"I forked out £2k to have thousands of tiny dots tattooed as hair on my head"
A man forked out £2k to have thousands of tiny dots tattooed as hair on his head says his wife loves his new look.
Anthony Donnellan, 44, opted for 'scalp micro-pigmentation' - instead of a traditional hair transplant - when his hair began to fall out.
Scalp micro-pigmentation is the process of tattooing permanent small ink dots - designed to recreate the look of hair.
The procedure usually takes three sessions of three hours each to allow time for the initial layer to heal.
After having his third and final session at Final Chapter Tattoos in Hyde, Manchester, by artist Dean Gunther, 35, Anthony says it's "boosted his confidence" and was "worth the pain".
Anthony, a falconer, from Prestwich, Manchester, said: "My hair started falling out in my bald spot and I thought I'd try it and I'm glad I did.
"I've seen a few bad jobs of it but Dean - the tattoo artist - has done a great job.
"It can be a bit irritating whilst you're getting it done, but it's definitely worth the pain.
"It's boosted my confidence loads. I'm over the moon with it. I feel 21 again."
Anthony joked: "My wife lets me in the bed now - I don't have to sleep on the couch.
"She was delighted with it."
Anthony's wife, Sian, 32, said: "His confidence has completely grown - he used to walk around with a hood and cap and you can just see he's beaming now.
"There's no caps, no hood and no coat.
"He would never get in any family pictures and now he wants to be in all the pictures and he's happy.
"It just looks so natural as well."
Anthony's transformation was done by Dean - who owns Final Chapter Tattoos in Manchester.
Dean has been a tattoo artist for over 15 years and has only recently started offering this new procedure.
Dean says the inking - which costs as much as £2,000 - requires making sure all the dots are consistent to create the look of hair, which can be "tedious" work.
The eventual result is a new permanent head of hair for the client, which Dean says can be "life-changing."
Dean, originally from Cape Town, South Africa, but now living in Hyde, Greater Manchester, said: "It makes me feel very good.
"If the client's happy then I'm happy.
"You're essentially changing someone's life.
"It might not seem like a big deal for some people but for others it's life-changing.
"The most difficult part is getting the dots evenly spread and not doing it too dark straight from the get go.
"It's a long process but after a few months and sessions that's when you'll get the true result of how it will look for the rest of your life."
Dean says this procedure is nothing like any other job he's done before.
He said: "I've been tattooing for 15 years now but this is totally different.
"If you push a dot into the skin with different amount of pressure you can end up with inconsistent dot work on the head.
"It's very tedious. It's almost like a mini operation or procedure, it's not just a tattoo.
"You've got to be so subtle with it. You can't have quick hand movements.
Anthony Donnellan, 44, opted for 'scalp micro-pigmentation' - instead of a traditional hair transplant - when his hair began to fall out.
Scalp micro-pigmentation is the process of tattooing permanent small ink dots - designed to recreate the look of hair.
The procedure usually takes three sessions of three hours each to allow time for the initial layer to heal.
After having his third and final session at Final Chapter Tattoos in Hyde, Manchester, by artist Dean Gunther, 35, Anthony says it's "boosted his confidence" and was "worth the pain".
Anthony, a falconer, from Prestwich, Manchester, said: "My hair started falling out in my bald spot and I thought I'd try it and I'm glad I did.
"I've seen a few bad jobs of it but Dean - the tattoo artist - has done a great job.
"It can be a bit irritating whilst you're getting it done, but it's definitely worth the pain.
"It's boosted my confidence loads. I'm over the moon with it. I feel 21 again."
Anthony joked: "My wife lets me in the bed now - I don't have to sleep on the couch.
"She was delighted with it."
Anthony's wife, Sian, 32, said: "His confidence has completely grown - he used to walk around with a hood and cap and you can just see he's beaming now.
"There's no caps, no hood and no coat.
"He would never get in any family pictures and now he wants to be in all the pictures and he's happy.
"It just looks so natural as well."
Anthony's transformation was done by Dean - who owns Final Chapter Tattoos in Manchester.
Dean has been a tattoo artist for over 15 years and has only recently started offering this new procedure.
Dean says the inking - which costs as much as £2,000 - requires making sure all the dots are consistent to create the look of hair, which can be "tedious" work.
The eventual result is a new permanent head of hair for the client, which Dean says can be "life-changing."
Dean, originally from Cape Town, South Africa, but now living in Hyde, Greater Manchester, said: "It makes me feel very good.
"If the client's happy then I'm happy.
"You're essentially changing someone's life.
"It might not seem like a big deal for some people but for others it's life-changing.
"The most difficult part is getting the dots evenly spread and not doing it too dark straight from the get go.
"It's a long process but after a few months and sessions that's when you'll get the true result of how it will look for the rest of your life."
Dean says this procedure is nothing like any other job he's done before.
He said: "I've been tattooing for 15 years now but this is totally different.
"If you push a dot into the skin with different amount of pressure you can end up with inconsistent dot work on the head.
"It's very tedious. It's almost like a mini operation or procedure, it's not just a tattoo.
"You've got to be so subtle with it. You can't have quick hand movements.
Transcript
00:00 My name is Dean Gunther and we are here at my studio, final chapter in Greater Manchester
00:08 and today we're going to do scalp micro pigmentation.
00:11 I've been in the industry for 15 years and I've decided because I've seen so many people
00:18 do this and also young and upcoming artists with not a lot of experience take this on
00:24 and I've seen so many bad results of people not having the experience and I decided I
00:33 could definitely give it a go and that's when I started doing it and it must be thousands
00:38 of tattoos over the 15 years.
00:40 How many sessions to complete?
00:42 Well, normally I would say about 3 to 4, that is a good range because you need to work it
00:50 up gradually, you can't go too dark straight away.
00:55 You need to give it time to heal and settle into the skin.
00:59 Normally with a tattoo 2 weeks, you know the scalp come off, it goes flaky but with the
01:04 micro pigmentation you got to give it a chance, I would say 6 weeks at least.
01:09 The first session can take about 6 hours or more and they come back in a few weeks and
01:15 then we'll add a few more and then do final touches.
01:19 It goes less every time.
01:21 You can never take away but you can always add on.
01:25 I think it puts a smile back on their face.
01:29 Some people can be very insecure about their looks and I mean cosmetic, plastic surgery,
01:35 all these things, people do it for a reason because they feel that void and sometimes
01:40 people go a bit bold a bit earlier than what they would anticipate and even I speak from
01:46 personal experience, when I was in high school I had a very receding hairline.
01:50 So when people get this procedure done and they can see the change, it definitely boosts
01:57 their confidence and you know just puts a smile on their face and then it makes me feel
02:02 happy too, you know, to see that you've helped somebody feel better about themselves.
02:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]