Want hair? Scalp Aesthetics will tattoo it on

D.J. Capiello was flat on his back getting stuck by a small needle — over and over again.

The 29-year-old Irondequoit man was getting a tattoo on his head at Scalp Aesthetics, a business inside Buckingham Commons in downtown Rochester that offers micropigmentation services to men and women suffering from hair loss.

"It doesn't look like you have a tattoo on your head," he said. "It looks smooth and light, and it looks normal. It definitely looks like you got a short buzz haircut, not a shaved bald haircut but just like a short, short look."

Scalp Aesthetics was founded by Bryce Cleveland, a 31-year-old Irondequoit High School dropout now living in Scottsdale, Arizona. Within the last few years, the business has been growing.

The shop at Buckingham opened in 2013, and within the last few months other franchises began appearing across the country and in Canada. Recently, a location opened in Edmonton, Alberta, and the company's websites lists locations in Atlanta, New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, Mexico City and Toronto. Some locations, like one in the United Kingdom, have yet to open.

Each open location averages about $100,000 in revenues a month, Cleveland said.

"When we tell somebody we are going to tattoo your head and make it look like hair, they're going to tell you to go to hell," Cleveland said laughingly in a telephone interview. "I just worked on it and worked on it, perfected the inks, the needles and the way we did things."

Common black tattoo inks tend to fade to shades of green or blue over time. But Cleveland said he can replicate the look of hair by injecting an ink made from charcoal with a needle smaller than what a tattoo artist might use.

The $4,000 procedure can help disguise thinning or receding areas, cover up blemishes or scars and provide a sense of comfort to those with hair loss from cancer treatments or other medical issues. Cleveland said the procedure is fairly painless with the needle only going into a single layer of skin.

He should know. Cleveland got the treatment so he could relate to clients on a personal level, according to the company's website. "He was struggling with balding at a very early age and knew there had to be a better way to give the illusion of hair," his bio reads.

Most of Scalp Aesthetics clients are men who have already tried some sort of hair replacement therapy.

"I think there is a place for it, even as an adjunct to surgery," said Dr. Vito Quatela of the Quatela Center for Plastic Surgery in Rochester. "What he is essentially doing is pigmenting the scalp so it matches the hair color and doing it in such way that it just doesn't look like a dot like a tattoo dot, but looks likes a mini-strand of hair. It is very creative."

Options

About two-thirds of every male in the country by age 35 will experience some sort of hair loss, according to the American Hair Loss Association. The figure jumps to 85 percent for men by the age of 50. Hair loss affects 40 percent of all women, and impacts a much smaller number of children, according to the association.

About 80 million men and women in the country suffer from hereditary hair loss, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

The hair restoration industry was a $1.9 billion business in the U.S. in 2012, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. There were more than 83,000 scalp treatments, along with hair restoration surgeries for eyelashes, eyebrows, beards and more.

Techniques have improved the look of surgery, Quatela said, and plugs are now smaller and thinner.

"What we are doing is restoring density," he said. "If you're bald and all you're doing is tattooing then you don't have hair. You have an outline of hair. But if you have some hair and have some micropigmentation, I think those two things dovetail."

Medications, hair extensions, wigs and topical powders are also available locally.

"Self-esteem and how you feel about yourself is really important," said Bill Spitale, owner of Integrated Hair Solutions in Henrietta. "For people that it really bothers, that's where we come in. But hair is very important in this day and age. In this society it says a lot about you. It says, 'I'm young and vibrant. I'm healthy.' "

Lucille DelVecchio, 56, of Rochester turned to a tattoo artist to bring out her eyelashes.

"When I tell (people) where my tattoo is they can't believe it," DelVecchio said. "I don't have to worry about buying eyeliner and putting it on myself every day. Like anything, you have to go to somebody who knows what they're doing, and you have make sure that everything that they're using is clean; that it's sterilized."

The state Department of Health lists tattoo safety information on its website, as statewide regulations for the industry are in development. Monroe County doesn't regulate tattoo facilities either, said John Ricci, senior public health educator for the county.

"We do have the authority to go in, inspect and correct problems," Ricci said. "If we get complaints then obviously we have authority to inspect and correct problems."

Feeling good

Scalp Aesthetics' Rochester location employs five people. Three are technicians brought in per procedure. Eric Taylor, director of sales and operations, said clients come to Rochester from other parts of the country to get the procedure.

"I don't know if everyone understands who haven't been through this: When you don't have anything there and then all of a sudden — even though it is very short, less than a millimeter — that service of having a full head of hair is everything," said Taylor, who had scalp micropigmentation done. "I don't know if it is psychological or what. When you look at it and you touch it, it feels a lot more fuller than it actually is."

About 2,200 miles away in Phoenix is Brandon Theriot, 31, who was "living the life of a guy with a receding hairline" before coming to Scalp Aesthetics. Initial procedures include two visits typically within a 48-hour period, and then at least one follow-up.

Those who have had the procedure say it is relatively painless and can last about 10 years.

"I saw my artist and saw his head was already done, I literally couldn't tell that he didn't have hair on his head," Theriot said. "After staring at him for about an hour, touching it and actually having seen it up close, I came in and got the procedure myself.

"In the first three or four days, I couldn't recognize myself in the mirror."

TCLAUSEN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/ToddJClausen

Hair restoration surgeries

The American Academy of Dermatology estimates that 50 million men and 30 million women in the country suffer from hereditary hair loss. The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery reports that more than 88,300 hair restoration surgeries took place in 2012, including the following:

Scalp: 83,045

Eyebrow: 3,670

Facial, beard or mustache: 1,315

Eyelash: 157

Chest: 20

Other: 98

Getting a tattoo

The state Department of Health has posted several safety guidelines for those getting a tattoo or micropigmentation services by making sure the artist or technician:

•Washes hands before tattooing and uses clean gloves.

•Cleans the skin to be tattooed.

•Uses a single-use, disposable razor to shave the skin to be tattooed, if needed.

•Uses single-use sterile needles and tubes and single-use inks.

•Covers the tattooed skin with a bandage and provides aftercare instructions.