One of the most popular cosmetic surgeries today are hair transplants. Many people have had them. This includes celebrities. Nicholas Cage, John Travolta, Matthew McConaughey, Steven Seagal… they have all had hair transplants. But hair transplants involve surgery and they are not to be taken lightly. Make sure you know what you are getting into before getting one.

In order to get a good overview of the steps involved in getting a hair transplant, I have compiled a list of three steps that you will likely have to go through when you decide to get a hair transplant done.

1. In hair transplants, hair that is resistant to the balding hormone DHT is transplanted to a balding area of your scalp. This hair is excavated in the form of a strip from the back of your head. On the back of your head, your hair never falls out because it is DHT resistant. You will get anesthesia so you won’t feel a thing when the doctor surgically removes the strip of hair from the back of your head.

2. Since the hair transplant involves carefully placing tiny groups of hairs back into your scalp, the strip of hair is dissected into grafts. A medical team carefully cuts the strip of hair into tiny groups of one, two, three or four hair follicles. These grafts are later used in the actual transplant procedure.

3. When the team is done with the hair dissection, it is time for the hair follicles to be transplanted into the bald area on your head. While you sit in a chair, the doctor makes tiny openings in your scalp. This can be done using either a very tiny medical instrument, or a high precision laser. Once the openings are in place, the medical staff will implant the grafts one by one. The grafts with the fewest hair will make up your front hairline to give you a natural look.

It is possible that you will find a hair clinic that does the procedure differently. As technology progresses, methods change. But as of today, this is basically how hair transplants are done. The hair from the back of your head is cut up into grafts. The grafts are implanted into openings that are made in the balding areas of your scalp. Afterwards, these grafts continue to grow nicely.

What is important to keep in mind, is that your transplanted hair will not grow normally right from the start. The catch is that it will first fall out after about two weeks. This is called shock loss. The grafts shed their hairs because of the shock from the operation. This is normal, however. After a few weeks, all your tissue is healed completely and the hair will continue to grow at a normal rate.

Hair transplants can make you look and feel a lot better. But they are not a miracle cure for baldness. The rest of your hair will continue to fall out, so you might have to get more hair transplants in the future. There are many celebrity hair transplant pictures available on the web, so make sure to take a good look before you decide to get one yourself. Also keep in mind that hair transplants are getting better and cheaper all the time. So it can pay off to put them off for a while.