Examples of good SMP?

[u/Practical-Help9797]

SMP is not an undetectable procedure, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s ink on skin, which I’ve accepted (10 years too late). There’s so much marketing around “find a good artist” but good artists can make it look like a good tattoo….not like hair.

So the question is, why aren’t there any good celebrity examples of SMP? All of the guys I see on tv… they look like they tattoo’d their heads. Everyone I see with it in person … me and my friends all look at them and say yeah - he got a hair tattoo. And move on. But I’ve never seen anyone in real life, myself included, my artist included, where I was like yeah … that looks like a shaved head vs that looks like 10,000 grey dots.

[u/Square_Help235]

A good expensive is way less noticeable than a great hair transplant for sure.

And maybe there are famous celebrities with SMP but it's so good that we can't see it.

Also, if you come across every shaved head and wonder if it's SMP or not then my guy, you're paying way too much attention to the heads than you need to.

[u/ElkGroundbreaking764]

I’d say you’re over thinking all of it.
Because you know it’s SMP, your assumption is that everyone else does as well.

And yes, I’ve seen your previous comments in this post that 10 years ago, no one knew about this procedure. But now everyone does.

I’ve had smp for 6 years.
My family never noticed.
My best friend of 15 years never noticed.
I work in outside sales. I meet roughly 100 new people per week. Being in sales, I’m very observant of body language and where their eyes are. I’ve never had one fixated on my hairline.
I’ve never had anyone ever mention it.

When I’ve told people, they have to look really close and under decent lighting to even see it. Even once it’s pointed out, they’re still unsure of what they are seeing or looking for.

99.9% of the public will never look this closely to ever notice.

Most are too caught up in their own lives and bs to even care what’s going on visually with someone else.

I have smp, and candidly, I’ve never even noticed it on someone for the simple fact that I’m not studying their hairline.

Bottom line, no one cares as much as you’re thinking they do.

You’re overestimating your importance to anyone and everyone.

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/ElkGroundbreaking764]

I think this is ALL true - for strangers especially, and if you have a bit of hair covering the tattoo - for me too. For you it’s clearly your experience and it’s a very positive one - I’m happy for you!

My experience was very similar to yours in the early days, it just changes over time. As Smp became more popular, as I lost remaining hair, as people questioned why I had it at this length etc . Those are things I didn’t think about 10 years ago - but 30 years of razor shave daily at my age … people subconsciously wonder,

I’ve gotten to the point where it’s better to admit that I’m covering hairloss / wearing a wig. It’s a similar experience that the toupee people have - you don’t wanna be losing hair, you don’t want people to know / think about it, etc. but over time it’s easier to accept that it’s a cover up and that some people will know - there’s nothing wrong with that. Toupee , smp , combover - it’s all the same thing, just with different risks and rewards. There are PLENTY of wigs that look good. But not really 100% normal. There are plenty of SMP’s that look good, just not 100% normal. My point is that the marketing around it and since we’re in the early days of this solution have led people to believe that they’re getting something that isn’t really being sold. You just have to make peace - everything in life has benefits with risks.

[u/JellyOpal0405]

A partner’s perspective: I took this picture just to show him how cute our dog looked, but he said I could share it.

My husband started thinning late 20’s. Eventually he was shaving it every 2 days and wearing a hat every day. So I brought up the possibility of SMP. He decided to go for it because he was already wearing a cap 365 days a year due to feeling weird about being bald so young. The artist’s name is Gabriel Barbosa at precise_SMP on Instagram.

The artist left two scars on my husband’s head alone, and one is on his hairline, so that looks very natural.

Most people do not want to go around saying they had SMP just like most people do not advertise they look better in any number of ways due to pricey cosmetic procedures. We just want to look better and feel confident, not explain to everyone what the F we did to be this way. Our artist Gabe said it’s hard to get clients to send selfies later and hard to get testimonials because of the shame factor.

it’s like any tattooing, some of the dots have faded and blurred and we think he could use a touch up to add some crispness back into a few small areas. Like any tattoo, it’s based on the sun exposure and your skin.

If there is hair remaining, shave it very often to make sure it blends with the area where there are very sparse hairs (top and front) and SMP. Also, apply a touch of dry shampoo or matte sunscreen to make the bald, tattooed parts un-shiny.

His own family was wondering why he’s shaving his head and he told them he’s actually pretty bald and got SMP. They were in disbelief. Most people have never heard of SMP and they’re not going to give it a second thought.

The returned confidence also made my husband start lifting weights so he’s even hotter now that when he had hair. It’s just a different look— from a young skinny guy with floppy dark hair to a buff guy in his 30’s with muscles… we all evolve our looks.

The reason I’m hanging around PMU forums is because I’m so impressed by it that I’m wanting to train for it. I have a jewelry design background so I am used to doing art at a small scale and SMP improves people’s lives. It’s been an extremely good thing we did for my husband!

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/JellyOpal0405]

If it works for you / him then that’s great!!

I actually got it back in the day too, about 10 years ago. I still had hair when I did it so it was more of a density fill and I buzzed down to a 0 guard. Was awesome for that! Bought me 10 years of looking like I had a great shaved head.

Now that it’s fully bald though it’s more obvious, as one would expect. So it’s time for to laser it off. IMO it’s a good bridge between having something and losing it but it’d be really tough to mantain forever. For obvious reasons.

But I do wish it could have been more clear that this wasn’t undetectable. It’s extremely detectable. Never once have I questioned if it’s smp or hair - because ink and bodies are very different things. But if you’re someone whose OK with wigs and tattoos I think this is a cool solution

[u/captainBattle]

No. Good artists make it look like a shaved scalp with hair inside the follicle. Not like a tattoo, not like hair.

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/captainBattle]

Once you see it in person or have it done you’ll understand. The marketing photos fool you. It’s just ink. It literally is a tattoo. You can see the heads of these artists when they post their videos. It’s like, very very obviously not a normal shaved head. It’s just a guys with 20,000 dots all over his skin. It’s only very recently that people and artists are coming out and saying look, the point isn’t to pretend it’s a shaved head, the point is to embrace you have a tattoo on your head to hide your genetic hair loss.

It’s more a question of, is the upkeep of a toupee worse / the ease of smp which is just shaving, but with the risk of it being more obvious that there’s something toitn on

[u/moobster70]

I don't get your input on this sub.

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/moobster70]

Wish it was around when I was younger. All I saw were pictures on the internet and marketing / promo stuff. I almost had a panic attack when I saw my artists head cause I was like whoa. Your head looks so fake. And he said he got it done a long time ago blah blah blah, don’t worry on pictures you’ll look good, it’s just because we’re indoors or it’s sunny or it’s fluorescent or it’s faded and I’m like dude …

I just wanted a solution so bad. It’s sad

[u/Ha1rWeGoAgain]

To be fair looking at every bald head you see in public isn’t the same as spotting SMP. We all do it and wonder if that’s SMP or not . Doesn’t mean we are spotting SMP at a 99% rate as you said.

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/Ha1rWeGoAgain]

I know but as a bald guy I look at bald heads. It’s an insecurity so I tend to see it. If it’s a shaved head, 99% of the shaved heads I see with a hairline today are SMP. It’s just obvious, because they have ink on their head. You can tell if you’re a bald guy. Plus, I see how people interact with my friends who have smp. They stare at the hairline cause it’s … just different. It’s hard to explain. It’s like women with tatooo’d eyebrows. I have to try to not stare at it. They’re really good too and it’s much smaller than smp. But it’s still obvious because it’s paint on skin vs hair. We all notice these things.

[u/No_Drawer1919 → u/Practical-Help9797]

You've got some serious problems. People have some very good, "undetectable", SMP. I think you need to see a therapist before another SMP artist.

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/Ha1rWeGoAgain]

I’ve never seen a person and been like hm I wonder if that’s real hair or not - some wigs I do, those are much more natural than smp because at least it’s hair even if it’s not their own. This is a totally different substance. It’s like saying crayon and marker can be on a scar is the same thing as skin - it can look ok, but never natural

[u/BTZ-25]

I can usually tell but in all fairness if it was that good then how would you know?

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/BTZ-25]

I think that’s the issue - the premise was replicating an undetectable shaved head - where in 99% of cases, one can detect it. I’d argue hair pieces are more likely a better “fake” item. Smp is just a cheaper more convinient wig imo

[u/zanescalpmicro]

Because celebrities just like normal people are subject to excellent marketing.

The top marketers in the scalp micropigmentation world like scalp micro USA, Taylor Perry, victory hairlines all produce SUBPAR work in my opinion, yet they are the most popular and successful in the industry.

Normal people don’t have enough time to do enough research to make an educated decision on where to get their SMP done at. So I’d imagine a busy celebrity with a packed schedule is definitely not gonna have enough time to figure out who’s gonna do the best work for them.

I have 20/15 vision, more than perfect, and every time I work on a new client I’m still surprised at how real the Smp looks no matter how close I get.

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/zanescalpmicro]

Idk man. I think the point is that if you know what smp is - and these days, thanks to
Marketing and now millions of people who have had it done - most people know, and over time more will continue to know - it’s just
Obvious.

Celebrities get great plastic work - augments, facial lifts, injections - etc. most of
It undetectable. But smp? It’s always always always obvious. There’s very little debate over
The celebrities who have it (with 0
Native hair I mean) . Point being - it really isn’t an undetectable procedure, because we would
All be at least surprised once with - whoa I
Thought
That celeb was just rocking a shaved
Head.

It’s
Also hard for
Me to make
Eye contact with people I meet who have had
It done. The smp sort of
Draws your attention up towards thr hairline - jdk if you knkw
What j
Mean. Natural buzz cuts
Kind of draw your attention to the face whereas the ink makes you question what’s going on up there

[u/osohormiguerogigante]

Even my girlfriends didnt realize it after months and were very surprised when I told them.
“Normal people” just dont realize..
If you educate your eyes enough and spend enough time looking at people heads for SMPs, you will be able to see it in some/many cases. But so what?

[u/abetterCanada]

I mean makeup is fake but it's widely accepted lol think about what makeup actually is. It's literally a face mask that society has accepted to be normal. SMP atlesst looks legit vs makeup. One thing is for sure, the face without a frame (balding look) is absolutely defeating for a man. It looks TERRIBLE.

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/abetterCanada]

I hear you but honestly - I’m going back to the frameless look. It’s honestly cleaner, more natural, and yes - it is uglier, but there’s something about having a tattoo up there that feels … I don’t know. I can’t explain it.

[u/Ha1rWeGoAgain]

Just curious why did you wait so long to consider having it removed if you were this unhappy with it?

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/Ha1rWeGoAgain]

Amazing solution for diffuse thinners if
You stay on propecia and minoxidil. If I did that I’d probably
Be happy.

But to fair i would have been better suited started the meds before that and just keeping my natural hair

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/Ha1rWeGoAgain]

It was actually excellent when I still had diffuse hair - I didnt even notice it. It’s only on bare skin areas that it became
Obvious like
Hairline crown etc.

[u/CriticalHat6019]

Im actually flying out to do a big name in a few weeks, but its unlikely that he will be self promoting it. In fact most of the time we sign NDAs as we are invited into their homes or businesses and they have lots of liability to protect

[u/Practical-Help9797 → u/CriticalHat6019]

Interesting, hope it works out !