Hair transplant surgery is surely less painful than it was in earlier times when larger sections of scalp were excised. This involved more cutting to take out the donor hair and more cutting to insert the donor hair into the recipient site. Hair transplant surgery was a very painful procedure in the past. If your expectations are too high, you may be referred to counseling before a reputable doctor will perform a hair transplant. If you are positive yet realistic, you may be ready for the next step. Next, the doctor will get all the facts on your health that are related with surgical procedures. Uncontrolled high blood pressure would be a problem. The patient will be asked to bring, or will be given, a baseball cap for the ride home from the hair transplant procedure. The doctor will want to see how the grafts are doing the day following the hair transplant. The patient will go in for a check-up so that any problems can be corrected quickly. If that is not possible, at least plans can be made to correct them at a future time. She may even have a nurse or helper give you a tour of the facility. It will most likely be a doctor's clinic or an outpatient surgery center. You will be made to feel as comfortable as possible. Unless you are one of a very tiny group, you will not have to stay in the hospital overnight. You will have time to discuss anesthesia with the doctor. You should figure that the average number of hair transplant grafts needed to cover a balding area is 25% of the original hair that was there. You can move up or down from this figure according to your other factors such as thickness, curliness, or color. Then, you can use this number to figure up the grafts needed. Your grafted hairs are the same as old hairs but they are balding resistant. However, they need special care at first. Your hairdresser should know about hair transplants and understand just what you need to avoid. After a few short weeks, you can treat your hair transplant grafts just like you did your old hair before you lost it.