If you’ve looked into hair loss at all, you’ve probably seen the chart: rows of heads viewed from the front and from above, each with a little less hair than the last. That’s the Norwood scale. It was first drawn up by Dr. James Hamilton in the 1950s and revised by Dr. O’Tar Norwood in the 1970s, and it’s still the standard way to describe male pattern hair loss.
It’s useful for one simple reason. It gives you a word for where you are, which makes it much easier to talk about what you want done.
The seven stages
- Stage 1. No real recession. The hairline is where it has always been.
- Stage 2. A slight recession at the temples. This is often called a mature hairline, and plenty of men stay here for life.
- Stage 3. The temples have moved back far enough that the hairline forms an M, U or V shape. This is usually the first stage counted as balding. There is also a “stage 3 vertex”, where the front has barely moved but the crown has started to thin.
- Stage 4. Deeper recession at the front and a sparse or bare patch at the crown. A band of hair across the top still separates the two.
- Stage 5. The same two areas, but larger, and the band between them is getting narrow and thin.
- Stage 6. The band is gone. The front and the crown have joined into one area.
- Stage 7. Only a band of hair around the sides and back of the head is left.
Hair loss doesn’t always follow the chart neatly. Some men thin evenly across the top instead of receding, and many sit between two stages. Treat it as a rough map.
Where SMP fits
Scalp micropigmentation doesn’t move you back down the scale. It doesn’t regrow hair. What it changes is how each stage looks.
- Stages 2 and 3: the hairline. When the front edge has lost its shape, pigment can redraw a clean, natural border and soften the corners at the temples.
- Stage 3 vertex and stage 4: density. Where scalp is showing through hair that’s still there, dots placed between those hairs cut the contrast, so the area looks fuller.
- Stages 5 to 7: the close crop. With less hair on top, many men choose to keep it shaved short. SMP across the scalp then looks like a full head of hair cut close, with a defined hairline at the front.
Which of these suits you isn’t something a chart can decide. It depends on your hair color, your skin, how you wear your hair, and what you’d like to see in the mirror.
One caution
The Norwood scale describes a pattern. It isn’t a diagnosis. If your hair is coming out suddenly, in patches, or along with other symptoms, see a doctor first, because that’s a different conversation from the gradual pattern described here.
Finding your stage in person
At Hairline Redesigned, every appointment starts with Tracy looking at where your hairline is now and talking through where you’d like it to be. Then she draws the new line in pencil, on your head, so you can see it before anything permanent is done.
If you’re not sure which stage you’re at, that’s fine. Start with a conversation and find out.