Sydney Scalp Micropigmentation: Should you Clipper or Shave for Maintenance?
How to maintain your SMP so it looks consistent to your actual hair is really important snd so at our Hair Loss Clinic in Paddington Sydney, we are often asked about how to shave or clipper the hair.
My job, as an SMP or Scalp Micropigmentation artist, is to combine the head tattoo with a clients biological hair so it looks consistent and natural.
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The SMP is designed to look like fresh follicles, or stubble and how you clipper or shave really depends on how course and thick the biological hair is.
Many clients who experience male pattern baldness are used to completely shaving the scalp to get rid of their hair so their entire scalp is flesh coloured.
Getting them to stop shaving this way can be difficult as they are so comfortable with this habit, but the Scalp Micropigmentaion is the replication of fresh stubble, so it can look inconsistent if the client does a wet shave on their biological hair (often the hair in the non male pattern baldness area is just running from ear to ear with no hair on top. )
My preference is for a client to ditch the wet shave look as it will completely shave the hair down to the flesh, instead I ask them too use a beard trimmer or hair clipper at a #0 setting without the comb, to take their hair down as short as possible so there is a fine stubble.
The SMP is designed to create a shadow effect, mimicking the biological hair so it all looks like it is the only length.
Most of my clients will use a trimmer or clipper two or three times a week to keep the look consistent, it only takes a few minutes but it is essential that the biological hair isn’t too long, otherwise the SMP will look very light and faint as the hair continues to grow.
There are exceptions though, I have some clients with very thick and course hair in their non male pattern baldness and so they need to clipper more frequently than others, so for them shaving the scalp with a wet shave at night actually gives the perfect stubble as their hair grows so quickly and it looks ideal the next morning when it wakes up.
I have been performing the hair tattoo form of cosmetic tattoo on Australian clients for years in our Brisbane clinic, and now Im based full time in our Sydney Male Anti Aging clinic, and I try to customise each clients experience for them, but my advice on shaving and clipping is always consistent and based on the specific clients needs as we all have different hair growth rates and densities, but ultimately my job is to make your hair loss solution look natural, and subtle, as though you just had a full head, of very short hair.
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