Aftercare · Beard transplant
Aftercare after a beard transplant
After a beard transplant, the same timings apply as after a hair transplant: first cleanse on day 3, a careful washing motion from day 7, and by day 10, day 11 at the latest, the scabs have come away. After that, it is mostly a matter of patience: the new beard hairs usually start to grow after 3 to 4 months.
Day by day
Aftercare at a glance
Everyone heals a little differently. Your personal aftercare instructions always take precedence.
Day 0
Treatment day
Do not touch or scratch the beard area, and do not bump it against anything. The newly placed grafts are not yet firmly anchored.
Days 1 to 3
Take it easy
For the first 3 nights, sleep on your back with your upper body raised and a neck pillow, and get plenty of rest. No exercise until day 9. Slight swelling and redness in the treated area are possible.
Day 3
First cleanse
You can do the first cleanse of your face and beard at home as instructed. On request, we will do it at the clinic, remove any bandage and show you how to do the cleansing yourself.
Days 4 to 10
Cleansing as instructed
Cleanse gently every day, with a careful washing motion from day 7. The scabs gradually come away. Do not scratch. How to cleanse correctly
Day 10
Check-up as per your aftercare plan
Depending on your personal aftercare plan and how you are healing; if needed or on request, at any time with an appointment at the clinic. Swelling and scabs have usually gone down considerably. Our aim is for the scabs to be removed or to have fallen off by day 10, day 11 at the latest, provided healing is normal. From now on, light activity is possible and, if healing is progressing normally, so is sleeping normally again.
Weeks 2 to 8
Temporary shedding
The shafts of the transplanted beard hairs often fall out, but the roots remain. Your own hair can also shed temporarily (shock loss).
Months 3 to 4
The first new beard hairs
Fine at first, then stronger, and not everywhere at the same time.
Months 12 to 18
The result
For many patients, the final result can now be assessed.
You can see how the beard grows month by month further down: Growth month by month
Cleansing your face and beard
| Period | Cleansing |
|---|---|
| Days 0 to 2 | Do not wash yet. |
| Day 3 | First cleanse, at home as instructed. On request, we will do it at the clinic and show you how to do the cleansing yourself. |
| Days 4 to 6 | Daily, following the seven-step instructions; only dab on gently, no washing motion yet |
| Days 7 to 10 | Daily as instructed, now with a careful washing motion so that the scabs come away |
| From day 11 | With a normal, mild cleansing product again |
For the transplanted beard area, you use the same lotion and the same shampoo as after a hair transplant, applied in the same way: leave the lotion on for 20 minutes and the shampoo for 2 minutes, only dab them on gently, do not rub or scratch, and rinse gently with lukewarm water. Cleansing in seven steps:
- Dab on the lotion: gently dab the lotion we gave you onto the beard area with your fingertips; do not massage it in or rub it.
- Leave it on: 20 minutes.
- Rinse gently: with lukewarm water, for example over the washbasin, never with a strong shower jet directly on the grafts.
- Dab on the shampoo: carefully dab on a little of the shampoo we gave you with your fingertips.
- Leave it on: 2 minutes.
- Rinse gently: again with lukewarm water, without rubbing or scratching.
- Drying: let it dry in the air or carefully dab it with a clean cotton towel; do not rub.
Dab onSteps 1 and 4
Gently dab on the lotion and shampoo with your fingertips; do not rub.
Rinse gentlySteps 3 and 6
Lukewarm and gentle, never with a strong shower jet on the grafts.
DryingStep 7
Let it dry in the air or dab it with a clean cotton towel.
From day 7: During your daily cleansing, you can start using a careful washing motion so that the scabs gradually come away. Do not scratch, do not remove them with your fingernails and do not force anything off.
Until day 10, only use the lotion and the shampoo you receive from us.
Donor area at the back of the head: The hairs for the beard usually come from the back of the head. You wash this area as after a hair transplant: Washing your hair step by step.
Scabs in the beard area: how they come away
Scabs form because a little blood and wound fluid dries at each insertion point. They are part of normal healing and gradually come away with your daily cleansing.
Our aftercare goal: By day 10, day 11 at the latest, the scabs have been fully removed or have fallen off, provided healing is normal.
- Careful washing motion from day 7: During your daily cleansing, you can now start using a careful washing motion so that the scabs gradually come away.
- Do not scratch and do not remove them with your fingernails: This can pull grafts out.
- Do not force them off: The scabs come away with your daily cleansing.
- Firmly attached scabs: If you have pain, bleeding or scabs that are firmly attached, do not keep going by force; contact us instead.
What to avoid in the first few days
- a strong jet of water directly on the beard area,
- rubbing, scrubbing or scratching,
- pulling at scabs, removing them with your fingernails or forcing them off,
- rubbing with a towel,
- a hot hairdryer,
- until day 10, any care products other than those we gave you,
- shaving and trimming before the timings given under Shaving and trimming.
If in doubt, it is better to ask: 062 557 15 57.
Sleeping without pressure on your beard
| Period | How to sleep |
|---|---|
| The first 3 nights | On your back, upper body raised, with a neck pillow. Your face and beard do not touch the pillow. |
| After that, until day 9 | Sleeping raised is no longer necessary. However, the beard area must still not rub against the pillow, so do not sleep on your side or on your stomach. |
| From day 10 | Normally again, also on your side, if healing is progressing normally |
Sleeping with your upper body raised for the first 3 nights can reduce swelling. If needed or on request, you can book a check-up at the clinic at any time.
Shaving, trimming and beard trimmers
The transplanted hairs grow like beard hair and can later be shaved, trimmed and groomed like the rest of your beard. Until then, these timings apply:
| What | When? |
|---|---|
| Trimming with scissors | from day 30 if healing is progressing normally |
| Beard trimmer on the transplanted beard area | from month 4 |
| Clippers on the donor area at the back of the head | from day 20 |
| Shaving with a razor outside the transplanted area, for example on the neck | from day 30; do not touch or irritate the transplanted area while doing so |
| Shaving with a razor in the transplanted beard area | only from month 6 |
Shaving outside the transplanted area: You can shave areas that were not transplanted, for example on the neck, with a razor again from day 30. Make sure that the transplanted area is not touched or irritated while you do so. In the transplanted beard area, a razor is only allowed from month 6.
Trimming with scissorsfrom day 30
Carefully and only if healing is progressing normally.
Beard trimmerfrom month 4
On the transplanted beard area (1) from month 4, on the donor area (2) as early as day 20.
Sun, exercise, swimming and sauna
Sun: Avoid direct, intense sun on the beard area for the first 4 weeks. Fresh skin is more sensitive to UV radiation, and sunburn disrupts healing. Stay in the shade.
Exercise: No exercise from the day of treatment until day 9. From day 10, light activity such as walking is possible, and from day 30 normal training and strength training, if healing is progressing normally. Sweating, pressure and raised blood pressure put strain on the fresh skin.
Days 0 to 9
No exercise
Get plenty of rest, no physical exertion.
From day 10
Light activity
Walks and light activity.
From day 30
Jogging
Normal training, if healing is progressing normally.
From day 30
Strength training
If healing is progressing normally, with light weights at first.
| Activity | When? |
|---|---|
| Sport and exertion | Days 0 to 9: break |
| Walks, light activity | from day 10 |
| Jogging, normal training | from day 30, if healing is progressing normally |
| Strength training, gym | from day 30, if healing is progressing normally, with light weights at first |
| Swimming | from day 30 |
| Sauna, steam bath | from day 30 |
Swimming: In a swimming pool, chlorine puts strain on the skin; in the sea, lakes and rivers there is also a risk of infection from germs. So only go swimming from day 30.
Sauna and steam bath: Heat and heavy sweating put strain on the fresh skin. Sauna and steam bath are therefore only possible again from day 30.
Growth month by month
Days 1 to 10
Healing
Short hairs, small scabs and slight redness. The scabs come away by day 10, day 11 at the latest.
Weeks 2 to 8
Temporary shedding
The hair shafts often fall out, but the roots remain. This is normal.
Months 3 to 4
First new beard hairs
Fine at first, then stronger, and not everywhere at the same time.
Months 12 to 18
The result
For many patients, the final result can now be assessed.
In months 1 to 3, there is often hardly any visible growth yet. From about month 6, the beard becomes noticeably denser, and it continues to thicken until month 9. You can read more about temporary shedding in the guide Can transplanted hair fall out again?
All dates at a glance
The key dates at a glance, if your healing is progressing normally. Your personal aftercare instructions always take precedence.
| Activity | When? |
|---|---|
| Check-ups in the first 10 days | depending on your personal aftercare plan and how you are healing; if needed or on request, at any time with an appointment at the clinic |
| First cleanse | on day 3, at home as instructed or at the clinic on request; then daily as instructed until day 10 |
| Careful washing motion | from day 7 |
| Scabs fully removed | by day 10, day 11 at the latest |
| Normal, mild cleansing product | from day 11 |
| Sleeping with your upper body raised | the first 3 nights, on your back with a neck pillow |
| Sleeping normally, also on your side | from day 10, if healing is progressing normally |
| Light activity | from day 10, for example walks |
| Sport, strength training | from day 30, if healing is progressing normally; strength training with light weights at first |
| Swimming | from day 30 |
| Sauna, steam bath | from day 30 |
| Intense, direct sun | avoid for the first 4 weeks |
| Trimming with scissors | from day 30 if healing is progressing normally |
| Beard trimmer on the beard area | from month 4 |
| Clippers on the donor area | from day 20 |
| Shaving with a razor outside the transplanted area, for example on the neck | from day 30, without touching or irritating the transplanted area |
| Shaving with a razor in the transplanted beard area | from month 6 |
| Alcohol | from day 3 |
| Smoking | possible from day 3, but still as little as possible |
Check-ups and warning signs
- Check-ups according to your aftercare plan: Check-ups in the first 10 days follow your personal aftercare plan and how you are healing. If needed or on request, you can book a check-up at the clinic at any time.
- Dedicated contacts: in Zurich and Oftringen, even weeks and months after the procedure.
Get in touch with us if:
- the pain increases rather than decreases after the first few days,
- the skin in the beard area is very red, hot or increasingly swollen,
- pus or cloudy fluid comes out,
- you develop a fever,
- bleeding does not stop after a few minutes of light pressure with a clean compress,
- grafts have fallen out with bleeding,
- you are unsure whether your recovery is normal.
If in doubt, better once too early than too late: you can reach us on 062 557 15 57, Monday to Saturday from 08:00 to 19:00. You will find all the ways to contact us on our contact page.
Outside our opening hours:
For non-urgent questions, you can leave us a message. In an acute medical emergency, please do not wait for a reply by WhatsApp or email, but seek emergency medical help.
Frequently asked questions about aftercare after a beard transplant
When can I wash my beard after the transplant?
From day 3. You can do the first cleanse at home as instructed; on request, we will do it at the clinic. Until day 10, you cleanse daily as instructed, with a careful washing motion from day 7, and from day 11 with a normal, mild cleansing product again.
When do the scabs in my beard fall off?
They gradually come away with your daily cleansing. Our aim is for them to be fully removed or to have fallen off by day 10, day 11 at the latest, provided healing is normal.
How should I sleep after a beard transplant?
For the first 3 nights, on your back with your upper body raised and a neck pillow, so that your face and beard do not touch the pillow. From day 10 you can sleep normally again, also on your side, if healing is progressing normally.
When can I trim my beard?
With scissors from day 30, if healing is progressing normally. With a beard trimmer on the transplanted area from month 4.
When can I shave?
Areas that were not transplanted, for example on the neck, with a razor from day 30; make sure that the transplanted area is not touched or irritated while you do so. In the transplanted beard area, a razor is only allowed from month 6. Trimming with scissors is possible from day 30, and a beard trimmer on the transplanted area from month 4.
When can I exercise again?
No exercise from the day of treatment until day 9. From day 10, light activity such as walking is possible, and from day 30 normal training and strength training, if healing is progressing normally.
Can I go out in the sun after a beard transplant?
Avoid direct, intense sun on the beard area for the first 4 weeks and stay in the shade.
When can I go swimming or use a sauna?
Both from day 30. Chlorine, germs in open water, heat and heavy sweating put strain on the fresh skin.
Is it normal for the transplanted beard hairs to fall out?
Yes, in the first few weeks. The hair shafts often fall out temporarily; the roots remain and later produce new hairs.
When will I see the first new beard hairs?
Usually after 3 to 4 months, fine at first, then stronger. For many patients, the result can be assessed after about 12 to 18 months.
When can I drink alcohol or smoke again?
Alcohol from day 3. Smoking is possible from day 3, but still as little as possible, because nicotine can reduce blood flow to the skin and therefore impair wound healing.
Questions about aftercare for your beard?
Our team in Zurich and Oftringen is here for you Monday to Saturday from 08:00 to 19:00.
More aftercare: Hair transplant · Eyebrow transplant
Medically reviewed by: Dr. Sabrina Tahery and Dr. Moustafa Kassar
As of 14 November 2026
Sources: Swiss Hair Life aftercare instructions (hair transplant), medically reviewed, as of 13 November 2026; information on beard transplants at Swiss Hair Life.