I had a transplant 9 months ago. The hair has grown in and is several inches long. However, my hair is naturally straight, and the transplanted hair is frayed/frazzled (although the hair at the donor site is straight). The individual transplanted that have grown in curve and bend at irregular angles. As a result, it is difficult to get the hair from the transplanted region to blend in with my other hair when it is combed.

I am wondering what causes this and whether the transplanted hair will ever become straight like my other hair? If so, when might this happen?

Thanks.

My hair got quite thin (apparently due to stress) and then over a few years time improved.. As it was getting thicker I noticed really strange hairs--my hair is blondish brown and some indivdual hairs were bright red and quite curly.. I even showed my doctor who supposedly had experience in this area and he just shrugged...Eventually they came back to normal. Perhaps this is related to "shock" or just a phase the hair goes through for a few people..most people I talked to about it have not experienced it..hang in there and they will probably get back to normal...

gone today...hair tomorrow...

I had the same problem. Dr. Bernstein told me that he thought it had something to do with damage to the oil producing sebacious glands and possibly some trauma to the follicles during the dissection process. After about 1 year, the problem seemed to resolve itself in my case. You didn't mention if your surgeon used high powered binoccular microscopes for disection, but I would imagine that a more careful disection process might minimize the problem. Again, though, the good news in my case was that my texture improved after about one year post surgery.

My Surgery With Dr. Sharon Keene

Some of my HT hair came in not at all like my recipient area hair, nor even like the donor hair from whence it came. Strange, if you ask me. But over time it came to become more and more like the surrounding hair, and it bagan to blend in extremely well. Even at first, some of the hairs came out grey in color. I am a bit older than many of those posting here (50, almost 51) and I do have just a tiny bit of grey at the temples and around the front of the ears. But how those HT hairs could be grey when they were not before, and why they are no longer grey after 18 months (no coloring from a box either!) is beyond me.

My hair is pin straight but after my last Ht in Nov 2002 I have a huge wave in the front of my hair which also my Doc sais should straighten out.

Changes in texture are fairly common, changes in color less so but are still well-documented. Usually they are temporary, but in some cases they can be long-lasting.

This is one of those possibilities that doctors don't mention to potential patients, because it might turn them off to getting a transplant. Part of the "Didn't ask? Don't tell" attitude of most doctors in the "business". Since you didn't bring it up, they figure there is no reason to discuss it, because it doesn't happen to every patient. Other effects that fall into this "didn't ask-don't tell" category during your consultation are poor graft growth, bad donor scars, and shock fallout. The attitude is "It's hard enough to sell hair transplants already, without having to disclose all the things that can turn out wrong."

The good news is that texture changes are usually temporary. As your hair grows out, eventually it will normalize, and little by little you can trim the remaining kinky hair away.

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Originally posted by shannon porter:
I had a transplant 9 months ago. The hair has grown in and is several inches long. However, my hair is naturally straight, and the transplanted hair is frayed/frazzled (although the hair at the donor site is straight). The individual transplanted that have grown in curve and bend at irregular angles. As a result, it is difficult to get the hair from the transplanted region to blend in with my other hair when it is combed.

I am wondering what causes this and whether the transplanted hair will ever become straight like my other hair? If so, when might this happen?

Thanks.

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Patricia

By stress do you mean trauma due to the HT or some other type of stress? I ask because I've noticed some thinning as well and have seen it mentioned before.

How long did it take to thicken up again? Did this happen on its own or did you take certain steps to accomplish this?

Thanks for your answers. I'm planning for # 2 and with the initial thinning and an uncertainty about shock loss with # 2, I'm a little concerned.

Not only is my transplanted hair growing frizzy and wiry, but it is also growing in THICKER than my donor hair. I know this sounds odd but I have actually cut samples and compared and it is definitely thicker. Has anyone ever heard of this before, and if so will that also normalize? I am thinking it could be the topical treatments I use like Minox and others.

I've seen a number of posts on this and some other websites, stating that the hair blends in after two years or so.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

I had the same frayed/frazzled look, but it straightened out after about 11 months.

Results of my 1424 FU transplant procedure on 8/16/02 can be viewed at...
http://community.webshots.com/user/ttaco

Dude,

My initial hair thinning was not related to a HT. sorry if I did not make that clear.. I was told by some top docs (Cleveland clinic, Northwestern University) that it was due to stress of grad school which I never really believed. Probably in retrospect, a combination of really poor diet and maybe stress-- who knows? It did eventually get better over a 2 to 4 year period of time..Docs back then gave me prednisone and steriod injections to the scalp.. I don't think the meds did anything.. it improved over time but not 100% It is still thin around the part which is why I am gong to do a HT...I think some docs still do steriods (pills) from what I have heard. I do not reccomend it There is a topical steriod that can be combined with Minoxidil. I have been told a well balanced diet and proper nutrition can help. When I first started thinning I was a vegitarian and trying to maintain wt at 105lbs..Ironically the steriods made me look like I gained 30 lbs.. it was not a good way to go.. hopefully yours will improve over time..

gone today...hair tomorrow...

Did you have complete FU transplant? Because one of the apperance of micro and mini's is this type of hair growth-- FU is suppose to minize this? Regardless, I've had both types and given about 18 months with poper shampooing and conditioners your hair will turn out fine.-- Just give it some more time.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

I did have FU grafts, although the number of grafts was substantially less than represented, and a high level of density was not acheived. I wonder whether when there is insufficient density, there is also a decreased level of electrostatic attraction between the hairs, and therefore an increased tendancy of the individual hairs to go their own way, resulting in the frayed look?

The theory about damage to the sebaceous glands is also interesting. The technician dissecting the grafts seemed rushed to keep up, and maybe was not able to obtain as much precision as possible. My hair is naturally oily, so perhpas decreased production arounded the transplanted hairs partly explains the difference in texture?