If you are a fair skinned guy with light blonde hair, you’d be forgiven for assuming that SMP is mainly for those with darker hair and tanned, Asian or African American complexions. The reality is that we treat fair haired guys all the time. Its just that the cases are not as well documented
As a HIS employee for over three years, such was the prevalence of darker haired clients that even I assumed that SMP was not a viable solution for those with lighter, blonde shades.
The photo on the right is of me, immediately after shaving. As I have prepared for my own SMP journey (view diary thread), it has become apparent that I was wrong about how viable SMP treatments are for blonde guys. Following discussions with our practitioners, it seems that blonde guys are treated by HIS on a daily basis – its just that not so many of them have hair quite as light as mine.
Why would the process be any different?
For the vast majority of clients it won’t be any different, it just means selecting pigment shades appropriately. Most of the treatments you see on our site and forum use pigment numbers in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s (the lower the number, the darker the pigment), when in fact the lightest pigment we can use is a shade 60.
Shade 60 pigment is extremely light, and most people won’t need to go that far. Most blonde guys are comfortably treated in the 40-50 pigment range, and achieve exactly the right blend from their treated area to their real hair.
What about REALLY light haired guys?
This is the situation in which I find myself. Because my hair is VERY light blonde, when I shave my head my follicles are only slightly visible, and it is these follicles that our practitioner needs to blend the pigments with. Basically I am left with a choice:
- I can start with a 60 pigment for my first SMP session, then use slightly darker pigments in my second and third to achieve a perfect blend with my real hair
- I can keep my head shaved to the bone, and use slightly darker pigments all over my entire head (including the back and sides). For this to work, my real hair must remain shaved close at all times, and the end result would make me appear as if my hair is slightly darker than it actually is
Either option is perfectly feasible, however it is important to note that using pigments darker than your real hair is dependent on two factors, namely your skin tone and how dark your eyebrows are. Blonde men with really fair skin and very light eyebrows, will be restricted in how dark their ‘hair’ can be before it begins to look unnatural. Fair haired men with darker eyebrows and a slight tan probably have more flexibility.
The photos above were posted by a member of our forum (view diary thread). This particular client requested pigments darker than his natural hair colour, which were then blended carefully into his real hair. The result is a very soft, natural appearance whilst still retaining a fairly defined hairline.
Any more examples?
Sure. The following video features Magnus, a Swedish client of HIS Hair Clinic with light blonde hair.
What is the bottom line?
The crux of the matter is this – no matter what colour hair you have, be it blonde, brown, black or red, SMP can (and does) work very effectively to camouflage baldness. The process itself may need to be altered slightly, but a totally natural look is perfectly possible. That’s partly why dealing with a company with a broad range of experience is so important.
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