Why more women than ever are opting for hair transplants at an eye-watering cost

It’s a shear-ious phenomenon.  

While hair transplants may have traditionally been a cosmetic procedure marketed towards balding men, it looks like there’s a big shift happening as more and more women are opting for the cutting-edge treatment in recent years. 

Hair transplants aim to help patients look like they have a fuller head of hair, as doctors take grafts from various areas of the body that have healthy growth and move them to the balding or thinning areas.  

The procedure was introduced to the mainstream in the 1950s, according to Chicago Hair Institute, and has continued to evolve throughout the decades. 

According to a survey published by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery in October, the percentage of female hair restoration patients treated in 2024 increased by 16.5 percent from 2021.

On social media, many women are documenting their hair transplant journeys, too, showing off the dramatic results of the procedure that typically comes with a cost anywhere between $6,000 to $15,000 depending on factors such as extent of loss, number of grafts and surgeon’s expertise. 

TikTok influencer Lucy Tough, who goes by the username @hausoflt, has shared her hair transplant with her 64,200 followers on TikTok, as she revealed that she underwent two procedures for optimal growth. 

The results were quite substantial, as she had tons of new growth at her hairline, back of the head, and temples.

Yas Labidi, another social media influencer, also shared her hair transplant online, as she flew to Turkey to get hers done.

In just one year, she saw such a big difference that she labeled it as the ‘best thing’ that she had ever done.  

The increase in female hair transplants is something that New York City-based dermatologist Dr. Morgan Rabach has seen personally in her own practice.

It’s an increase that she believes is due to social media and more open conversations around the once-taboo topic. 

‘I have personally seen a huge rise in women’s hair transplants at my practice,’ Dr. Rabach of Rabach Aesthetics told Daily Mail exclusively.

‘I think that there are many reasons for this. I think there’s a broader acceptance of cosmetic enhancements and women are starting to view hair transplantation like they are face lifts and other cosmetic surgery enhancements,’ she said.

‘Women are seeking them out proactively and preemptively. There’s more discussion between women about them where friends are talking to other friends which just increases the overall discussion.’

Rabach also explained that the conversation around hair has changed, too, especially on social media.

She said that many are now talking about the problems related to hair loss and thinning – like hair supplements, hair loss after taking GLP-1 medications, and hair loss around perimenopause and menopause.  

‘Women are becoming aware that hair thinning, and pattern loss is not only a discussion for men, but has become a normal discussion for women as well,’ Rabach said. 

‘In addition and most importantly very advanced techniques have made hair transplantation for women a game changer,’ she continued.

‘For example we now extract the donor hair in a scarless way. Tiny individual hair are removed from the back of the scalp using a tiny punch tool,’ she explained.

‘There’s no linear scar a faster recovery and they can wear almost every hairstyle with it without anyone knowing they had it.’

Traditionally, hair transplants would see patients shaving the ‘donor’ area, which is typically the back or sides of the scalp.

But now, thanks to modern technology, some techniques, like the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) don’t require shaving. 

‘The long hair FUE technique also allows for women to leave their entire head with long hair so that the donor site hair extraction is completely undetectable,’ Dr. Rabach told Daily Mail.

‘In the past the most common method was FUT, which shaves the back of the head, and shaves the top of the head to place the grafts,’ she said.

‘For women with long hair, shaving the head at all would mean a very long recovery and a very detectable procedure.’

But Rabach isn’t the only doctor who has seen an increase in female hair transplants in her practice. 

Manchester-based Dr. Aziz Elgindi has seen a rise in women’s hair transplants, too, from all the way across the pond. 

‘I perform a lot of FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) hair transplants for women as this method suits most as it doesn’t require shaving of the donor are (back and sides of the head),’ Dr. Elgindi of Harley Street Hair Transplant Clinics told Daily Mail exclusively. 

Dr. Elgindi said that in his experience, one of the reasons why people get hair transplants is so that they can ‘feel better’ and ‘more confident’ in themselves. 

He also shared that hair transplants can provide a more youthful-looking appearance for patients.

It’s a same-day procedure, too, meaning that patients leave just a few hours later. 

In Rabach’s office, she says that a female hair transplant typically takes anywhere from six to eight hours. 

Patients will typically come in after eating breakfast, Rabach said, and then are given an oral medication that will help them relax. 

‘For women with really long hair, we do a procedure called a no shave follicular unit extraction,’ Rabach told Daily Mail.

‘In this procedure, tiny areas about the width of a pinky finger are shaved in rows with long hair in between,’ she shared.

‘The area where the hair will be extracted from is cleaned and numbed with local numbing medication. This is the only part of the procedure that may be a little uncomfortable,’ she continued, adding that if patients are in pain, she will also offer them Pro-Nox, a type of laughing gas.

After that, ‘hair is meticulously extracted in those short areas leaving leaving normal hair in between.’

‘Extracted graphs are examined and sorted under the microscope,’ Rabach said.

‘We look at the number of hairs in the quality and thickness, and then we choose, which hairs are for the very top of the hairline, and which we use for greater density to ensure that the grass are placed in the most aesthetically pleasing way.’

‘Then, the hair that’s been extracted gets grafted to the front of the scalp, where hair density needs to be ‘maintained.’

‘We are able to place the hair with the correct angle direction and density, and with a pattern matching the normal hair so that the grafted hairs look completely normal and natural,’ Rabach said. 

However, it can take up to one year to have all of the hair from the transplant fully grow in.  

Rabach made it clear that hair transplants can also be done for other areas of the skin – like ‘beards, eyebrows eyelashes or other cosmetic or reconstructive reasons.’

‘Many people also get corrective hair procedures to fix over plugged eyebrows, to increase density after prior failed medical treatment, to correct old hair transplant techniques that look unnatural or don’t take into consideration that further hair thinning occurs,’ she said. 

It’s not something to be scared of, either – and you may be back at work sooner than you think. 

‘I think patients are mostly surprised how quickly they bounced back from the surgery. And how comfortable the overall surgery is,’ Rabach explained. 

‘The recovery time is really quick with the extraction sites usually healing within a week. Redness healing within one to three weeks and a final result after a year.’