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Scalp Micropigmentation

Which Hair Loss Treatments Actually Work? A Hair Loss Coach Explains

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Which Hair Loss Treatments Actually Work? 

So there are three main things that I tend to recommend to folks as something that I view to be effective per a lot of reading and research that we have done at the studio to be able to give people suggestions so that they can go and look into options for themselves.

Those three are:
• Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP)
• Hair Transplants
• Microneedling

Now, interestingly enough, a lot of these work together. So nowadays, if you get a hair transplant, oftentimes surgeons will actually recommend that you get PRP and microneedling with PRP in order to help the hair transplant succeed.

Platelet-Rich Plasma(PRP) 

Basically, PRP is that at a doctor’s office or medical spa, they’re going to take some of your own blood out of you and put it into a centrifuge and spin it when they do this, it separates the plasma so that they can actually take this plasma and then put it back into your skin. The reason they do this is that it promotes healing and regrowth so there’s a possibility that you may get some additional hair growth because of how rich this plasma is in platelets.

Hair Transplants 

Now hair transplants are the most obvious one. A hair transplant is the surest fire way to get hair regrowth. The reason that it comes in before hair loss drugs is going to be because hair transplants do not have the side effects that hair loss drugs do and a hair transplant is much more permanent than hair loss drugs.

If you take loss drugs, oftentimes you will lose all of the regrowth that you have. But if you get a hair transplant, you will just go straight from not having hair to then having hair that does come from the transplant because they are just moving it from one place to another.

Now, while a hair transplant may seem extreme, nowadays, they’re not as extreme as they used to be, and techniques have evolved. So it’s a little bit less invasive than you might think. And if you’re really fixed on having your hair back, that’s probably your best bet. 

Microneedling 

Microneedling is a process where they use a small digital machine. It’s very similar actually to the machine that we use to do scalp micropigmentation. And there is a small cartridge that has sterile needles and they use this to gently puncture the skin so that they can get the skin to regrow and heal itself.

Now, the theory behind it is that micro-injury to the skin, which is controlled, will help the skin to regenerate, and in the process possibly heal some of the hair follicles that are now having trouble growing hair.

All three of these hair loss treatments work together 

Hair transplant surgeons actually suggest doing all of these treatments. What they do is they have somebody have a hair transplant, and then in order to facilitate growth and healing, they also recommend doing a microneedling package with platelet-rich plasma. So you get a hair transplant, they pull your blood, spin it, pull off the platelet-rich plasma, and then what they do is they take the microneedling tool and they make small channels into your scalp and they put the platelet-rich plasma on top of the hair transplant.

What that’s supposed to do is encourage growth around the transplant and help the hair transplant to heal better as well. If somebody comes into the studio and they’re not quite where they’re ready for the idea of scalp micropigmentation yet, or they perhaps haven’t tried anything else yet, we usually recommend them looking into these options because it’s really better for you to explore and know all that’s out there for you.

And platelet-rich plasma is one of those procedures that as time has gone on the more reading I’ve seen about it, and the more I’ve seen it on clients, the more I believe there is a lot of merit to it. It’s something that I would have done on myself and something that I would recommend loved ones do as well.

And so PRP is a really good first step if you’re having trouble with hair loss. If you want to really be ambitious about it and go for the full healing factor and try to regenerate some of your scalp and some of your hair follicles, I would definitely recommend pairing it with microneedling.

The one downside to these treatments is that because they’re effective, they’re also expensive. 

And so for a lot of people that become something that’s fairly cost-prohibitive. So it’s something that you do need to look into, get quotes, and then compare to see what fits your budget and your expectations.

A quick note about hair transplants too, just because we do see quite a few of them coming into our studio, keep in mind that a lot of hair transplants, while they would be deemed medically successful, they’re not necessarily successful in fulfilling expectations. 

This is something that if you do go in, it’s really wise to ask as many questions as possible. I see as many healed results as possible as well, because quite a few people end up dissatisfied with their hair transplant FUT or FUE, because even though it heals successfully, it actually ends up being really sparse on the head and it still looks like hair loss is occurring.

So it doesn’t really fix the problem that the person went in to have fixed and it doesn’t meet their expectations. So it was a really good idea to just kind of make sure that you know what it is that you’re looking for so that you can ask the best questions of service providers or doctors, so they can get to where you’re trying to go.

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

What Foods Help to Grow My Hair? A Hair Loss Coach Explains

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What Foods Help To Grow My Hair? 

I’m going to go into three different types that help to grow your hair, and one of them, you’re probably going to be shocked but has proven to be extremely effective at regrowing hair. More so than a lot of other foods. It’s very interesting. It’s something that I’ve started to eat every day.

  • Protein

As much as it’s difficult for people to sometimes hear this due to dietary restrictions, protein is really important for hair growth. You need to have good sources of protein in your diet if you want your hair to be strong and healthy, and you want to keep your scalp healthy as well, hair loss and hair growth both tie into the general health of your body. A lot of times, poor hair quality can be tied to poor nutrition and poor health habits. 

And so one of the things you can do to just give yourself a leg up with hair growth and scalp health in general is to eat enough protein and I’m talking good protein like fatty fish, natural sources of protein, not just whey protein from a shake.

If you’re relying on other sources of protein, they’re just not as effective as real meat, real fish. And it’s really a good idea to look for those protein sources from natural places, as much as possible. It’s kind of just a good rule of thumb for food overall. I realize it’s a hard one to follow, but if possible, do try to get natural, good sources of protein so that you can help your hair and scalp be as healthy as possible. That’s a really good place to start with hair growth and hair loss in general. 

  • Fats

This is going to affect people who are on really low-fat diets. Sometimes if you’re vegan and you’re maybe not getting the right nutritional breakdown and then you’re going to need to add in some healthy fat. Avocados are a great place to find healthy fat, but you can even use MCT oils like coconut oil to get that sort of fat, but you can’t completely deprive your body of fat.

Sometimes when people are on really restrictive diets, it can actually trigger some hair loss. It can trigger some hair fall, and the reason for that is because your body needs fat just as it needs protein in order to have good healthy hair. So make sure that you’re not depriving yourself, that you’re not eating too few calories for your body type, for your nutritional needs.

Don’t deprive yourself of enough fat and protein to keep your hair healthy. That’s a really good way to assess whether or not a diet is a good idea. If your body starts to massively shed hair. It’s probably a rule of thumb that whatever you’re doing is probably not the healthiest thing for you in general, because if it’s causing your hair to fall out, it might not be the greatest thing in the world.

  • Kimchi

Now I’m about to tell you the most interesting one, in my opinion, and one that I now eat every day. One of the best foods for helping your hair grow. And there’ve been quite a few studies done on this is actually kimchi. Kimchi is actually a fermented cabbage dish. Kimchi originates in Korea and is a really interesting food because it does contain a lot of really good probiotics and good bacteria.

I feel that if you can get hold of kimchi and you can eat it as part of your everyday routine, while it does have a strong smell, it’s extremely, extremely good for you. And pretty much every way that food can be good for you. It’s just packed full of really, really good nutrients and it can help with your hair growth.

It has been shown specifically in post-menopausal women to help regrow hair. Which is really awesome. And that’s one of those things that I actually tell all of my clients, especially if they’re local, if they live in Hawaii, I’m like, Hey, just go. You know, don’t go to Don Quijote, go to a local grocery store, go to H Mart and see if you can get a hold of some kimchi.

If you can’t do that, it’s a good idea to look for a possible delivery. Kimchi is becoming a lot more common now, so you might be able to find it in a little bit more of an upscale grocery store. It’s not overly expensive and you don’t need to eat very much of it in order to get a lot of the benefits. I believe the study said about three to four ounces a day which is not bad. Kimchi does have a very strong smell so I do recommend eating that depending on how you feel about your day, I would recommend eating it in the morning and then brushing your teeth and moving on from it or eating it at night and then just going to bed so that your breath doesn’t smell like kimchi all day.

But I do eat it with eggs and sometimes with some spinach on the side, and I will say that is an excellent breakfast as well. It’s very flavorful. You can get mild forms of it. It’s typically a little bit spicy, but it’s a really delicious food. And if you can get accustomed to the taste, then it’s actually kind of a nice part of the meal.

I’m trying to contain my love for kimchi, but it’s really hard to do, because it’s a super food and it’s delicious. And I feel like it’s just really good for everybody all around. So the fact that it encourages your hair to grow is kind of just the cherry on top, because it’s a really good food to incorporate just for general health reasons as well.

Conclusion

So I would definitely recommend giving that a shot especially if you are female, and that is something that you have noticed, you’re struggling with some thinning. That’s a really good way to just kind of add back in maybe some bacteria that you’re missing and to help with your hair regrowth. All right, folks, that’s actually all I have for you today, but I do feel like these two food groups and then this one specific food are a great place to start if you’re looking to start consuming foods that are really good for your hair and scalp health. So that’s going to be, make sure you’re getting enough fat, make sure you’re getting enough protein and good quality of both of those things. Preferably from a natural source and then third kimchi all day, every day. 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. 

What Do I Do About My Hair Loss? A Hair Loss Coach Explains

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What Do I Do About My Hair Loss? 

“My hair is thinning, now, what do I do?” What I’m about to tell you is the type of guidance that we give to people when they first begin their hair loss journey, they’ve noticed that their hair is starting to fall out or starting to thin, and they’re getting worried about it. 

A lot of people feel very overwhelmed, and just like there’s so many options and their shampoos on Amazon and there are people saying home remedies, and there are people telling them to just go get a hair transplant, and then there are people just telling them to go on hair loss drugs.

Go talk to a doctor 

The first thing that we always tell people to do, always across the board is to go talk to a doctor. Hair loss can be combated in a lot of different ways. But one thing that it’s a really good idea to rule out is to rule out whether or not it’s a vitamin or nutrient deficiency that is causing this to happen for some people. And I would say, especially for women, a lot of times a low iron level can trigger hair loss, and it can sometimes unmask more severe forms of hair loss. This is something that you need to go to a doctor. 

If it’s beginning to worry you, you need to go to a doctor and begin the steps for testing to figure out if that’s what it is or if it’s genetic and only a doctor can help you with that. You need to go talk to them in order to work through this and begin those steps as well. 

This is pretty standard advice. The main reason for it is that a lot of American adults have certain types of vitamin or new nutrient deficiencies. Like, for instance, Vitamin D is something that a lot of Americans are chronically low on, and vitamin D has been tied to hair growth. So it’s a really good idea to go to a doctor and get a blood panel done and see if your doctor can help you work through if there is something that you need to be consuming or putting into your diet that is not there already that is causing or triggering, rather, your hair loss. It’s a good idea to rule that out because then you can move on to other options. But the good news is if it’s something simple, you can fix it so easily, and if you can fix it easily, it prevents you from having to go into more extreme and more expensive solutions. 

The minimum effective dose for things to fix your hair loss is always the best option. So if you can fix your hair loss by going to the doctor, talking to them about your problem, and then seeing if there’s something you can do and add into your daily diet or even a vitamin regimen that will fix the hair loss, how great would that be? That way you never have to go into more extreme solutions, and you can fix it there instead of chasing it down for a very long time.

Oftentimes hair loss is so difficult and so personal that oftentimes people run to the biggest solution instead of trying to work through the smaller ones first when sometimes the smaller ones would have fixed it for them and at least eliminated the trigger so that they could have a little bit more information and maybe pick something again that’s a little bit less extreme. 

Learn how to minimize or alleviate stress 

This one is just annoying here, and I know that that’s true. So the second thing is to alleviate stress. I’m laughing as I say it because we all know that this is near impossible to do, but it still needs to be said. And the fact is if you can alleviate stress or at least minimize it in your daily life, sometimes stress can cause Telogen effluvium (TE)  which is basically where a large amount of your hair falls out all at once. 

And it’s just a fact that those things are tied together and that if you alleviate stress, sometimes you can help keep your hair from falling out. Again, this would be something that you would talk to a doctor about to determine what type of hair loss it is. But it is a known fact that extreme stress can cause large hair fall all at once. And so that’s something that you might want to look into because that type of hair loss can sometimes unmask other types of hair loss. And it’s a really good idea to get a doctor involved because if you can get a doctor involved at these early stages, they can help you figure out what’s going on and then help you figure out how to treat it. 

I know, too, that especially during this time, a lot of people are working from home or just have undue stress on them for various financial reasons as well. We’re just all under a lot of stress right now, and I’m sorry that that’s happening, and I’ve experienced it. I’m sure that you have as well, and we really feel for you, and we know that it’s difficult to cope. You can take some minor steps, though, to help with that stress. 

Keep your phone in a different room at night 

One that’s really huge that across the board has been proven to help reduce stress is keeping your phone in a different room from you at night, especially if there is a way for you to get a six dollar alarm clock from Amazon and start relying on that and putting your phone in a different room. 

Do breathing exercises 

Just every once in a while, as hard as it is if you’re working from home and you’re on your computer and you just feel like you’re constantly on just every once in a while, step away for five minutes, even put it on your calendar if you have to. If you’re a remote worker and just breathe. 

I know that if you have kids running around, that’s really difficult. But see if you can at least take a few minutes for yourself just to take a few deep breaths, see if you can just have a little time to step away, even if you’re not working remotely to walk outside and just stand in the Sun for four minutes and just breathe. Just breathe. I’m very passionate about this because I know that a lot of us have been under a lot of stress recently. At the beginning of COVID, I myself had an issue with Telogen effluvium (TE) where I had quite a bit of hair loss just due to the stress of having our business closed for some time. 

And I know that a lot of people are struggling with this right now, so something you can do is just carve out 4 to 5 minutes and just breathe in and out, and that will help a little bit, which is making you feel more in control and just kind of focusing on breathing. 

There’s a ton of YouTube resources of people who are professionals at teaching breathing meditation, as hippy-dippy as it sounds, it does help, and just breathing and concentrating and focusing on reducing stress and just feeling a little bit more in control of your situation by just breathing in and out. That’s a good way to help yourself. 

Those two simple things, take five minutes a day to breathe and see if you can move your phone from your bedroom to outside to a different room so that you’re not staring at the screen, keeping yourself up late, interfering with your sleep, and then also just the scientific stress of having your phone in the same room as you cause more stress. So eliminate those things and see if that helps.

Try out YAMA Studios’ Breakfast Protocol 

 All right. So the third thing is something we call the protocol, and basically, the protocol is something that we at YAMA Studios have created. This is something that Ryan and the team and I do tend to tell our clients. And what we tell them is we put them on a very specific breakfast regimen that we feel helps to cover some nutritional bases for most people, and barring any allergies is a good way to get the type of nutrients that you need to help your hair and your scalp be healthy. So I’m going to describe to you what this is right now. It’s very low cost and it’s not super major, so it’s not going to change your breakfast routine too much. 

Another note, though, to the women who may be watching this, if you get up first thing in the morning and you drink coffee before you eat food, stop doing that. 

This is something that I myself learned and that I have instituted in my life. While it’s not easy to the point where I’ve been drinking coffee before I’ve been eating food for literally years. And it’s hard when I first started doing this, it actually makes you feel sick to your stomach a little bit if you’re used to drinking coffee before you eat food. But it’s very important, and I have to make myself do this. But I have noticed an improvement in both my hair strength and my scalp health since I started doing this but I don’t drink caffeine until I have food in my stomach.

You need to eat or have a protein shake or do something. It doesn’t have to be a lot but what happens when you drink that much caffeine you’re triggering cortisol, and what that’s gonna do is it’s gonna put you in stress mode. It’s gonna stress your body and it can actually mess with your hormones, and when that happens, you can mess with your hair growth.

So it’s a really good idea to just before you put that stress-inducing caffeine, as much as you want it and need it, which I totally get. But before you do that to yourself, eat some food. 

So here’s the protocol: 

  • 2 eggs, cook it however you want.
  • Spinach, cook it however you want—you can eat it raw, you can cook it, it really doesn’t matter. 
  • A serving of kimchi (3 or 4 ounces)
  • Salmon or some sort of fatty fish. Even a can of tuna if you don’t have anything else.

The protocol helps to cover some of the nutritional bases that can sometimes affect your hair growth if you’re not getting enough of those things. Kimchi—I’ve talked about it in another video but kimchi is like a hair growth superfood. It’s very good for helping specifically women but also men to regrow an amount of hair. It’s not gonna be crazy. It’s not like using a hair loss drug. But it can help. So that’s a really good place to start. So institute the protocol which again is 2 eggs, spinach, 3 or 4 ounces of kimchi, and a serving of fatty fish like tuna or salmon or sardines work if you’re in a pinch.

Conclusion 

This basically covers everything so if your hair is starting to thin, here’s what you gotta do. Go to the doctor. Try to alleviate some stress with small daily practices that don’t inconvenience you that much and are repeatable every day. And then three, you can try to do the protocol, which is two eggs, spinach, kimchi, and then some sort of fatty fish every morning and see if that helps you to cover some of the nutritional bases that you may be missing—that may be triggering your hair loss.

Almost all humans at some point or another are going to experience hair loss. So you’re not alone.

 And it is a really good idea to go ahead and bring in your doctor on this because that’s what they do. They help solve medical issues, and this is a medical issue. So it’s a good idea to go ahead and get them involved and do some detective work, problem-solving to figure out if there’s something that’s contributing to it. 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

Does Biotin Stop My Hair From Falling Out? A Hair Loss Coach Explains

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Does Biotin Stop My Hair From Falling Out? 

The answer to this question is not really,  and I’m about to explain to you why that is. So biotin does not make your hair grow.

It does strengthen the quality of the hair, but it’s not going to create new hair follicles.  

What it does is if you are biotin deficient, which not that many people are, but if you’re biotin deficient and you take it, then maybe it will help you a little bit. But biotin, by and large, what it does is it makes your actual hair shaft stronger. It doesn’t actually help you grow more hair. So taking biotin every day is not actually going to create more hair follicles or new growth, especially if used topically. 

Is biotin-infused shampoo effective? 

Maybe. But it’s probably so nominal that it’s not even worth what you’re paying to buy the biotin shampoo. So it’s just something to take into account if you’re spending quite a bit of money on a topical biotin shampoo that is not going to be extremely effective, you might as well just use a regular shampoo and save the 20, 40, 60 bucks that you’re paying for the biotin-infused shampoo. 

Biotin helps with hair quality, not with hair quantity 

So biotin will give you nicer hair shafts that will make them a little bit stronger. But by and large, it’s not going to help you grow more hair follicles. It will not produce more hair. So that’s my main bone to pick with biotin.

Oftentimes with products, It’s marketed as something that will create more hair follicles. That’s the only thing that creates more hair is creating more hair follicles that are producing new hair. But biotin does not do that. 

Are there other supplements that can help with hair regrowth? 

The only one that has shown to make any dent in hair follicle growth or encouraging the growth of old or damaged follicles is Saw Palmetto. Saw Palmetto is a good thing for you to look into, do some research. 

There can be side effects, but the thing is, they’re a lot less than any sort of hairless drug, and they do essentially the same thing. So what Saw Palmetto does is it was originally used to help with prostate health, which is the same use as some of the original hair loss drugs like finasteride. So in theory, what Saw Palmetto does is it prevents testosterone from converting to DHT, which is dihydrotestosterone, and what that does is it supposedly it will help reduce how much hair you’re losing, and it can potentially help regrow a little bit of it nowhere near as much as finasteride or minoxidil, but it can encourage hair growth. 

That is the only supplement that has even a hint really, of creating or salvaging damaged follicles or dormant follicles. So I would say that that’s something to look into, something to ask your doctor about, see if it interacts with the other medications if you’re taking any. 

Conclusion 

Biotin is not going to help you grow more hair. It may help you grow better hair, but it will not help you grow more hair. So if you’re experiencing a lot of breakages and you go and get tested and you see you have a biotin deficiency, absolutely. But taking biotin topically is not going to make a difference, not a noticeable one anyway, and then biotin is not going to help you regrow hair or keep hair follicles that are currently in the process of dying. 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

Can I Go To The Beach After Scalp Micropigmentation? An SMP Practitioner Explains

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Can I go to the beach after I get scalp micropigmentation?

We definitely want to wait to go to the beach until your scalp micropigmentation is fully healed. The healing process, as many of you guys know, it’s going to be seven days after each treatment. So it’s going to be the first appointment, seven days healing process, second appointment, the seven-day healing process, and your third appointment, another seven days for the healing process. 

If possible and I know it’s a stretch for a lot of people, we ask that you guys do not go to the beach for the entire 3 weeks to really let the scalp micropigmentation heal. 

It’s really in the healing process where your scalp micropigmentation can really have the opportunity to shine. It’s totally dependent on how you take care of it. If you don’t take care of it well, there’s a chance that it could fade, and then you either have to get more appointments or it’s not going to be dark enough for your liking, or it’s not going to be dense enough.

There’s a whole slew of things that could happen. You might have to come in for a touch-up even more frequently. So if at all possible, try to stay away from the beach for 21 days. 

Stay out of saltwater

We want to stay out of the water as much as possible, especially the saltwater because saltwater is definitely one of those things during the healing process that is going to fade your scalp micropigmentation the most. Sunlight is the major cause of fading of SMP. The second one is going to be that saltwater during the healing process. 

So if you go to the beach during those 3 weeks, just make sure that one, that you put some sunscreen on your scalp, two, wear a hat. We’re trying to cover our scalp from the sunlight. And then three, if at all possible, don’t get in the water. If you do go on the water, that’s okay just try not to submerge yourself all the way. Just go up into your neck so that your scalp micropigmentation can stay intact. 

Going to the beach will lighten your scalp micropigmentation

I like to tell them that when clients come into the studio and have scalp micropigmentation that needs to be lightened a little bit. What we basically do is we take basically saline, medical-grade saline, which is saltwater, basically. And then we’ll go ahead and use our tattoo gun, our scalp micropigmentation machines and basically sap some of that ink or that pigment out. 

So by going to the beach during that healing process, you’d be effectively doing the exact same thing, which is lightening your scalp micropigmentation, right? 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

Can I Swim After Scalp Micropigmentation? A Hawaii SMP Practitioner Explains

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Can I swim after scalp micropigmentation?

Scalp micropigmentation has a healing process 

There’s a seven-day healing process after every scalp micropigmentation appointment. Normally, scalp micropigmentation is anywhere between 2 to 3 appointments. It’s a seven-day healing process after every appointment. So there’s the first appointment and then there are seven days of healing—second appointment, seven days of healing, and a third appointment—seven days of healing. 

Now, because we’re located in Hawaii, we get this question all the time about whether they can swim during the healing process and if they can swim after once it’s fully healed.

Can I swim after my scalp micropigmentation is fully healed? 

Definitely! After your scalp micropigmentation is fully healed—after you’ve gone through the three treatments in the three appointments, you can definitely go ahead and swim as much as you like. We only ask our clients that if you guys are going to be out in the sun, like swimming at the pool at the beach, that you go ahead and put some sunscreen on your scalp micropigmentation, but the water itself is totally fine for it.

Can I swim during the 7-day healing process?

In the short term, during your healing process. During those seven days, we recommend you not swim at all. So if you’re going to do your appointments back to back to back. So the first appointment, then seven days, then the second appointment, seven days, and third appointment, seven days. That is a total time of 21 days. We do not want you to swim now because we live in Hawaii, a lot of people love the ocean and love going to the pool, love getting in the water, and we understand that. We really, really stress that if you can wait these 21 days, do not go in the water. 

If you really have to swim, the minimum that you have to wait is 4 days

So 4 days is the least amount of time in order for you to heal and then go swimming and not have it affect your scalp micropigmentation negatively. Now, if you do go swimming during that healing process, you may alter the results that you see.

So a good example is when clients come in here and they have previous work done by somebody else and they want it lightened. What we do here is we actually use basically saline, basically saltwater. and then we go ahead and we try to lighten it up. If you go swimming at the beach, that’s salt water, you’re basically lightening everything that we just work so hard to do. 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

Can Scalp Micropigmentation Be Removed? A Hawaii SMP Practitioner Explains

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Can scalp micropigmentation be removed?

The short answer is yes. Scalp micropigmentation can be removed, but really only effective with a laser. 

Scalp micropigmentation is first and foremost a tattoo. 

Even though it’s a cousin to traditional tattoos, it’s not permanent. It doesn’t last forever. With normal wear and tear, you can usually expect about 5 to 10 years out of your scalp micropigmentation, depending on weather, lifestyle, how you treat it, climate, things like that, a whole host of other factors. 

If you wanted to remove it in that five to 10 years, the only way to do so is to get laser tattoo removal. It usually takes a few appointments, but it can definitely be done. That is pretty much the only way to completely remove it. Now, there are some ways to lighten it. If you decide that it’s too dark for you. Most scalp micropigmentation practitioners can lighten it a little bit by using saline. Ask your SMP practitioner if that’s something that they offer. 

Can I fade my scalp micropigmentation naturally? 

Other ways if you wanted to go a natural route would be to do everything that we tell you not to do if you get scalp micropigmentation.

Sunlight is the biggest fader of scalp micropigmentation 

Going out in the sunlight without a hat and without sunscreen is going to be one of the biggest things that you can do if you want to fade your scalp micropigmentation. If you don’t want to get it completely removed, that is definitely the top option. 

Scalp micropigmentation can be reversed 

I did want to answer this question because we get it all the time. Especially, we always get it from clients when they come in for their first consultation, they’re nervous, right?. They want to make sure that if they decide on doing it, they can reverse it if they don’t like it and we completely understand. We always tell them, yeah, that’s definitely an option. If they wanted to, they could go ahead and get it removed by a laser. 

We can always tattoo more, we can never tattoo less

So we always tell our clients when they come into YAMA Studios that it’s a process and we want to let them know that we’re going to take it slow. A motto that we have here is that we can always tattoo more, we can never tattoo less. 

So we go slow on the first appointment, pick it up on the second appointment, and then get you where you want to be on the third appointment. It’s really important to us that you get the three treatments because we want to build slowly. We want you to have input during that time. 

We’re going to start too slow. It’s going to be very subtle at first. Our hope is the next week that you come back and you’re like, “Ryan, I want it darker. I want it denser. We can do that, right?”

But if I were to go ahead and just lay everything down on the first appointment, and then it turns out that you don’t like it, it’s too dark or it’s too dense, then you’re going to be like, “Ryan, I don’t like this. Can you take it out?” I can’t. Sorry. We can’t do that. 

This is a really long way of saying that it’s really important that you find a scalp micropigmentation practitioner that you trust.

It’s really important that you and them communicate well together, and that you both have an understanding of where you want to go and how you want your scalp micropigmentation to look. 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

Can You Get Microblading and Scalp Micropigmentation At The Same Time?

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Can you get scalp micropigmentation and microblading at the same time?

Absolutely. There is no reason why you can’t get more than one cosmetic or paramedical tattoo service at the same time. If you think about it, you can get multiple types of tattoos at the same time, and this is the exact same for microblading and scalp micropigmentation. It’s very easy to do these procedures in the same appointment. It’s very time efficient as well.


I’ll go into four reasons why this is: 

1. Microblading and scalp micropigmentation can easily be done in the same session

It’s very simple to change out the type of needle that you’re using and to use a different pigment while you have the same person in front of you. It’s very simple to do that and then if the practitioner numbs brows for microblading or eyebrow tattoo, then it’s very simple to do that while you’re having scalp micropigmentation done.

I’ve actually done a procedure where I had a client come in and have her lips, brows. scalp micropigmentation and eyeliner are done all on the same day. Now, that is a lot of tattooing, but for some people, it’s very efficient to schedule all of these things at one time, and then they go years without having to get procedures done—they’re just ready to go ahead and go out and live their life.

You’re already at the clinic. It makes sense if you’re already having one procedure done to just go ahead and have a second one performed if you’re interested in having it. This is not to say that you need to go in looking for another procedure, but if you’ve been planning to do both and you trust the practitioner, it makes sense for continuity of service just to go ahead and get both of them done by the same person because you’re probably going to get a better result, especially if you’ve done your research and chosen your practitioner well.

2. Brow definition really balances the look of scalp micropigmentation

What I mean by this is that you’ll notice that after you get SMP done. If you’re experiencing thinning or graying of your brows, that a little bit of shading or microblading can go a long way. It can really help to increase the definition in your brows and also help to create a more cohesive look because sometimes if you have a thinning hairline and you go ahead and thicken that hair line up, it will make your brows look thinner by contrast.

So if you have a healthy hairline, you also want to have healthy looking brows. It really helps to kind of create the look that you’re going for.

Now for men, once your hairline is restored, it’s going to become a little bit more obvious that your brows are thinning as well. This is especially for men because most men aren’t going to be wearing makeup on their brows, and that’s something that’s going to become a little bit more apparent, and if you have a healthy hairline but thinner brows, it can actually contribute to the look of aging. So if you’re going to go ahead and do some SMP, it’s wise to get just like a light shading. For men, I tend to do right through the middle just enough to add some definition. I usually match it similarly to the hairline, so they’re complimenting each other as opposed to being opposites. They actually work together for your look.

For women, I tend to do a different style of hairline, so when I’m doing that, it’s going to be softer, but it’s also going to be further forward than I would do for a man. So it’s going to look even darker than most men’s hairlines are going to be unless I do a hard edge up, which is a different store of hairline that I tend to do only on men. For women, when I do this, it’s really really advisable to add a little bit of SMP if thinning was the issue because it’s really going to help the framing of the face.

3. It might be cheaper to do them at the same time

So if you go to someone who does scalp micropigmentation and they do microblading and eyebrow tattoo services as well, there’s a high likelihood that some practitioners will give discounts if you book both at the same time. If you are already planning on getting your brows done, this is a good place for you to consolidate those things and save money, which is really going to help you out as well.

Well, you can consolidate both appointments and have them with the same practitioner when you are doing so, make sure that the person you’re going to for both services is an expert in both services. Just because someone is a really good microblader doesn’t mean they can do scalp micropigmentation. I’ll go into this in another video, but it’s very important to make sure that they’re doing scalp micropigmentation and not microblading your hairline. That’s significantly cheaper. It’s also not the same thing, and it’s going to be something you’re going to regret later.

4. You’ll save time if you get them both at the same time

If you’re going to get your brows done anyway, and you’re also planning on getting a scalp micropigmentation, it’s wise to combine these just for the sake of your time and your schedule. Scalp micropigmentation and microblading are each 2 to 3 appointments. If you do them separately, you’re looking at a range of 4 to 6 appointments, which is a lot more of a time commitment than 2 to 3, and then on the back end the healing as well. So if both are healing at the same time, it’s much more efficient than continually healing for 6—8 weeks. So it’s really wise of you to just combine both and get them done and just be on the other side of both procedures and ready to go about your daily life and not be worrying about healing tattoos.

Conclusion 

So to answer the question, the answer is absolutely yes, and that there are few different things that go into this among them would be price—where you may get a discount on appointments. Time, where it’s much more efficient to do them together, and then also that you may realize that you want your brows done after you get scalp micropigmentation, and also that it’s very simple to do them at the same time just for the practitioner as well. It’s easy to do them all at once, as opposed to in multiple procedures.

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

What Should I Do After Scalp Micropigmentation? SMP Aftercare Explained

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What should I do after scalp micropigmentation?

The answer to this is twofold. The first part is the aftercare that you need to do immediately following your procedure, and then the aftercare that you need to do long-term in order to maintain or optimize the results that you get from scalp micropigmentation.

So scalp micropigmentation is essentially a hair follicle replication tattoo. They’re very tiny. There are thousands of these tattoos all over your scalp until you have basically a recreation of stubble or a density treatment in the case that you have more hair or an existing hairline. 

Aftercare for Short Term or Right After Your Appointment 

So after you have scalp micropigmentation, as with a traditional tattoo, there is an amount of aftercare that needs to be followed to get the correct healed results. This is even more true in scalp micropigmentation because it happens in three appointments and each one is dependent on the one before it. So the way this works is the first appointment is foundational. It’s the one that does basically the reframing of the hairline or concentrated framing of the area of concern that needs to be filled in a little bit, and then there’s going to be a seven-day period of healing time. 

Scalp micropigmentation actually has no downtime 

You can walk right out of the studio and no one will know that you had scalp micropigmentation done aside from a little bit of redness that goes away within a couple of hours, there’s no need to take time off work. You don’t have to stay away from any events, so it’s very low maintenance in this way.

However, after you do have it done for the first four days following each treatment, this is going to be true of the first treatment, the second treatment and the third treatment. You are going to need to be very careful with your scalp for those first four days. 

  • Stay out of gyms pools, saunas, lakes, oceans, anywhere where there’s going to be a warm environment or bacteria can thrive

There’s just MRSA at gyms and that’s really one of the only risk factors associated with scalp micropigmentation is a very low risk of infection if you don’t follow these aftercare instructions. 

So during your four initial days of scalp micropigmentation healing following an appointment, you need to stay out of gyms pools, saunas, lakes, oceans, anywhere where there’s going to be a warm environment or bacteria can thrive, and then you also need to not wash your hair for four days. This seems like a tall order but after your final appointment and healing process, you’re never going to have to worry about this again.

It’s a small upfront investment of time to get a lot of time back from your everyday hair loss routine. So you’re going to need to stay out of places where bacteria will be.

  •  Don’t wash your hair for the first four days

On the fourth day, you can wash your hair with baby shampoo. It’s best to avoid products with cetyl alcohol in them, which is in most shampoos and can irritate your scalp and affect the healed results. It’s also important during this time just to treat your scalp really gently because you have tiny scabs. These tiny scabs are attached to the pigment underneath your skin before your scalp heals completely, they’re really delicate and they need to be treated gently. Otherwise, they can fall off pretty maturely before they’re ready and pull the pigment out with them. That would undo all of the hard work that was done in your initial session, and it’s going to be hard to recreate that and to get the best results. 

  • Stay out of the sun

Now, the sun is going to come back into play when I talk about long term care, because, as I’ll say here, tattoos, as a rule, are faded the most by the sun. The sun does the most damage to any type of tattoo, and this is true of paramedical or cosmetic tattoos like scalp micropigmentation, microblading, lip blush, tattoo, or eyeliner. This matters. When you’re in the sun, the sun causes damage and that damage will slowly reach your scalp micropigmentation, even though it’s healed under your scalp. 

Now, this is really important. When you’re in these first initial four days of healing, it’s very important to keep your head out of the sun, either with a hat or with sunscreen or just staying indoors and not sweating too much. This is all going to help your scalp heal the best.

Aftercare for Long Term

Now, Let’s imagine you’ve gone through each session of your scalp micropigmentation appointment. After your first appointment, 4 days of healing. On the seventh day, you have your second appointment, four days of healing time. On the seventh day you have your third appointment and then seven days and you’re completely healed. 

  • Stay out of the sun

Now that you’re completely healed, you can resume your lifestyle as it was. However, during this time, if you want to keep your scalp micropigmentation as fresh as possible, it’s wise to avoid the sun. There is only one carryover point from your short term aftercare to your long-term aftercare and that is the sun. The sun damages your skin, the sun damages your scalp and the sun damages your scalp micropigmentation. So it’s very important to be mindful of applying sunscreen and wearing a hat and never possible. That said, scalp micropigmentation is not intended to run your life. So once you’ve had it done, the whole goal of it is to reclaim having to constantly worry about your scalp. So while scalp micropigmentation will fade more quickly if you are in the sun a lot, that’s okay. Because it’s your scalp micropigmentation, and it’s very easy to go and get a touch up. 

  • Get a touch up

People get them all the time and most people only get them when they want them. So if your scalp micropigmentation is looking a little faded, just go in and get a quick touch-up. Your scalp micropigmentation is going to last for years. That said, if you want it to last even longer, which would add about a year or two to your foundational scalp micropigmentation, you’re going to want to stay out of the sun.

If you don’t mind getting touch-ups a little more frequently than other people, then go for it. You can go on in the sun as much as you want and not worry about it and the thing is you can do that anyway because you can always get a touch-up. 

That service is always available to you, and it’s something that’s easily done with existing scalp micropigmentation. The equipment is much quicker and much less expensive because the foundational work is already done. The hard part is out of the way and now it just needs a little bit of a refresher treatment. So really, this is a completely customizable solution and it really gives you back the freedom to live your life how you want to because the long-term maintenance comes down to just keeping your scalp healthy and out of the sun. 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

How Do You Do Scalp Micropigmentation?

How Do You Do Scalp Micropigmentation?

It’s a little bit different from a traditional tattoo in that while the FDA defines tattoos as anything that implants ink or pigments underneath the skin, scalp micropigmentation is really a distant cousin of traditional tattoos. 

The main difference between traditional tattooing and scalp micropigmentation are the tools, the needles, and the pigment. I’ll explain them below:

  • Machine

If you’ve ever seen a traditional coil machine, they’re very large. A traditional coil machine is similar to a digital rotary machine except there would be an extension with a single feed long needle and then an attachment motor at the end. They’re a great deal heavier, a lot louder, whereas this is very quiet and the reason it’s much quieter is because the motor is not inside the pen. It’s actually inside a separate box that controls the needle depth, vibration, and then speed. So speed is going to be how fast the needle comes in and out. Vibration is going to be the rate at which the machine vibrates in order to get the pigment under the skin, and the needle depth obviously means how much of the needle is going to be coming out of the actual machine. that is much different than a coil machine where the artist controls the depth by hand and then they control the speed of the machine via the motor that’s attached to the end. 

It’s a different balance, a different kind of expertise it takes to use this versus to use a traditional coil machine.

  • Needles

Scalp micropigmentation practitioners use two needles. There are two different needles that are the standards to get the kind of results that people want from scalp micropigmentation and they are two different formations.

The first one is 3RL, and what that stands for is round liner. It’s the type of needle that goes into these needle formations. So there are three in a 3RL—3 round liner and when you have three round liners, you get a reduced chance of what’s called a blowout. Newer artists or practitioners sometimes use 1RLs. That’s a one round liner when you use a one round liner, if you’re inexperienced, if you go too deep, or if you go too shallow, you’re not going to get the result that you’re looking for. 

With a 3RL and a 5RL, you can alternate between the two and as your scalp micropigmentation heals because it’s the 2 to 3 procedure service. You’re going to see a variation in size and realistic nature of the tattoo hair follicle replications, and that is why these needles are so important. Not only are they prepackaged and sterile, but the diameter of these needles are specifically for scalp micropigmentation, so they’re smaller than a traditional 3RL. Because traditional tattoo artists can use the same type of needles. But the diameter used for scalp micropigmentation is unique and specific. That’s very important.

Note: If you go into a scalp micropigmentation practitioner’s office and you notice that they are not using individually sterilized pre-packaged needles, you need to leave. 

That is not a safe practice, and it’s very important to make sure that your practitioner is taking your safety into account. You should never have someone open a needle before you get there. In most places, it’s the law. The tattoo artist must open your needle in front of you, and you can see that it’s single-use and sterile. So keep that in mind as well for scalp micropigmentation appointments. 

  • Pigment

Finally, we have the star of the show. t’s different from traditional tattoo inks. Traditional tattoo inks in order to achieve a wide variety and range of colors have a lot of different additives. These additives are difficult to control as the age they can change different colors, they can optimize under your skin. So this is actually a different type of pigment than a traditional tattoo ink. A traditional tattoo ink is carbon based. Scalp micropigmentation pigment is iron oxide based. It’s widely regarded as one of the more stable bases for any type of pigment that would be used for cosmetic tattoos. 

The company that I use is actually called Perma blend. They are one of the best producers of pigment in the world. Very highly respected. They’re stringent with their sanitary measures with their pigment formulations and how stable their compounds are. That’s why I use them. They give great results, and they last a really long time, and that is huge. When you’re talking about the realistic nature of the outcome and how you want it to heal over time. Because it is part of my job to make sure that I give you a tattoo that is going to age well over time. That’s a huge part of tattooing. 

How is scalp micropigmentation done? 

So the way scalp micropigmentation is done is I would take my machine. I would adjust it to make sure that the right speed and depth for your scalp. Then I would custom mix a pigment that I know is going to work for your skin tone. Test it up against your skin, make sure it’s the right skin tone, the right darkness, the right depth fading, and then I would use a specific needle based on how thick your skin is in order to achieve a much more dispersed look for the first appointment, and then after your first appointment, you have seven days in healing time and another session, typically in the second session, I use a much larger needle, so this 5RL in order to make all of your hair follicles have a little bit of variation, which is going to make them look more real as they heal. And then after that, you would have 7 days more healing, and then we could do the same thing. 

Each appointment is in descending order of time required. So you’d have your first appointment, which is around 2 to 4 hours in order to do an entire scalp. The appointments go down in time required as equal, so 2 to 4 hours then 2 to 3 hours. The last appointment can be 2 hours to 1 hour, depending on what your procedure looks like.

And so that’s the general overview of how you do scalp micropigmentation. 

If you want to get in touch with me for a consultation, then fill out the contact form below. Let’s see what scalp micropigmentation can do for you!

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