Any type of hair structure can be transplanted. However, straight hair and thick hair are easier to transplant than thin hair and curly hair.
There are approximately 30 different hair structures, categorised according to hair thickness and hair curliness.
Everybody has their own genetically inherited hair structure. It is the hair root that determines whether you have straight or wavy hair. Curly hair follicles are oval-shaped. If the hair root is round in shape, on the other hand, straight hair grows out of it.
Curly hair is a dominant dominant genetic characteristic. This means that if one of your parents has curly hair, then the structure of your own hair is also usually curly.
Curly haired patients are also more prone to suffering from traction alopecia, where tightly pulled back hair falls out. Usually, this sort of hair loss does not require a hair restoration as the hair will grow back if it stops being pulled at so much.
What role does the hair structure play in a hair transplant?
Hair structure plays a subordinate role in a hair transplant. All healthy hair can be transplanted. It makes no difference whether the hair structure is curly or straight, thick or thin.
The influence of hair thickness on the hair transplant procedure
However, there are different degrees of difficulty. For example, thicker hair is easier to transplant than thin hair. Fewer thick hairs need to be transplanted because they provide a fuller result with fewer grafts per square centimetre.
Blonde hair also looks fuller more quickly than darker hair because the contrast with the scalp is not as pronounced. In this case, however, scalp pigmentation can be used to fill in the thinning areas, so that even with dark hair more grafts do not need to be transplanted.
Hair type and transplantation
Curly and frizzy hair require a lot of experience on the part of the surgeon.
When transplanting curly hair, the surgeon must make sure that the individual grafts are implanted at the right angle so that the curls lie correctly later. If you look at natural curls, you will see that not every single hair is particularly wavy, but whole groups of hair have the same wave shape.
Transplanting extremely curly hair is another challenge. The follicles of such hair grow slightly curved under the scalp. Even hair transplantation with the FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) or DHI (Direct Hair Implantation) methods can be tricky. This is particularly if the hair transplant surgeon is inexperienced.
Other, older, hair transplant surgeries such as FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) can also be used, but leave more of a scar in the donor area from which the hair grafts are harvested
Due to the complexity of the procedure, the costs of a hair transplant often increase. With Cosmedica Clinic, they are included in the package price and you do not have to worry about costs increasing due to the structure of the hair.
Does the structure of the hair change after a hair transplant?
The hair structure does not change after hair transplantation. Hair from the donor area will nearly always have the same structure as in the recipient, balding area.
With the FUE technique, individual follicular units are transplanted so that after the hair transplant, the individual hairs continue to grow normally. You will not notice any difference between your transplanted hair and your normal hair.
If you notice a change in the hair structure after a hair transplant, please contact us so that we can find out the cause.
Cosmedica Clinic offers a free, personalised and no-commitment hair consultation. Start your hair transplant journey today.
