Hairline Design

Why is hairline design so important?

To preserve the natural look of the patient, the hairline design should perfectly and naturally blend with the patients face. The position, symmetry, density and shape of the hairline should be perfect. The patient should not come out of the surgery looking worse than he/she came in.

Why do people decide to have hair transplant?

For someone who had very good hair, hair loss is such a shocking transition and most times very hard to accept. The receding hairline makes such a huge difference in a person’s appearance. It makes one look older.

Eventually people try all kinds of remedies to stop the hair loss; herbal medications, pills, change in nutrition, laser products e.t.c. Some of the remedies are successful in stopping further hair loss, however the lost volume cannot be regained back. The only way they can regain back volume in the frontal and crown area is through hair transplant.

What are some of the important factors to that influence the design of a hairline?

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Size and shape of the face
• Type of hair loss
• Degree of hair loss

Natural hairline design practices

1. Soft hairline – only 1s grafts are transplanted in the front, followed by 2s then 3s and 4s to mimic the steady incremental hair density of a natural hairline. Large grafts at the front will create a sharp/doll hairline that is noticeable.
2. Hairline density – To bring out the best appearance, the hairline are should have dense hair coverage with no visible spaces in between the hairs. This will allow the patient to comfortably style the hair in whichever way they want. Beyond the hairline density can gradually get sparse as it won’t be noticeable to the eye. Even distribution of grafts all over the bald area will yield a bad result.
3. Hairline positioning – too low or too high hairlines bring out unnatural results. There is an optimal point on the head beyond which a hairline should not extend, and behind which the hairline should not fall. This is the area where the horizontal and vertical directions of the forehead intersect.
4. Frontal Hair vs Crown hair density – For aesthetic results, priority should be given to the hairline and not the crown. Most grafts should be placed at the hairline and frontal area, instead of the crown. Patients do not understand this; it’s upon the doctor to explain to the patient the repercussions of different ways of distributing grafts. Too many grafts on the crown area will not change the patient’s appearance; it is not the best use of a patient’s donor hair.
5. Irregular vs straight/perfectly curved hairline – A natural hairline is not straight or perfectly curved, in fact it is irregular with tiny waves moving in and out depending on the patient’s facial features. Naturally a few hairs fall out of the hairline boundary. Most inexperienced practices draw out a perfectly curved hairline; in the end the results are ridiculous.
6. Every person has a unique hairline – There is no one perfect hairline template that suits all patients. Whatever works for one head will not work for another head. No mathematical or scientific formula applies, hairline design is an art. An experienced hair transplant surgeon will design unique solutions for every patient.
7. The angle of graft placement – the angle of placement of grafts should follow the natural direction of the patient’s hair. While making the incision sites, the doctor should carefully emulate the angle of the hair that exists in that area.
8. Hairline shape – This entirely depends on the patient’s facial features; wide faces can have a wider arc at the front while thinner faces can have more narrow and curved arcs.