SMP Hairline Repair: Fixing & Reworking Old Scalp Micropigmentation

The Client Brief:

• Fix the hairline so it has a natural shape and softer finish with a small fake scar.
• Blend out the darker areas from old SMP.
• Blend and soften out the side profiles
• Give an even look throughout the top and into the back.

The Problem with his Current Scalp Micropigmentation:

Our client had originally wanted to get treatment at Creative Scalps but decided because of the distance he would try someone closer to his home.
The SMP he received was ‘ok’ it wasn’t great. A common theme was apparent of the ink gathering towards the frontal areas and leaving dark spots throughout. This can happen as the skin towards the front of most clients gets softer and a little more receptive to the needle. A finer touch and concentration is usually required which we did not see any evidence of here. The cause of this is possibly laziness and lack of concentration from his SMP artist. As the skin and scalp dips and troughs in an uneven way it looked as though his artist was using a rapid fire method to cover all of the scalp in a quick a manner. This style of working creates an uneven treatment and blurred impressions.

The Creative Scalps Solution

• Laser removal to start fresh would always be the first choice but our client had some important work events coming up leaving us with a short period of time to fix him up and give him some confidence back at least for the short term.
  2 x sessions are usually required to fix an SMP of this nature.
• We used the muscle groupings on the forehead to create the clients natural shape and decided to create the scar through the softer hairline to give us something a little bespoke.
• Side profiles were kept to a gentle fade and gradually lightened as the SMP transitions into the sparse native hair.
• Our 5 point hairline system was used to check and create the symmetry.

The First SMP session to begin correcting the hairline:

• We used a shade 6 on the top which is a medium shade of pigment and a needle size of 08/3RL.
• For the frontal added hairline we used a shade 8 to give us a lighter finish.
• The impressions on top were worked around the darker areas giving us more consistent definition throughout.
• Into the front hairline, side profiles and blending areas we used a lighter shade to connect everything together.
• The darker band behind the old hairline was avoided so as not to make it even darker.
• This session gave our client hope that his SMP could be saved.
  We found the client had very good skin that took the needle and ink very well, reaffirming our belief that his previous treatment had been done in a way that showed a lack of care.

The Second SMP rework session to fix the hairline:

• Our second session was performed one week later.
• The healing was very successful and gave us the light and tight impressions in the hairline and blending areas to lift the skin shade very subtlety.
• We were now able to run all the way through the whole treatment with a slightly darker shade 5.
• We connected the new hairline to the old SMP and blended through to our first session work.
• The sides and back were blended out so there was a consistent contrast into the native hair.

The result is a very happy client who can now go about his business with an assured confidence. An even SMP treatment with gaps and irregularities all blending through to a soft and natural hairline.
This type of fix works very well for the short to medium term. In the long run the old SMP is still going to be there even though it has been blended out and camouflaged.

It is recommended that in the future a laser removal should be performed so we can start again. Top up sessions would not be advised because of the areas with too much ink from the original treatment.