Founder Story

My hair transplant in photos.

By Jon, Founder|Published 4 August 2026

Quick answer: Two procedures. The first one failed and left permanent scarring on my donor area, which you can see below. The second worked. These are just phone photos I took at the time, not a proper clinical set, and I've left them that way on purpose.

Before you scroll. I took these on my phone, in bathrooms and hallways, under whatever light happened to be there. The angles are all over the place, the lighting changes, and the hair length isn't consistent.

I could have picked the flattering ones and matched them up. Clinics do it constantly, and when the lighting and angle and hair length have all changed between two photos, you can't actually conclude anything from them. That's usually the point. So here's what I've actually got, and where it falls short.

What the first procedure left behind

Nobody puts this bit on a website, which is why I have. My first transplant failed. And it didn't just not grow, it permanently changed what any surgeon after that had to work with. The scarring below is across the back and sides, where they took the grafts from.

Back of a shaved head showing widespread small round scars across the donor area after a failed FUE hair transplant
Donor area, back. The back of my head after the first one. Every mark is where a graft came out. On their own they're tiny. Take enough of them, spread this wide, and the whole area thins out. It doesn't come back.
Side profile of a shaved head after a failed hair transplant, showing sparse scattered grafts across the top and extraction scarring lower down
The same head, side on. The whole side, shaved down. You can see how thinly the grafts are scattered across the top, and the darker band lower down where they were taken from. That's the trade the first clinic made, and it's why the second surgeon had less to work with than the first one did.
Top down view of a shaved scalp showing a sparse line of transplanted grafts where a hairline was attempted
What the first procedure actually grew. Top of my head after the first transplant, shaved down. You can just about see where they tried to put a hairline. Those few dots are what grew. I spent about a year telling myself it was still coming.

The second procedure

Different clinic, and this time I knew what to ask before I paid. Here's the day itself and the few days after, which is the part you don't see on anyone's website.

Man with a surgical head bandage and freshly transplanted grafts across the front of the scalp
Day of. Straight after. The bandage, the grafts, and the face of someone who's been sat in a chair all day.
Close up of a scalp the day after a hair transplant showing dense red graft sites along the new hairline
Day one. Next morning. You can see every single graft site and the line where the new hairline went.
Top down view of a scalp around five days after a hair transplant showing crusting over the graft sites
Around day five. The crusting stage. It's normal and it passes, but nobody warns you what it actually looks like.

The first fortnight

The crusting clears, the redness calms down, and then around week three the lot falls out. It feels like a disaster. It isn't. It happens to nearly everyone and nobody tells you loudly enough.

Man photographed in a mirror about a week after a hair transplant, grafts visible but crusting reduced
Week one. Most of the crusting gone. Still obviously fresh, but it stopped looking alarming.
Front view about two weeks after a hair transplant showing the transplanted area settling
Week two. Two weeks. Looked like a bad short back and sides, which honestly was a relief. First time I went out without thinking about it.

Months one to twelve

This is the long bit. After the shed, months go by where nothing seems to be happening and you start thinking you've done it again. You can't judge any of it before twelve months. Which is why a clinic that stops answering at month four is a real problem.

Read these properly. I kept getting it cut, so the length jumps about and some of the later ones look shorter than earlier ones. Look at the coverage at the hairline and temples, not the length. Which is the same problem you'll have judging anyone else's photos, mine included.

Man in a full length mirror about a month after a hair transplant with very short hair
Month one. After the shed. Back to square one, more or less. This is the bit that tests your nerve.
Close view of a scalp around two months after a transplant showing early sparse regrowth
Month two. First bits coming through. Thin, patchy, easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.
Top down view around three months after a hair transplant showing hair filling in across the front
Month three. Actual coverage starting. Still soft and fine, but it's there.
Man photographed from above around four months after a hair transplant with noticeably thicker hair
Month four. Getting thicker rather than anything new arriving.
Man in a mirror around six months after a hair transplant, hair cut very short
Month six. Buzzed right down, so this shows a lot less than was actually there. Six months isn't the finished thing anyway.
Man in a mirror around eight months after a hair transplant with styled hair
Month eight. Long enough to do something with, rather than just have.
Side profile around ten months after a hair transplant showing the restored hairline and temple
Month ten. Sides and back taken right down, which is why it looks shorter than month eight. Look at the temple and the hairline. Both holding.
Three quarter view around ten months after a hair transplant with hair styled forward
Month ten. Same haircut from the front. It was still thickening up at the front this late, which I hadn't expected.
Man with hair styled back just after twelve months following a hair transplant
Just after twelve months. Twelve months and a bit, pushed back instead of forward. This is the first point you can honestly judge any of it.
Two things nobody mentions. I enjoy going to the barber now. For years it was a negotiation about what could be hidden and how to leave it. Now it's just a haircut.

And the hardest part once I had hair again was working out what to do with it. I hadn't styled it properly in years and had no clue what cut suited me. That took me longer to sort out than the recovery did.

Now

Where it's ended up. Not what I had at twenty, and I haven't turned into someone else. I've got a frame around my face again, and I've stopped doing a load of small things I didn't realise I was doing.

Two things I did not expect. Going to the barber is something I look forward to now, rather than something I manage. And the genuinely difficult part of all this was not the surgery or the waiting. It was learning how to style hair again, and working out which cut actually suits me, after years of not needing to think about either.

Man photographed in a bathroom mirror with a full head of styled hair
Now. Normal hair, normal light, no clever angle.
Close view of a man with full hair styled back, showing the restored hairline
Now. The hairline the second surgeon drew. It sits right for my face, it looks like it's always been there, and most days I forget about it entirely. That's the best thing I can say about it.

What I would take from this

Two things, and neither of them is about the second one working.

The scarring on the donor area is permanent. It's not a cosmetic footnote to a procedure that didn't work. It's less hair that any surgeon can ever safely take from me. That's what choosing badly actually costs, and you can't pay to undo it afterwards.

And you can't judge any of it while it's happening. Not on the day, not at two weeks, not at four months. I spent the best part of a year not knowing, and by the time I was sure the first one had failed, every decision that caused it was long gone. That's why you ask the questions before you pay, while saying no still costs you nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What does hair transplant donor area scarring look like?

In FUE it appears as small punctate marks spread across the back and sides where grafts were taken. Individually they are tiny. Taken widely or at high density, they thin the donor area visibly, particularly once the hair is cut short, and the change is permanent.

Can donor area scarring be reversed?

Not really. The marks themselves can sometimes be improved cosmetically, and scalp micropigmentation is used to reduce their visibility, but the hair taken from that area does not come back and the reduction in future donor supply is permanent.

How long before you can judge a hair transplant result?

Twelve months, and eighteen is safer. Transplanted hair typically sheds at around week three, then very little visible happens for several months. Judging before a year, in either direction, is not reliable.

Why are these photos not consistent?

Because they are the photographs I actually took at the time, on a phone, not a documented clinical set. That is deliberate. It also illustrates why inconsistent before and after images on a clinic website cannot be used to draw conclusions.

Related Guides

These are one person's photographs and one person's outcome. Results vary considerably between individuals, and nothing here is medical advice.