Transplanting Hair from Neck to Beard?

Hi – I’ve been bumping around your website and I see where jerks must’ve emailed you a million false emails – this is not one of them : )

I’ve got minimal hair in my beard on the sides of my chin, and I would love to find a solution for it so that I can grow a full beard. My little brother had hair transplants from the back of his head to his hairline (receding hairline) – but he shaves his hair closely and the line in the back looks really silly.

I also shave my head closely (not bald, like a 1 level crew cut) – so I’m hoping to find a solution for my beard (have full head of hair on top, so only looking at the beard). I’m wondering if it’s possible to either get the hair from my neck below a normal beard line (that low neck hair 3 inches below the chin where you have whiskers but everybody shaves it off anyway) grafted up into the cheeks/chin area – or if it’s possible to get the hair below my normal hairline in the back and put that in the cheeks near the chin area? I just don’t want that silly line in the back of my head (I call it a “scalp zipper” (privately I don’t make fun of him obviously).

Also, I know it’s a specific cost to the individual based on how many grafts and sessions are required – but if I assumed about 1,000 grafts in 1 session, how much would I be looking at (high and low range)?

Lastly, I didn’t see very many photos on your website of successful beard transplants. Any good websites out there? I’d also love to hear about horror stories from recent years and how to avoid them.

This is a serious email and I am looking to do something in the next few months if I find a good solution – would love to hear back from you.

The procedure known as follicular unit extraction (FUE) was first published by me in 2002 and it discusses minimally invasive hair transplants where individual follicular units are removed one at a time. There is no linear scar with this technique and you can clip your hair short as you want. I would not take it from the neck, because neck hair is not permanent. See:

• Follicular Unit Extraction: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Hair Transplantation
• Follicular Unit Extraction: The FOX Procedure