Shaving Your Head for SMP
“Why it is necessary to shave my head before a scalp micropigmentation procedure?” We understand that the thought of shaving your head can be scary for people who haven’t taken that final step yet: men that haven’t shaved their hair down to a buzz cut in years, if ever! But we can assure you through many years of experience, that optimal results for most men will be achieved with a shaved head. While it’s true that we can do density fills for women and for a small percentage of older men with minimal hair loss, the reality is that this is a much different procedure with a much different long-term outcome.
Density fills are meant to make the scalp as full and dark as possible, so the contrast of the skin vs the hair is less noticeable. So most women are completely fine with our artists being extra aggressive with the ink color, the depth, the density, and so on. They are not worried that the ink may bleed together like a tattoo over the years, or that it may hyper-pigment, since they will never be shaving their heads. So most women (or older men who have enough hair on top) want us to be as aggressive as possible since they will never be shaving their heads, and want the skin to be as dark as possible to camouflage their hair loss. Long as they understand the limitations/benefits of SMP density fills, these clients are perfect candidates for density fills.
But for younger men who are still in the process of losing hair, or have a major area of hair loss already, doing SMP with your hair grown out is usually not a good idea. Because of all the factors listed above, we want to be much more precise with the follicle size, spacing, depth, and much more in order to create the natural look of a full SHAVED head. Our follicle impressions for this type of procedure are created with much more detail to replicate the natural appearance of a shaved follicle, not long hair! That’s the key, let us repeat this, we are trained to replicate a tiny shaved stubble by placing a tiny follicle replication into your skin using pigment. This will never match long/dark hair with volume, especially for those who have bigger areas of hair loss to cover. As the SMP lightens up over the years, it will lighten up gracefully if the original treatment was done with this type of attention and care. And it will match the look of a purposely shaved head and five o’clock shadow.
Another key factor to consider is it’s much easier for the SMP artist to clearly see the follicle sizing needed, the spacing available, the areas that need more or less pigment and the amount of proper blending needed when the hair is shaved down. This means you receive a MUCH cleaner and more OPTIMAL result when you shave down before your SMP treatment. Remember SMP is not creating new hair, it’s creating more of a camouflage or illusion of tiny/shaved hair follicles: the five o’clock shadow. Some men will choose to grow their hair back later on to see if it works for them, and that is perfectly fine, as long as the SMP artist is aware and doesn’t get too crazy with a strong/sharp hairline. Remember, the younger you are, the more likely you are to lose more hair in the future, so make sure you take that into consideration. You may need to fully shave years down the road as you lose more hair, and you don’t want a dark, bleeding, or discolored tattoo on your head when that time comes.
If your SMP artist is experienced with thousands of sessions completed, and has seen how the pigment heals on clients scalps years after the original treatment, they should know all of this. Far too often we see clients wanting to hear a certain answer that fits their perception of what is possible with SMP, and new artists will tell them what they want to hear. But this is not ethical and can cause big problems down the road. We will always tell you the truth about SMP’s limitations and benefits, and how it will heal years down the road. And because of this, we will always recommend shaving your hair for OPTIMAL results. We hope this sheds some light about a common question we get in our consultations. We can do all types of procedures, but we will always recommend what is best for our clients, even if the truth is hard to hear at first. Ultimately, the choice is yours, choose wisely!
Please feel free to contact us for a free consultation to answer any other questions you have about this topic or any other topic regarding your hair loss and SMP.
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