Almost 50% of men and women will get gray hairs by the time they turn 50 and most men start noticing gray hair by age 30. You’re likely an existing member or a soon to be applicant of the grey fox club. You may also be wondering if we are spelling gray or grey correctly, and to be honest we’re still not sure.

If you are gray or going gray and starting to experience hair loss, you’re probably considering solutions to help. There are plenty of options out there like minoxidil, finasteride, DHT shampoo, and biotin vitamins – but unfortunately, these medications are often ineffective, packed with heavy side effects, and need to be used very early and often in the hair loss journey. Other hair loss options like hair transplants have come a long way since the ’70s but are very expensive and often require multiple surgeries.

And then there’s scalp micropigmentation! The new hair loss cure that is making big waves for guys struggling with hair loss. For those of you that don’t know how the scalp micropigmentation process works, we use micro-needles to create the appearance of tiny hair follicles, giving you the look of a short buzzcut.

But can you get scalp micropigmentation if you have gray hair? Or what happens if your hair turns gray, will scalp micropigmentation still work for me? The answer is YES! And here’s why…

Color Matching with Scalp Micro Pigmentation

Scalp Micropigmentation uses black pigment to create the illusion of hair stubble. So how are we able to blend with or create gray hair if we are using black pigment? That is because we are working in a gray monochromatic color scale and dilute our pigment to match your hair/skin tone perfectly. The more we dilute, the grayer and lighter the tone. We can blend lighter tones into existing gray hair or even strengthen the grays by adding a few medium tones to it. If you have gray or white hair, we would dilute our pigment with distilled water to match your hair tone. Here you can see the dilution scale we use for our scalp micropigmentation pigment called Folicule.

SMP with Short Hair Color vs. Long Hair Color

Most people think that your hair color stays the same whether it is left long or cut short. However, this is not the case. Most scalp micro pigmentation clients are required to cut their hair at a short length. When you buzz your hair down to a zero or half guard, your hair will become a shade of gray. If you have light skin and light hair, those hair stubbles will be a shade of light to medium gray tone. And if you have dark skin and dark hair, that color will of course be a darker shade. Almost all guys that buzz to a short cut will have a tone to their hair that falls within the monochromatic (black/grey) spectrum. Gray or white hair does not appear as gray because the root hair itself is much darker than the white strand. Here are some examples of guys with gray/white or salt and pepper hair that we were able to color match.

Scalp Micro USA client with black hair, but when buzzed down is a shade of gray

Alopecia client with dark hair but when buzzed down is grey

Scalp Micro USA client with salt and pepper hair but when buzzed down has light gray tones.

Scalp Micropigmentation Over Time

What happens if you have dark hair when you get the scalp micropigmentation treatment and then go gray/white. The beauty of the scalp pigmentation treatment is that it will lighten over time. After your final session, you won’t need a touch up for 4-6 years. If you start to go gray/white or lighten over that time period, when you come back for a touch up we can use a lighter tone to match your new hair color. Alternatively, the natural lightening of the SMP treatment will grow to be more age-appropriate and you may decide not to come in for a touch up at all.

Still looking for more information about scalp micropigmentation? Book a FREE consultation with one of our SMP specialists today. 

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