Taking Finasteride
Using Minoxidil
Having a balanced diet
Reducing or avoiding stress

To explain how these would help it is important to explain the the recovery process of a hair transplant looks like and the phases of hair growth you will experience after your surgery.

Recovery phase after a hair transplant

The recovery process differs from one individual to another. However, on average, patients recover between 7-10 days post surgery.

During the recovery phase, you should follow your Surgeon’s advice post-hair transplant. This includes not wearing tight caps or wigs and avoiding exercise. After 2 weeks have passed you can go back to a normal lifestyle apart from a few lifestyle changes like not exposing your transplanted hair to sun damage and not using hair dyes.

Growth phase after a hair transplant

Your transplanted hair passes through several phases during growth. The first phase is usually termed the “shedding phase.” It usually occurs within the first 3 months of a hair transplant. During this stage, your newly transplanted hairs will fall out within 1-3 weeks of your surgery. This is called shedding.

After the shedding phase, the slow-growth phase starts, which can last up to 4 months. During this phase, your hair begins to grow, but only slowly. After the slow-growth phase, you may start to see some substantial growth. It usually begins anywhere from the 4th month to about half a year from your procedure. From the 6th month to a year period, your hair will begin to mature, thicken, and grow at rates of your normal hair. You can see these phases in our dedicated blog:

Hair Transplant Growth Timeline

Now that you have seen how long it can take for your hair to regrow, let’s look at some of the ways you can speed up its growth.

How to make your hair to grow faster after a transplant

Some of the factors that influence hair growth include:

Taking medications to help prevent hair loss and promote growth like Finasteride and Minoxidil
Having a balanced diet
Avoiding or reducing stress
Age- being slightly older will mean your hair will grow slower
Area of surgery- crown hair transplants tend to grow a touch slower than hairline transplants

Some of the above factors you can influence but others you can’t like age and area of surgery. Below we will explore ways to influence the factors you can manage.

Taking Finasteride or Minoxidil

Finasteride and Minoxidil have been shown to help prevent hair loss and promote hair growth. Taking one or both of these medications can help quicken your hair growth after having a hair transplant.

Finasteride works by reducing the level of DHT (dihydrotestosterone) in your scalp which has been shown to thin and make hair fall out. Taking Finasteride after your hair transplant can therefore help promote the growth of your existing hair which can aid the overall result.

Minoxidil works by promoting and stimulating hair growth. Taking Minoxidil can therefore be useful to quicken the growth rate of your transplanted hair too.

Healthy eating to make your hair grow faster following surgery

The kind of food we eat can greatly influence the state of our health and general well-being. Hair growth can be affected by a calorie restricted diet and therefore it is important to have a balanced dietary intake following surgery.

A diet that’s lacking in certain nutrients may impede hair growth and even cause hair loss. The deficiency of vitamins like biotin, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and folate has been shown to cause hair loss. It is thought that vitamin B12 and folate can play a role in the growth of the hair follicle due to their involvement in the production of nucleic acids. Others like vitamin C and vitamin E are great antioxidants that can fight the activities of free radicals in our body. Vitamin C can also foster the absorption of iron — whose deficiency has also been linked to hair loss¹.

Therefore, eating a well-balanced diet that’s rich in vitamins and minerals can very well impact your hair growth and quality following your transplant. Below we highlight certain foods and supplements you can take that can help speed up your hair growth after your transplant.

Fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are usually reach in many vitamins and minerals. Including them regularly in your diet can help you get most of the important nutrients that are needed for your hair growth. This can speed up the growth of your hair following surgery, and improve its quality.

Fruits and vegetables like bananas, berries, oranges, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes can be an excellent addition to your diet. Bananas are rich in vitamin B6, magnesium, and vitamin C. The vitamin C they contain also helps with wound healing, giving you a faster recovery. Also, vegetables like spinach are high in nutrients like folate, vitamin A, vitamin C, and iron, all of which are important for hair growth.

Proteins

Proteins are a crucial part of our diet that play important roles in the body. In fact, it is essential for hair growth. This is because our hair follicles are made up of protein and its deficiency has been found by research to cause hair loss².

Some of the best sources of protein you can add to your diet include eggs, meat, fatty fish, and many healthy nuts. Eggs are particularly rich in protein, and many other vitamins like biotin. Research-based findings have shown that biotin is involved in the production of keratin — which is the structural protein that forms the tissues of our hair, nails, and outer layer of the skin. In fact, Biotin supplementation in people deficient in it can promote growth³.

Fatty fish like salmon, are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked to increased hair growth. In one research published in 2015, women who took some antioxidants along with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, experienced increased hair density and reduced hair loss⁴. This can therefore help with increasing the rate of your hair growth following your transplant.

Supplements

If you have a restricted diet or have specific dietary requirements where you don’t eat dairy or meat you may want to consider taking supplements to ensure you aren’t deficient in them. Taking Biotin is one of the most common measures patients take to thicken their hair and promote hair growth following their hair transplant.

Vitamins C, E, A D and Zinc can also be taken to help a patient’s hair growth following their surgery. If you are vegan you may want to supplement your dietary intake with Vitamin B12 after your transplant.

Avoiding or reducing stress

Avoiding stress may be able to improve your healing processes and overall hair growth. Scientific findings have shown that cortisol, the hormone our body produces when it is stressed, may go on to disrupt the hair growth cycle⁵.

This means, when you avoid stress, you give your newly transplanted hair the opportunity to grow quicker, by allowing your hair growth cycle to continue in its natural pathway without the influence of Cortisol.

Other measures you can take to help grow your hair faster

Massaging you scalp after your transplant

It is important to note that you cannot massage your scalp immediately after surgery. If you do, you risk damaging your newly transplanted hair follicles. You can only massage your scalp after an approval from your doctor. And this can take any where between a few weeks to months. Massages can help improve blood flow to your scalp and stimulate hair growth which can quicken your hair growth following surgery. You can also use some hair oils to help moisturise your scalp and hydrate your hair.

Rest

You ought to rest especially within the first few days following your surgery. Avoid any kind of exercise or sporting activity for the first 2 weeks. This will help prevent your newly transplanted hairs from being dislodged or damaged. You can recommence exercise after 2 weeks apart from swimming and contact sports which you should avoid for 4 weeks following surgery.

Summary

The growth of our hair is determined by many factors, some of which are beyond our control. However, the foods we eat and the things we do to our hair can be beneficial to increasing the rate at which our hair grows after a hair transplant.