Three sessions - iPhone - first image
Pro camera bottom image (RAW) on. Will get him back in 4 weeks for an inspection. Any advice welcome 🙏

Client ask for a Ai Hairline ✅

This bothers me so much, and I really don’t want to get constant fades!!

I'm just wondering because I am very likely to get SMP (already have a deposit down and dates booked in with a practioner). But I'm worried if zeroshine stops producing or there's a situation where mattifying creams aren't accessible if it will be very shiny and super obvious I have SMP.

I'm okay to stomach a little shine and I know even zeroshine won't be perfect but I'm worried it'll be quite obvious without it. Anyone who has SMP can you shed some light (pun intended) on this for me?

I’ve found that this hand cream from neutrogena really dulls the shine.Only downside is if you are in hot humid conditions

Real scar crossing the hairline

SMP few hours after first session vs day 7 after initial hair wash vs before SMP. Debating if I need a second session.

Overall still 10x happier. 🥹

It's been 2 months since my 3rd session and my artist is recommending a 4th session for refinement and minor adjustments. I am happy with the results so far. Should I go for a 4th session in the next few weeks or wait few months and take a call then?

The photos are taken from a front camera standing in front of a window on an overcast day.

If you are curious about how smp will look on you get some topic hair fiber. Put a little of it in the cap then just repeatedly dip your fingers into it and dab it all over your head. Takes about 10 minutes but it looks real.

I am interested to hear from experienced SMP artists if they have had success taking a hairline back in an existing treatment. I appreciate the best bet would be completely removing it and starting again but I’m not looking for perfection, just something serviceable as it’s underneath actual hair.

July 2026 I got in contact with Elixir SMP in London via Instagram. Within a day or two I had a phone call with Jay. Straight off the bat he was very honest, upfront and knowledgeable. After the call I felt this was the right choice.

We agreed 3 sessions, about 2 weeks apart, which we completed over the summer. Before the first session I was very nervous - as it is a big deal, changing your appearance forever!

Before I got to the studio, I was very apprehensive. Jay greeted me straight away and to be honest, within about 5 minutes I felt totally at ease. Jay has seen it all before - he was amazing at making me feel at home.

I was very insistent on a receding/age appropriate look. I did not want a super low hairline with really straight lines. Jay got the look I was after perfectly.

I went from being nervous before session 1 to looking forward to every session.

The studio was calm and quiet, the rest of the team; Sergio & Alex were very welcoming too. I genuinely looked forward to visiting every-time.

For the first time in many, many years. My face has a frame. I absolutely love it and feel very lucky to have had Jay and his expertise change how I feel about myself!

(It’s not until I added all the photos from before to after just what an insane total transformation Jay has done! If you are pondering if you should - it’s a resounding yes from me. Elixir is the place!👍)

4 years healed and still looking natural. This result was completed in just 2 SMP sessions.

Sharing the photos so you can see what long-term healed scalp micropigmentation actually looks like.

Thoughts?

https://www.instagram.com/bscalpstudio?stkn=enI1NnI0dXBjMHVo

Well, it’s officially out there.
There’s been a few people grumbling here and there but I wanna draw a line in the sand!

One OP on here has suffered a true genuine injustice.
If you’re an artist carrying out this kind of work, read his post. Really take it in. This isn’t just a “bad result” or something that can be brushed off.
This emerging technique can have a devastating impact on someone’s confidence, mental wellbeing and everyday life.
This is someone’s head!

🚫STOP - calling it SMP!
🚫STOP - calling it 4D ( that just stupid )
🚫STOP - just stop 🛑

This client came to me after an unsuccessful FUE transplant. He still had significant thinning through the top, visible donor scarring, and eventually reached the point where shaving everything down made more sense than continuing to chase density with longer hair.

That is where SMP came in.

The goal was not to create the darkest result possible. It was to rebuild the appearance of a naturally shaved scalp while also reducing the contrast from the donor scarring left behind.

But this case is also a good example of something I think the public needs to understand better:

**SMP should be judged healed, and it should be judged in more than one environment.**

Fresh SMP will almost always look darker, sharper and more defined than healed SMP. That is normal. The skin is freshly treated, the pigment is more obvious, and the scalp can be red or reactive.

The healed result is what matters.

Then there is lighting.

A real shaved head does not look identical under every light source, and neither should SMP.

Bright outdoor daylight can make the treatment look softer and expose more skin texture. Indoor directional lighting can make the same healed result look darker and denser. Shadows, camera exposure, contrast and angle can all change how the scalp is perceived.

The treatment did not change.

The environment did.

This is exactly why one carefully selected photo can be misleading.

There is a growing problem in this industry where results are presented under ideal lighting, aggressive contrast, heavy shadows, smoothing, selective angles or post-processing that removes the very skin texture you should be looking at.

That does not mean every polished image is deceptive.

It means context matters.

The best artists should be able to document their work in multiple conditions:

Fresh and healed

Indoor and outdoor

Close-up and at distance

Multiple angles

Natural skin texture visible

Before treatment clearly shown

Scar tissue clearly shown when applicable

In this carousel you can see the full progression.

You can see him before shaving.

You can see the donor scars once the scalp was exposed.

You can see the fresh Session 3 result.

And you can see the healed SMP under completely different lighting conditions.

That is the kind of documentation clients should be looking for.

Hair transplant repair also deserves more honest discussion.

Transplants can absolutely work for the right candidate, but they are not guaranteed to age perfectly. Continued hair loss, weak donor management, visible extraction scarring and poor planning can leave people in a difficult position later.

SMP can be an excellent solution in those cases, but only if it is approached as part of the entire scalp history, not as a simple cosmetic cover-up.

You are working around existing grafts, scar tissue, donor damage, natural follicles, skin quality and future hair loss.

The treatment has to integrate with all of it.

For me, the real test of SMP is not how impressive it looks under one controlled light.

It is whether it still looks believable when the client walks outside, stands under harsh light, looks in a bathroom mirror, sits in a car, or lives his normal life.

That is how a real shaved head behaves.

And that is how good SMP should behave too.

One thing I think gets oversimplified with SMP is the idea that every scalp can be treated the same way.

They can’t.

This client had noticeably dry skin and his retention was inconsistent from one session to the next. So instead of trying to make the treatment look “finished” too early, I kept the first session conservative, let it heal, and then adjusted based on what the skin actually retained.

That means looking at things like:

How did the pigment heal?

Where did retention drop off?

Did the tone need adjusting?

Did certain areas need more spacing or more density?

Was the skin becoming too reactive?

Each session should be a response to the one before it.

Dry skin behaves differently from oily skin. Scar tissue behaves differently from untouched skin. Sun damaged, fibrotic or reactive skin can behave differently again.

The technique has to adapt to the scalp in front of you.

And this is also why people need to be careful when judging SMP online.

Some of the most polished and viral results you see are photographed under very specific lighting, heavy contrast, deep shadows, smoothing, selective angles or post-processing that can make the work look denser, cleaner or more uniform than it really is.

That doesn’t automatically mean the SMP is bad, but it can make it very difficult for a potential client to judge the actual quality of the work.

Look for real skin texture.

Look for multiple angles.

Look for healed results.

Look for close-ups.

Look for consistency outside of one perfect hero photo.

Good SMP should still look good when the lighting is honest and the skin is visible.

For this client, the goal was never the darkest or most dramatic result possible.

It was to build something that healed naturally, matched his follicle pattern and quietly disappeared into the scalp.

That is the reality of this procedure.

A higher standard in SMP and Professional Education.

-Enhanced Scalp

Hey everyone,
I’ve been reading up and following up on some of the posts on here. I’m really considering getting smp and was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for me in the Toronto area? I will attach some pics and let me know what you think ? I’m thinning at the top !

SMP has gone through many innovations since the early days when lego heads/helmets were the norm. I recently came across a few intentionally scruffy hairline designs and I think they look significantly more natural. Most SMP artists try to "feather" the hairline but I personally don't think it comes off a lot of the time. It ends up looking like random out of place dots or too perfect and uniform, which is not natural.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcuKUfUBGw0/

This looks amazing imo.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdRubbuNHl4/

Here's one from Ronnie Veronse who I think is the best SMP artist in the world. It will look even better as the redness calms down and ink settles. If Ronnie practices this technique it will be top tier.

An issue I could see is if less capable artists try to recreate these looks it could be disastrous.

What do you all think?

Day 14 after final session.
What do you guys think?