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Scalp Micropigmentation vs. Other Alternatives

ProHeadStrong

ProHeadStrong

SMP Guru
So, there are a lot of vocal and uneducated forum members who are very vocal and loyal to their anti-SMP crusade. The problem is, reading these threads, I find that a preconceived bias, without being presented with factual information will not change someone €™s opinion. You cannot sit here and type, and claim to write a book, or be any sort of expert, just because you had a hair transplant, sit in a chair 24 hours a day, and view less then stellar SMP results.

I would like to also touch on the comment about marketing, €œtoo fast too soon € is a red flag. Clearly, a double standard exists. Most every type of hair loss remedy, right, wrong, or indifferent is going to market themselves, that is the American way. Hair loss has become a business, like it or not and I think that Hair Transplant Doctor €™s are far more notorious for their marketing tactics and snafu €™s then any other remedy out there, from hair pieces to concealers, to medications, things are aggressively marketed.

To say that Scalp Micropigmentation is the least desirable, is based solely on ignorance and opinion. First off, there are no age demographics when it comes to receiving this treatment. Clients range from various age groups, ethnicities, and medical conditions such as Alopecia, burn victims, and finally, hair transplant failures. Hair transplantation might help some gain their confidence back, that is what the industry is all about, unfortunately there are good results and bad results in every aspect of treating hair loss.

Crucifying Scalp Micropigmentation as primitive and relatively new is just plain ignorant, in fact it has been around for over a decade, and honed and had evolved. Yes, there are some terrible results, due to certain factors such as human error, lack of experience, client expectation, and other reasons. But SMP is not €œpainting your head € or €œjust tattoing dots € on your head, there is an artistry and methodical technique behind it that has helped many men and women get their confidence back.
One persons pleasure might be someone else €™s poison, but most of the anti-smp brigade €™s information is inaccurate or simple baseless bias conjecture. SMP is not for everyone, just like a toupee is not for everyone. And about being dangerous, lets take a little look to the alternatives to hair loss.

Medication. Well, I am no rocket scientist but Finasteride, Rogaine, Propecia and whatever else I missed may grow some hair back in only one area of the head, sometimes sparse, but the side effects which have been well documented include: decreased libido (losing your hair isn €™t enough? So you losing your mojo on top of that would certainly not be worth growing sparse hair in my opinion, see I said opinion because I am no expert, I rely on factual information), this drug also can cause infertility, and as a man who wants to have children, I find the con €™s certainly outweigh the pro €™s, swelling in hands and feet, dizziness, weakness, feeling like you are going to have a syncopal episode, headache, rashes, and most alarming, a high risk of getting prostate cancer. So before all the honest theorists chastise SMP about the ink they use and what is made of, a properly done SMP procedure with the appropriate ink sometimes customized has not been linked to any sort of cancer, again conjecture and ignorance being spread.

Hair concealers - Toppik, one of the most common products used for men with diffuse thinning who want to conceal their baldness. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Toppik, which is very similar to Nanongen are tiny keratin fibers that are shaken onto the scalp, however a good number of people use a Fiberhold Spray to keep it in place. Toppik hair fibers contain a nasty ingredient ammonium chloride, a very hazardous chemical that has side effects such as: contact to the eyes that can cause damage, even permanent, inhalation can cause difficulty breathing, muscle spasms, tachycardia/bradychardia (fast or slow heart beat). So yes, as you sprinkle this on your head and add the toxic spray, you might want to think twice about doing so and throwing conjecture about the dangers of SMP which I will get too in a few.

While wearing a wig or toupee might be efficient at concealing hair loss, you are either wearing synthetic hair, or someone elses hair, high end hair systems are highly priced and how it is applied to your head is very disconcerting. It is either stapled, applied with tape, applied with polymer, or just simply put on. If the look of a hair system makes someone happy, then go for it, but many times it can be spotted from a mile away. Applying the polymer to the scalp is not healthy, as is wearing a €œpermanent € hair piece as it does not let the scalp breath. I would think using a strong adhesive or glue would not be too healthy either if one decides to utilize this option.

And last but not least Hair Transplantation. The most invasive, surgical procedure that can either yield results or be a complete failure. A complete failure can be the hallmark of all hair loss remedies, so it is not relegated to Hair Transplantation. Sure, Hair Transplants have come along way, from the plugs to FUE to the strip surgeries, now they have robots working instead of Doctors to harvest the donor area. What are the actual health risk of surgeries ? I would think the answer is quite obvious: infection, pain, stitches, death of the actual hair follicles, scarring, and excessive bleeding. Now, I am not going to be familiar with age demographic of Hair Transplant patients, but I think you would need to be awfully desperate to risk that type treatment at the behest of mediocre results, but again, having seen many a failed Hair Transplant, the scars, and the infamous client line €œthey promised me a full head of hair €. This not to dissuade anyone from getting a hair transplant, because technology has advanced! But before you throw stones in glass houses about SMP, I think you need to look at the history of hair transplantation before casting bias on a cosmetic procedure that most have never seen in person, or rely on pictures of bad results to further market their bias for SMP.

The fact remains is that what you do to your head is a personal choice, some want a full head of hair, some want the appearance of having hair, and some want to take medication to grow hair. To say that one is more dangerous than the other comes down to factual information. At the end of the day, if someone has their confidence back, that is all that matters, as long as it is safe, and SMP, done properly by a trained professional is a cosmetic procedure that is safe. There are clinics out there, especially one in Thailand who actually use a tattoo gun and gauge needle along with tattoo ink, which makes the SMP industry professionals look bad, just like the Doctors who is notorious for promising but delivering zero, it gives the Hair Transplant industry a bad name. There should not be a double standard.


 

 
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Baldy Bunnet

Valued member
Excellent post.

SMP was definitely the best option for me after suffering a failed HT. It is definitely not perfect but when done well it is almost in detectable and the freedom it gives by far outweighs any negatives by a long shot.

Just a few of the positives:

Not worrying about wind and rain messing up my hair and showing my baldness. Playing sports
Going swimming
Letting my wife touch my head without pushing her hand away when she gets closer to my bald spot
Not worrying when someone is standing directly behind me
Being happy to get my picture taken again
Feeling younger than I am rather than looking 10 years older
 
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Coopman

Valued member
Raising awareness of the potential negative impact of having SMP is not a crusade.

It allows any reader to make an imformed decision of whether SMP is a path they would like to explore.

Nothing is too good to be true. Everybody has an opinion, we are all criticised for our opinions, as we can never all agree. Life would be damn boring if we were all the same.

But opinions are just that. A simple way of broadcasting what ours/others thinking actually is. If a forum poster is anti HT or SMP, he/she is free to express their opinion.

If you are a potential HT or SMP Client, education is the most important thing a reader can undertake. You need to know the good, bad and the ugly. You need to know how this will impact your life.
There will be positive impacts and negative impacts, but education will enable the reader to make the hopefully correct decision.

Sales people are here to sell a product/service/procedure. They are not here to deter people from purchasing what they are selling. Someone who has life experience knows this, but someone whom may be young/naive/desperate may not.

It's the young/naive/desparate people that need to be protected from making a rash decision. If they know the pros and cons, then they have all the required information needed to make that final decision.

Sales people may not like the cons. But in every aspect of life it is only fair that both sides get to share their side of the story.

I will always give credit to any HT/SMP Clinic that respects an individuals opinion if negative on a procedure. The good will refrain as they have a good reputation, that takes years to earn.
But to any reader if a HT/SMP Clinic is attacking individuals for what is just their individual reviews. Why is this? Are they attacking their Clinics results or are they just giving an opinion of a procedure?

We have hundreds/thousands of threads showing good results of various HT/smp procedures.
To have a single thread that gives a negative side to the story. Is only fair, we live in a democratic society.
When a negative post is attacked by another poster thats perfectly fair. Who is this poster replying? Hey he could be a patient who has had a procedure and is thrilled with their results. Nothing wrong with shouting from the rooftops.

But when you get responses from Salespeople that rings alarm bells. Why are Salespeople trashing individuals point of views/opinions if they are negative? An ethical salesperson would not be concerned.
But a Salesperson working on commission is thinking with his wallet, he needs to make that sale. After all we all have mortgages and mouths to feed.

Any procedure we have, we live with the consequences forever. If you are thinking of having a HT/smp procedure read as much negatives/positives for your chosen path. If you are not sure whether its a good idea and need convincing, then at this moment in time you are not a suitable candidate.
 
ProHeadStrong

ProHeadStrong

SMP Guru
Hey there Coopman,
I read your post and you do have some valid points. I do agree the pro's and con's of SMP need to be investigated and looked into my any potential client. I am not young by any means, and again I see the term young being used. I have researched SMP extensively before making the move to have it done.

I agree that doing your due diligence is key when having any procedure or hair loss remedy done, however there is a huge difference in having an opinion and spouting misinformation and non-factual information versus factual information.

Additionally, I am not a salesperson, I am a former client, who is very happy with my SMP results. SMP changed my life, and I feel the need to educate people on the myths that anti -SMP folk through out there, especially the one very vocal one on this board who tends to not like the word fact.

I think that constructive criticism is a very good thing, but you have to take it from the source. A clinic is only as good as its work, and reputation. There are some clinics out there that should not be doing SMP, and again, a lot of the demographics on SMP clients are not necessarily young, or for Hair Transplantation either.

I do agree that for someone considering it they need to hear the pros and the cons, but the cons have to be factual, that takes away from the impartiality of things and gives the illusion of bias. Yes there are some people that should NOT be performing SMP and result in horrid results, however that should not reflect solely on the clinics that have excellent results.

I wrote my thread based upon factual information that can be verified through the medical community, the FDA, etc. Can the same be said for SMP naysayers ?

I appreciate your response to my post. It is one of the most intelligent and logical responses I have seen thus far.
 
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Coopman

Valued member
Proheadstrong

I agree with part of your response, your initial response is based upon factual information. Hey i dont want to totally discredit SMP, its a way of camouflaging peoples baldness, hiding transplant scars and providing a thickening effect for thinning hair.

Its not a procedure i like, but thats only my humble opinion. We all have different views.

The main reasoning behind my view, is other peoples opinions. What they will think if they found out you were a NW 5+ with SMP.

If you are older than 35 i dont think it matters, you have lived and peoplesreactions you can deal with. But its the under 30 crowd whom are going to have to come to terms if they get busted.

If by reading a few posts on the negatives of SMP, at least they may pay a bit extra for the procedure and go to a top Clinic. Alternatively they may decide its not a good idea and disregard SMP.

As you are aware if you are a guy in your 20s, attracting girls is the most important thing in the world. Getting busted for having SMP is not going to be good.

Its a damn shame we live in such a shallow world. Because the main negatives of SMP is other peoples opinions who may ridicule someone for having this procedure.

I wear a little Concealor and i will never live the day when a GF of mine says to me your hair looks absolutely amazing with those fibres in it, dont ever do anything stupid like shave it all off and expose your thinning crown.

Lifes a bitch isnt it.
 
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ProHeadStrong

ProHeadStrong

SMP Guru
Yes sir, life is a bitch. I am over 35, and have suffered hair loss for a decade, so I know how hair loss can affect ones self esteem, confidence, etc. I have been shaving my head since I became a Norwood 6/7, so I thought for my personal happiness, SMP would be for me, that is after I researched the pro's and con's of it rigorously.

My biggest fear, you outlined, being found out. I will tell you, and this is not cliché or a sales pitch for Headstrong, is that not one person has said a word, or looked at my head, only looked in my eyes, however the ones that I have told that I had it done, looked at my head and were impressed.

As you accurately described, SMP is not for everyone, but for someone who shaves there head, likes the short cropped look, has alopecia, it is a viable cosmetic alternative to a more invasive approach in my opinion.

I think getting busted for having any kind of Hair Loss procedure is equally embarrassing. Yes we live in a shallow world, we can agree on that? Put this in perspective, next to hair loss, what is the biggest concern and plague of people ? Weight. Fad diets, lap band surgery, stomach stapling, etc.

Well Doctor's (Bariatric) do great jobs of helping obese people lose hundreds of pounds, but it doesn't account for the loose skin, and the emotional toll it has on them after losing all that weight.

The same can apply with procedures, I say that because it is a blanketed statement in regards to FUE/SMP, etc. If someone can live in their own skin, has something quality done, then who cares what people thinks? I can tell you it boosted my confidence ten fold. And I am truly sorry that others have had negative experiences with SMP, but just like there are horrid SMP clinics, the same goes for every aspect of Hair Loss Alternatives.
 
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Baldy Bunnet

Valued member
ProHeadStrong wrote:
Additionally, I am not a salesperson, I am a former client, who is very happy with my SMP results. SMP changed my life, and I feel the need to educate people on the myths that anti -SMP folk through out there, especially the one very vocal one on this board who tends to not like the word fact.
I agree with what you are saying in this thread about SMP but what you said above is completely contradicted by your post in another thread
http://www.hairlossexperiences.com/view_topic.php?id=5525&forum_id=52


"Glad you are happy with the results. Customer satisfaction, knowledge, and artistry is what we aim for with our clients.

We have seen a lot of hair transplant failures, and masked the scars that were inflicted on these poor young men who were promised full heads of hair while being extracted in Jack the Ripper style fashion. Glad you are happy! ;)"

Please clarify

 
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timuk

timuk

My member is cooler than NN's
BB.. that's well spotted...

Not sure what to make of that..

Tim
 
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Baldy Bunnet

Valued member
Yeah tim I don't get it. His 1st post was to start a topic to promote headstrong with a spiel about their product with lots of "we" and posted lots of links to website, twitter etc but his signature states the opposite that he is merely an ex client
 
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Baldy Bunnet

Valued member
By the way I am not trying to imply that there is anything wrong with headstrong as an SMP provider. I am simply confused about the agenda of this forum user.

As far as I know, Matt who runs headstrong is the same Matt who worked at HIS until very recently. I have seen plenty of examples of his work on their site, all of which are excellent treatments.
 
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februaryp

Member
yeah baldy, and he didnt even mention his treatment until coopman started talking about salespeople.

i dont see anything wrong with what he has said here, and headstrong does excellent work, but it's a little odd.


 
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ProHeadStrong

ProHeadStrong

SMP Guru
I am a client, and I am very happy with my SMP results. I originally made my signature and was overzealous and yes I can admit it was a mistake because it looked like I was speaking for the company, when in reality I am not.

I changed my signature, by request, so that is where the confusion came into play. I am merely a client. Not a shill, nor a salesperson. But I do acknowledge how reading the signature in both posts rings red flags, and as a man I can admit to that.

With that being said, my opinions are of my own. I hope that puts this to rest.
 
ProHeadStrong

ProHeadStrong

SMP Guru
And that is why I felt the need to be so vocal and overzealous about Headstrong, however I initially went about it the wrong way. I had my third session today with Matt. SMP did actually give me my life back, and I do apologize for the inconsistencies.
The only real forum dedicated to SMP is run a larger company. Every other forum is Hair Transplantation with other alternatives, nothing solely dedicated to SMP experiences. If that makes sense.
 
timuk

timuk

My member is cooler than NN's
Ok Pro...

But you have to understand that many of us are over cautious towards many aspects of the "hair" industry...

There are countless numbers of guys, myself included, that were suckered into spending small fortunes on what turned out to be no more than a con.. and some of those cons have scarred us for life...

So, anything that stands out as a little bit suspect will be jumped on and "shouted about" loud and clear...

Too many seemingly genuine posters are just false accounts set up to con people just looking for help...

With all this in mind you have to accept that people will now be sceptical of what you have to say.... Sorry, just telling you how I feel.. Other may feel different and accept your retraction....

Like I said, just my opinion and formed from being around hair loss issues and forums for nearly 10 years..

Tim
 
ProHeadStrong

ProHeadStrong

SMP Guru
Hey Tim,
Thank you for telling me know how you feel. I can certainly relate to the skepticism issue, which is a normal reaction, no one wants to conned, or duped into something they don't want, or don't receive what they were promised which in most cases, bad results when it comes to Hair Loss Alternatives.

Your reasons to be skeptical are/were completely valid. I represented myself in an improper manner which I should not have.

The only thing I would like to touch upon is that skepticism is normal, however I do believe there is a degree of Anti-SMP sentiment/bias on these forums, and no matter what is provided via fact, the sentiment remains the same. At the end of the day I think we all want to be happy, including me.

I am a genuine person, I am tired of using the word client, who was fortunate enough to have results that made me happy, unfortunately I went about it the wrong way, which is my mistake. I do see your concern, acknowledge it, and must reiterate that I meant no harm, but most definitely can see things from your point of view. A ten year veteran who posts intelligently and shows factual reasons to be skepticial is refreshing I would like to add Tim.

I too am a skeptic, I don't know the etiquette, but when I began losing my hair, I went to several Doctor's that whose names I have seen on this board and some where outrageous and some promised me the world. I opted not to have a Hair Transplant. I was also skeptical about Scalp Micropigmentation in itself, but that is another topic.




 
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