Scalp micropigmentation blending techniques and options

SMP Information
Broken hairline

Blending is the process of creating a seamless transition from your real hair to your treated area.

All SMP treatments require a degree of blending. It is without doubt a highly skilled process and perhaps the most challenging task facing your practitioner. All HIS Hair Clinic practitioners are trained extensively in this area, but how exactly does it work, and what are your options?

Depending on the extent of your hair loss, blending takes place in different parts of your scalp. If you have lost most of your hair and are (for example) at Norwood 7 level (see Norwood Hamilton Scale for more information), the blending area is where your ‘horseshoe’ meets your balding upper scalp. For diffuse thinners, blending takes place across your entire upper scalp and for those with advanced (Norwood 4-5) hair loss, blended areas will be wherever your remaining hair meets areas without hair.

Blending pigment dots with real hair is achieved by using a scattered gradient pattern into the real hair. The borders of your real hair are usually more sparse, eventually reaching full density the further away from your balding areas you progress. Your practitioner uses careful placement of pigmentation to blend a gradient of dots with the gradient of your natural hair to achieve a seamless transition. An extremely high level of skill is required to achieve optimal results, hence why this is a key area of our practitioner training program.

Broken hairline

The photograph above was taken immediately after a treatment session. You can clearly see the gradient pattern of blending used to ensure that when the dots shrink and fade, a perfect blend is achieved.

There are two primary factors that most influence how your treatment is blended – the density of your remaining hair, and the look you aim to achieve.

Your options

The density of your real hair is important, because to create the most seamless treatment your practitioner will usually match that with replicated hair. It is possible for your SMP to be more sparse than your real hair, an option that is particularly relevant for older clients who want an age-appropriate look, but to go for higher density than your real hair at the back and sides is not usually appropriate.

There are exceptions of course. If your natural hair density is very sparse, you may wish to bulk it up, however this will most likely require additional pigments to be added to the back and sides to artificially increase the density of your real hair too. This way, a seamless blend can be achieved with increased density across the entire scalp.

If you have a hair transplant scar to conceal, increasing your overall density may be an appropriate option because the higher the density, generally speaking the easier it is to achieve a full camouflage of your scar. Hair transplant surgery may have compromised your ‘natural’ density too, so this could be a good approach in some cases.

The look you aim to achieve is also important. Older clients, particularly those who have lost a lot of hair, may not desire a fully dense treatment because the change could be deemed too dramatic. A sparser look is likely to raise less questions from those around you, because the change is less pronounced.

Finally, you may choose not to have a typical seamless blend, but rather, have darker pigmentation on your upper scalp than at the back and sides.

blonde

Why would you choose to do this? Actually it’s an increasingly common request made by our clients, especially among those with particularly fair hair, or with men of Afro Caribbean or African American ethnicity who can get away with very dark pigments due to the darker colour of their skin. The resulting appearance is of a ‘fade’ style and it looks extremely natural when executed correctly.

Your desired look is discussed with you before your treatment begins, to ensure your practitioner fully understands what you hope to achieve. Any special requests can be catered for, as long as your practitioner feels it is in your best interest. For more information please contact us to arrange a free consultation so your options can be discussed in detail.

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