CosmoBiz Magazine September 2016 | Page 54

Education SCALP MICROPIGMENTATION A new way to covering up thinning and hair loss Y ou’ve probably heard about the different possible ways to cover up hair thinning or balding: wigs, toupees, hair volume thickeners, and a whole lot more, but have you heard about using tattoos as coverage? When we first heard about it, we knew we had to learn more. Tino Barbone, owner of The Scalp Micropigmentation Center in Ontario, Canada, told CosmoBiz all about Scalp Micropigmentation. What is scalp micropigmentation? Scalp Micropigmentation, also commonly referred to as SMP, Scalp Tattoo, Hair Tattoo, and Tricopigmentation, is the process of adding thousands of simulated, pigmented hair follicles to the skin of the scalp to give the client the appearance of a freshly shaved head of hair, or the look of a buzz cut. At SMC we call this process SMP HD (Hair Density). We can also use SMP to camouflage scars on the scalp due to accidents, surgeries or hair transplants. We call this process SMP SC (Scar Camouflage). Is there a difference between hair tattoos and eyebrow tattoos? Absolutely! The needles and ink used vary greatly between the two processes. I consider SMP to be a hybrid treatment – somewhere between permanent makeup and classic tattoo. The pigments used in permanent makeup should not be used for SMP. They are not formulated the same way, and run a high risk of changing colors. Tattoo inks may be too large of a molecule, and 54 COSMOBIZ SALON SEPTEMBER 2016 may cause migration or enlargement of the microdot, as well, they may leave some residue in the skin giving it a greyish, cloudy look to the skin over time. Although some PMU suppliers produce small enough needles to do the job, the taper of those needles are not made for SMP, as well as the machines used to power that needle are not powerful enough to pierce the top layers of skin smoothly enough to give us the perfect microdot needed to formulate a hair follicle. Most providers using this method will find that their dots are way too big, giving a very unpleasant result. If the machine is not powerful enough, PMU providers will find that they need to push the needle into the skin, which of course goes too deep and causes a macrodot or big dot. Thus, there is a huge difference in scalp tattoo versus eyebrow tattoo. How long would it take to work on a whole head? How many sessions? Although there are SMP providers in the world that guarantee that they can complete a whole head in 5 hours, and in only one treatment session, it is impossible and mostly just a marketing scheme. Because of the placement of the ink, and the fact that we would rather be too shallow than too deep (to avoid macrodots), the natural exfoliation process of the skin will delete about 10-20% of the microdots after each treatment. At SMC, we provide all clients with a minimum of 3 treatments. The client’s first treatment is 2-3 hours long. The second treatment, approximately 1-2 weeks later, would be 1-2 hours, and the third treatment is usual-