After getting a hair transplant, it’s important to give your hair grafts time to heal properly. This means before getting involved in any activity you need to carefully consider how it will affect your scalp.
You can use the sauna 3 weeks after the hair transplant. That said, you need to still be careful and ensure that the sauna is hygienic and not excessively hot. It could hamper your recovery and damage your hair grafts. Also, be sure to check with your physician before starting to use the sauna.
Keep reading to learn how the heat, humidity, and infrared light of a sauna affect your scalp following a hair transplant.
Table of Contents
- Does Heat Affect Hair Transplant?
- How Long After FUE Can You Go to Sauna?
- Can You Use the Infrared Sauna After the Hair Transplant?
- When Can You Sweat After Hair Transplant?
- Conclusion
Does Heat Affect Hair Transplant?
Heat is not going to have as dramatic an effect on a hair transplant once it has healed, with the exception of heated styling tools which should definitely be avoided. The danger only comes when we’re talking about the heat during the healing process.
When you are healing from a hair transplant, the area scabs over, and then the scab patches will fall out over a period of approximately 3 weeks. During this time, it’s similar to a scratch on your hand or a bug bite that you scratched too roughly, only smaller.
The scabs, as they heal, need to stay dry and not overheat, because the moisture from heat and sweat makes scabs less resilient, and slower to heal, and it encourages bacteria growth. This is why you want to avoid excessive heat and sweat during the healing period – just like you would with any other kind of scabbing!
How Long After FUE Can You Go to Sauna?
With Follicular Unit Extraction or ‘FUE’, individual hair follicles are basically taken from healthy, thick portions of your hair, and redistributed in areas where it is thinner. This permanent solution to thinning hair requires a bit of healing time, so you’ll definitely want to wait before you start spending time in the sauna again.
While there is no ‘set amount’ of days, due to everyone’s healing process being unique to them, on average you’ll be wanting to wait a period of at least 3 weeks, and if the scabs have all fallen out by then it should be okay to visit the sauna.
With the FUE healing process, the 1st week is when you’ll want to be the most careful, following your doctor’s instructions to the ‘T’. Physical exertions, such as heavy lifting and cardio are not recommended for a period of at least 10 days – although you can ask your surgeon if you have specific activities you’ll want to do.
By the 3-week mark, typically most (if not all) of the scabbing should be healed from your FUE and that’s going to be your indicator that a little sauna time is once again on the menu.
If you are worried, you can use a little coconut oil to help protect your FUE treatment and to ensure your new hair is soft, conditioned, and protected while you’re in that nice, warm sauna environment.
Can You Use the Infrared Sauna After the Hair Transplant?
As far as using an infrared sauna after your hair transplant, we have some good news for you. As an infrared sauna takes advantage of the qualities of infrared light, rather than direct dry heat, it is actually much LESS damaging to hair than a standard sauna treatment.
That doesn’t mean that you should be using it right away, however. It is recommended that you wait at least 3 weeks before you visit an infrared sauna so that your hair transplant has had enough time to develop scabbing.
During the first 3 weeks, the treated area scabs over, the scabs fall out, and the transplant should fully take root. During your first and second week is when you definitely want to avoid a sauna, even the infrared variety, as too much heat can promote the growth of bacteria while your body is trying to heal.
Once you’ve hit the 3-week mark, you should be fine, although you’ll want to make sure that you are properly hydrated and take the same sauna steps that you would avoid the risk of dandruff.
This could be as simple as a hair covering or applying a little coconut oil, and it will help to protect your new hair from overexposure to the infrared sauna’s heat. If you are still worried that the heat might be too much for your hair, we recommend simply speaking with your physician.
Once a hair transplant is healed, it’s going to grow and act just like it did before extraction and relocation.
As such, the medications and advice that your doctor gives you are going to be all that you need to ensure that your usual activities such as going to the beach, spending time in the sauna, or other activities in warm environments should be all that you need to protect your investment in hair transplant technology.
When Can You Sweat After Hair Transplant?
You’ll want to follow your doctor’s advice carefully, but we can give you a general idea of what to expect.
During the first week is when you will be the most careful, as the new hair follicles are taking root and healing, so during this time and for at least the first 7-10 days, you should avoid excessive heat and exercise. Avoid heavy lifting and cardio and if your job has a lot of heavy, physical work then it’s best to take some time off.
After 7-10 days have passed, go ahead and check with your doctor to be sure, but in most cases, light exercises such as light cycling will be okay after 7-10 days, while heavier exercises such as weightlifting are usually going to be fine after about 14 days.
Again, check with your physician – everyone heals at their own pace – but those are the averages that most people are going to fall into when it comes to healing time before exercise and sweating should be ‘on the menu’ again.
Conclusion
Resuming your favorite activities, such as a good workout and a refreshing sauna session, may be done fairly quickly following a hair transplant treatment – just be sure to defer to your doctor’s orders.
In most cases, light exercise will be okay after 7-10 days, while heavier exercise is good at 14, and saunas may be enjoyed after approximately 21 days. The main goal is to prevent excessive heat and sweating while your scalp is healing, but after that then you’ll treat it pretty much like the rest of your hair.
If you are worried, simply check with your physician and be sure to follow their instructions to a ‘T’. Before you know it, you’ll be back to your favorite activities and you’ll be enjoying them with a fuller head of newly-transplanted hair!
(Featured image by Rattanakun from Canva Photos)
