The shock loss at week three panics everyone. It is the most normal part of the entire process.
Crusts form around each graft and fall away by day 10–14 with gentle washing. Redness in the recipient area is normal for 2–4 weeks and longer in fair skin. Sleep at 45° for the first three nights.
Transplanted hairs shed almost completely. The follicle stays — only the shaft is lost while the follicle enters a resting phase. Some native hairs around the grafts shed too. This is when patients message us convinced it has failed. It has not.
New shafts push through, thin and sometimes curly. Density looks patchy because hairs emerge at different rates. Photographs at month four rarely look impressive and predict nothing about month twelve.
Shafts thicken and gain their final texture. Around 80% of the result is visible at month eight, 95% at twelve, and the crown may take fifteen. Judge the outcome then — never before.
Cool hairdryer from week three; dye from month two, once the scalp is fully settled.