What makes for a better hairline: Uneven or Perfectly Even?

[corvettester]

Open Question:

 

If you view my new hairline design you can see by the freshly transplanted grafts that it is designed to be uneven or jagged (more pics in my hair loss blog, the best of which are the immediately post-op pics).

 

I see a lot of HT doctors doing perfectly straight hair lines while others take the uneven approach. For example, H&W always does the straight, crisp hairline while my T&D almost always take the uneven approach.

 

What are the arguments for or against it? What are your thoughts on it? Is it just a preference? Which do you prefer and why?

 

 

Corvettester

Edited October 22, 2011 by corvettester

[haircut]

The "jagged" transplant will result in a much more natural hairline when it grows out. Natural hairlines are not straight or even.

[Blake Bloxham]

Corvettester,

 

I agree with hair cut; hair restoration physicians utilize this staggered pattern to mimic natural, non-balding hairlines. Hair lines that are too straight can look unnatural, and the 'jagged' look seems to produce some very refined, realistic results!

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

Since most hairlines in real life are not perfectly symmetrical or straight, there should be some degreee of randomness in any transplanted hairline. The term I use to describe this to patients is a regular irregularity. This means that the hairline will have a slightly staggerred/irregular pattern, but there is a method to the madness in how it was created.

[biscuit]

H&W can do jaggy if you ask for it, pics in my gallery.

[Sparky]

Jagged but still symmetrical would be ideal

[Levrais]

In my case we went for a little jagged with the peak slightly off center. Too symmetrical can look unnatural imo.

 

Levrais

[byron]

depends what sort of result you wanted really, im not really keen on straight hairlines. you see (for example) federico macheda of man utd, he has a very straight hair line, maybe looks good on him because of his italian skin etc but id rather slightly different result to my hairline

[waveskier]

Depends on the individual. Unless you wear your hair short or pulled back it probably doesn't matter, but most have lines are somewhat uneven. I like something in between smooth and uneven.

[Cam Simmons MD ABHRS]

Natural Hairlines have what Dr. Bill Parsley called Macro-irregularities and Micro-irregularities. There are peaks and valleys in the basic shape and finer irregularities in the leading edge of the hairline.

 

Dr. Ron Shapiro's concept of a Transition Zone before the Defined Zone of the hair transplant is also very important. A strongly defined saw-tooth pattern looks as unnatural or more unnatural than a strongly defined straight hairline.

 

I believe that to make a natural-looking transplanted hairline, it is a good idea to build-in some peaks, mounds, or notches in the defined zone and soften that further with irregularly placed 1 haired grafts in the leading edge and 2-haired grafts in the transition zone.

[kathie47]

Hopefully you got all the answers you need here, but I know doctors whom take all different considerations into when making hairline (facial structure) that it all depends what will look the best on you!

 

Hope this helps a bit more.

[Dr. Timothy Carman]

The human form is an organic shape. In my opinion, to create a geometric shape and superimpose it upon an organic one is asking for trouble, especially in the long run when a patient will age- the "crisp" hairline may "fit" at a young age, but may not later on. I have coined the phrase "Perfectly Imperfect" to describe how we create our hairlines. As for symmetry, take a good look at almost anyone: if you look close enough, you'll notice that one temporal point is probably more anterior than the other; also, it is probably higher on one side than the other- you can see if one were to place a perfectly symmetrical hairline onto this asymmetrical composition, it wouldn't "fit". So, to summarize: organic on organic and keep your eye on the long-term picture.

[RCWest]

The human form is an organic shape. In my opinion, to create a geometric shape and superimpose it upon an organic one is asking for trouble, especially in the long run when a patient will age- the "crisp" hairline may "fit" at a young age, but may not later on. I have coined the phrase "Perfectly Imperfect" to describe how we create our hairlines. As for symmetry, take a good look at almost anyone: if you look close enough, you'll notice that one temporal point is probably more anterior than the other; also, it is probably higher on one side than the other- you can see if one were to place a perfectly symmetrical hairline onto this asymmetrical composition, it wouldn't "fit". So, to summarize: organic on organic and keep your eye on the long-term picture.

 

Well put Dr. Carman!! It's true. Take a picture of your face and fold it in half and you would be amazed at how different each side is from the other.