Do Transplanted Hairs Take on Characteristics of Hair That Used to Be There?

Hi,

I used to have a kind of cowlick on one of my temples. Over the years my hair in that area has gone. Since then I have had 2 successful transplants including replacing the hair in that same area. The new hair on the same temple has grown into a cowlick again even though the transplanted hair from my donor area is straight and the rest of the transplanted hair is straight.

Is this unusual in that transplanted hair has somehow taken on the characteristics of hair that was previously there? Do the cells on the scalp somehow have a ‘memory’ or ability to control the characteristics of what new hairs are placed there? Hope this makes sense!

Thanks

The transplanted hair almost always takes on the character of its source. In body hair transplants (chest to scalp) the donor hair often changes a bit, getting longer than when it was growing on the chest. There is no memory that I know of, but I do believe that the character of the skin may influence the character of the hair on a mechanical basis alone.