Scalp Micropigmentation is a great way to camouflage hair transplant scars; however there are always limitations to what can be achieved. SMP can not change a scars texture or size so there are other options you need to consider in conjunction to SMP.
Many people are shocked that you may be able to get a free scar revision. Many hair transplant doctors will revise a scar for past clients; so, if you received a hair transplant you can go back to that same clinic and have a revision at no charge. This is amazing knews that many people do not know about. The only bad side is that if you don’t like your doctor or trust their work; you may be stuck paying for a different clinic to perform your revision.
Check with the clinic or doctor who performed your transplant and ask if they can revise the scar. I would also request that the surgeon perform a Trichophytic closure if possible. I will be making a separate article regarding this closure technique.
Obtaining the best results and healthy tissue via scar revision before SMP may yield you a much better outcome in the end.
What happens five to ten years down the road if I turn gray? I am asked this question in just about every consultation I have with a potential client.
The answer may vary depending on how dense and dark you request your SMP. Typically, the density and shade will be determined by your natural existing hair that the artist will match to.
The main thing to understand is that hair shaved down in a majority of people leaves a shadow of gray. If your hair is brown, black, blond, red, etc. Once shaved, it leaves a gray shadow. The importance of this lies within the SMP pigments. Most SMP is performed with carbon black pigments that are diluted to be shades of gray when healed in the skin. Your SMP artist will add distilled water to the pigment to make the gray shade darker or lighter to match your existing hair. Some SMP pigments are warmed with warming colors added however the same principle remains.
A small majority of clients with blonde, white or red hair may almost look bald on the sides when their natural hair is shaved down. This is actually not an issue because this transparent look isn’t going to change by the hair going gray; it will still remain transparent. Meaning, your smp will likely match and blend from the start.
In conclusion, the SMP pigments used, heal in shades of gray already and with a shaved head the color of your hair is already leaving a shade of gray. Your hair turning gray over time may lighten this shadow, however your smp will also have been lighting up over this time as well.
For those that do have a blending issue due to color years down the road; it’s important to know that SMP is typically removed with one laser session.
For more information regarding SMP, please visit www.Dermimatch.com located in Scottsdale Arizona and feel free to give us a call or book a consultation.
Elon Musk is sporting a modern hipster style haircut these days and has shaved the sides of his head while leaving the top long and slicked back.
It’s no secret Elon has done something to regain his hair as there are many pictures in his younger years with noticeable hair loss. Many folks that are in the hair loss space have known Musk likely had transplants to correct this as he now has a great full head of hair.
Elon’s transplant results look incredible and during a recent interview; sporting his new hair style, two visible strip scars are clear as days. This is evidence that Elon has had at least two transplants however, it’s likely he has had 3 or more given the two scar sites.
It’s very possible Elon is sporting this hairstyle to receive another transplant by FUE as the sides of his haid would need to be shaved down in most cases.
Regardless; he has exceptional results and can enjoy his youthful look. Elon may consider FUE and Scalp Micropigmentation to help camouflage these scars which would allow him to sport his shaved sides without the scar being so noticeable.
If you have hair transplant scars please reach out to us at www.Dermimatch.com in Scottsdale Arizona.
If you have done any research into SMP, you have likely seen providers showing before and afters or even wash sessions progression.
Any time we see this on a provider’s social media, everything seems perfect and easy going.
Realistically, there are typically challenges throughout the treatment of many clients. These challenges aren’t anything out of the ordinary but they do require the artist to adjust and make subtle changes in their technique.
The second session is typically the most informative to the artist. This shows how well the pigment stayed in the skin, how well things heeled, does the artist need to use darker or lighter ink, etc.
Many times clients are concerned as the 1st treatment heals because parts fade, it looks dotty, the impressions might be too large, etc.
This is all common and the client should be prepared for this in advance. You must explain that every person’s body is different and the blending and sessions must be completed to see the final results.
One tool an artist can use is completion correction to help with any impressions that have healed too bold or big. This pigment is a thick skin tone pigment that will work as a cover solution and helps with the blending process.
Completion Correction can be found at www.dermimatch-products.com. Dermimatch clinic is located in Scottsdale, AZ
This is a topic I never hear about from providers.
Typically pigment not staying or sometimes not even seeing an impression stick is due to working in scar tissue.
This can be frustrating for both you and your client. It’s the artist’s job to do everything possible to overcome this issue.
Change needle sizes, maybe change pigments, go slower, etc.
What if the scar tissue is just bleeding too much or the client has a history of poor healing or keloid scarring.
Unfortunately, there are times where you as an artist may need to inform the client that they need to address the scars’ heath by letting it heal longer, look at laser resurfacing, microneedling, etc before you can continue.
It’s important to try and spot these concerns before taking a client on, however this isn’t always obvious until you start the work.
Dermimatch pigments may be able to help as they are slightly thicker than what is commonly used in the SMP industry. The thicker pigment can help with pinpoint scar work without the “sponge” and migration effect scars can have on highly diluted inks.
What is Completion Correction (CC)? CC is a thick skin tone pigment originally used to cover dark spots or irregularities in the skin. Dermimatch Hair Clinic realized that this product was extremely effective fixing bad previous work on clients. It’s also a great way to reduce the appearance of the stubborn pigment left over after laser removal.
If done correctly, SMP can be removed in about one laser session but some deeper impressions may stick around. CC is a great tool to take these darker spots down.
You can be the best SMP artist in the world but you are putting thousands of impressions in the skin of varying depth. You will have a few impressions that may need to be blended and reduced.
Before CC, your option was to add more pigments around the area to help blend. We all know ” more is not always better”.
Using CC to reduce impressions with a blending technique can create a great medium of blending.
Lighting plays a big role in how we see results on any given client. Providers will also use lighting to obtain the best before and after photos for marketing.
It’s important to understand that this is natural and a fully shaved head will appear darker or lighter depending on lighting.
Example: You’re in a dimmed bar meeting a date for the 1st time, it’s likely you will have a much more prominent SMP shadow vs. meeting at the beach where your head is reflecting the direct sunlight causing the results to look much more subtle.
Some clients may ask why they took a picture at the pool and they look completely bald. They may even suggest going darker with their SMP. As an artist you need to be able to educate your client on the lighting effects and why “more is not better”. You don’t want a Lego head.
One way to address the reflection to achieve more of a shadow effect in bright lighting is to use a matting product. This helps reduce shine on the head and advances the overall realistic look of SMP.
Many potential clients ask me if Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) turns colors over time; so I wanted to break down my answer as I would during a consultation.
There is no question that using the correct pigments, colors, shades, needles, etc. play an intrical part in an artist’s overall results. However, the SMP industry has utilized marketing, and some companies have flat out lied about using special SMP pigments. Many have stated that if these “special” pigments are not used that you will see blue and green results.
One demonstration posted on Youtube from the founder and CEO of a large provider; even went so far as to take “carbon black” tattoo ink and place it onto a paper towel. He then poured water onto the “black ink” to dilute it; as he poured the water onto the ink, it bleed blue and green. His statement was to use their pigments and not black inks.
That post has since been taken down because any tattoo artist or anybody who tried this demonstration could tell you; if you take black carbon ink and put it on a paper towel and pour water on it; it will only remain pure black in color.
Many artists in the industry are using carbon black tattoo ink and dilute it to create a “gray wash”. This is becoming more known in the industry and you can achieve good results if done correctly and subtly. Other companies are seeing some negatives in using pure black pigments and have created pigments with warming tones, different particle sizes, etc. Some examples you may want to look into would be https://dermimatch-products.com and https://permablend.com/products/perma-blend-scalp-set
The blues and greens you tend to see in regards to SMP results are a product of technique. If the pigment is placed too deep in the skin, this can create blowouts but also a blue/green effect as the pigment is sitting under layers of skin. This is more predominant in pale or light skinned clients and is created by the blurring effect and the light as we see the impression through layers of skin. You can test this by looking at some results in different lighting. Your results may look great in the living room but take a picture with a camera flash and it may appear blue-ish. This is the white light reflecting off the pigments under the skin.
Ultimately, your artist’s skill level should be able to keep the blue and green effect from occurring. If you have any questions or want to see results in person, you can reach out to Dermimatch in Scottsdale, AZ https://dermimatch.com
We all see Instagram posts of before and afters or 1st,2nd and 3rd session progression as it relates to Scalp Micropigmentation. Marketing and photos can be misleading and set false expectations of what is realistic throughout the process. Understanding the process and expectations is very important and should be relayed to potential clients during the consultation.
I’d like to touch on the process and expectation for each session in general terms. SMP is typically done throughout 3-5 sessions realistically. For demonstration purposes, I will go through session progression as if we are talking about 3 sessions.
First session – This is the time to create the overall foundation. Depending on your artist, this may be low density or a time to create density and get a “wow” factor for a client. Whatever path your artist chooses, this is the time to get a base down and fill in the balding area. Directly after a 1st session, the results may look amazing but as the treatment heals and the redness dies down, you will likely see sections that have faded or disappeared all together and other sections that have remained. This can leave a patchy appearance but do not be alarmed, this is normal.
Second session – This is the time that your artist learns about your skin, how you heal, the technique used and any changes your artist must make in their technique. Each client’s skin is different and requires adjustments to be made to achieve the best results. During this session, your artist will be filling in any sessions that faded and blend the work from the first session. This is also the time to create the desired density the client is hoping to achieve or even make any changes to hairline design.
Third session – This may be your last session for a while or it may not. This session is typically used to blend and create final detailed touches. Some artists may use a different shade of pigment to create a dusted 3D look on this session.
As mentioned, each client is different so your artist should be working with you based on how the results are healing. A client’s scalp skin is different from inch to inch so if some sections impressions stay and others do not, you will need extra sessions. As a client, it can be a scary process when the results are not healing perfectly after every session; again this is common and each session is used to fill faded portions.
Marketing might make one believe that each session looks perfect. This is not the case and requires many sessions to make the final results you see advertised. You can book a consultation with your local SMP provider or feel free to contact Dermimatch in Scottsdale, AZ at https://www.dermimatch.com and schedule a consultation.
Unfortunately as great as SMP is as a hair loss solution, we are still utilizing a 2D solution for a 3D problem. There are limitations to how natural this solution can look and it must be performed in such a manner as to obtain the most natural look.
Is SMP natural up close in person? This all depends, however, when creating 1000’s of impressions, it would be a lie to say every single impression remains small and precise. Each portion of the scalp is a different texture and can yield a different result from one inch to the next. It takes a skilled artist and lots of patients to achieve the best results possible. Your artist should also be utilizing a complexion correction or saline solution to target any impressions that are not satisfactory as a standard part of the treatment.
Natural hairlines are a must to obtain a natural result. It has become a trend in the SMP world to create the edged up barber look. If we are creating a shaved head look with SMP, how might one obtain an edge up look if they have a shaved head? You must have some length to achieve this with real hair right? So why would this be a great idea with a 2D impression? Although you can create a feathered edge up this is still a risky hairline to choose for the most natural result.
The idea is to give a shaved look of a full head of hair, not to try and create hair. As an SMP artist I can typically spot SMP in the real world from a mile away. Even if the SMP work is excellent, I can still tell. It has almost become a “look” that is acceptable. The “SMP look”.
I find this acceptable “SMP look” to defeat the purpose. So how do we avoid this look? SMP must be Subtle. Subtle with a natural feathered hairline. Do not get caught in the “more is better” trap.
Another point I should touch on is pigments. The SMP world tends to utilize diluted straight black carbon ink. Luckily some artists have adopted the idea that the carbon black needs to be warmed up to help avoid the “shoe polish SMP look” and to help avoid blue ting in lighter skinned clients.
Do your research and go to an artist that promotes a natural feathered hairline, subtleness and warm pigments.
Take a look at Dermimatch.com to see natural before and after results in Scottsdale, Arizona.
