Hair transplant after 2 weeks

What the scalp looks like

• Crusts loosening and coming away, often with a short hair attached. Underneath, the recipient area is pink and the new skin is smooth. Crusting normally resolves by about day 10.
• Donor punch sites closed over after FUE, with the dots fading into the surrounding stubble as it grows back. A FUT incision has its sutures or staples out around now.
• Pinkness across the recipient area that outlasts the crusts, especially on fair skin. It fades over the following weeks.

What is normal at week 2

• Hairs coming away with the scabs. The ISHRS describes this phase plainly: the transplanted hairs shed while the roots remain. A shaft in a scab is not a lost graft.
• Itching as the recipient area heals. It is usually worst around the end of the crusting phase and easing afterwards.
• Persisting numbness or a strange sensation in the donor area, which resolves over months rather than weeks.

When to call the clinic

• Crusts that are thickening, turning yellow or spreading rather than lifting. Folliculitis starts one to four weeks after surgery and affects about 12% of patients; it is treatable and far easier to treat early.
• Pain that returns or increases after it had settled.
• Swelling that comes back after it had cleared, or swelling confined to one area with heat.

These are the signs the published series associate with complications that are easier to treat early. They are not a diagnosis, and a clinic would rather take a call about nothing than miss a call about something.

Aftercare commonly given

The ISHRS notes that postoperative instructions vary among surgeons. What follows is the common pattern, and the clinic's own sheet takes precedence wherever it differs.

• From around day 10, most clinics have patients soften and gently massage the remaining crusts off in the shower. They should roll away, not be picked.
• Desk work is usually fine in week one for those who can hide the crusts, and most people are back in week two. The scalp is the thing people notice, not the person.
• Light exercise is commonly allowed from around two weeks, with heavy sweating and contact sport held back for longer. Clinics differ on this more than on anything else, so the sheet wins.
• Sun protection on the recipient area, by hat rather than sunscreen, for the first weeks.

Hair transplant after 2 weeks: frequently asked questions

When do hair transplant scabs fall off?

The ISHRS puts it at one to two weeks: tiny scabs form and stay until they are gently rubbed away, usually between day 10 and day 14. The 2026 FUE complications review gives the crusting window as days two to 10. Scabs that have not gone by the end of week two are unusual and worth showing the clinic, because thick or persistent crusting can be an early sign of folliculitis.

Is it normal for transplanted hairs to come out with the scabs?

Yes. The hair shaft was cut during the procedure and it sits loosely in the follicle, so it comes away with the crust or sheds in the following weeks. The follicle, which is the part that was transplanted, is anchored by day nine and stays. The AAD puts the shedding window at two to eight weeks after surgery and calls it normal.

When can I exercise after a hair transplant?

There is no single answer because the ISHRS notes postoperative instructions vary among surgeons. The common pattern is walking from the first days, light exercise from around two weeks once the grafts are anchored and the crusts are gone, and heavy lifting, contact sport and swimming later. Sweat and raised blood pressure in the first week are the concern, not movement itself.