EvoXOhio

I’m doing to Hairline Ink in Chicago.

9 month update. I haven’t seen any new hairs pop out in a very long time, and I haven’t noticed any thickening of existing hair in several months, so I think it’s safe to say my HT is “done”. Sure it’s possible some hairs will continue to thicken for the next 3-9 months, but I think for all intents and purposes I am done. This timing for this is good, because on a week from today I get my first SMP density treatment. So that will make it virtually impossible to determine if there is any new growth. I’ve also started on DUT as of three weeks ago, which could in theory cause growth or thicken up any existing hairs. I plan on documenting my SMP experience here, so I’ll show close ups of the scalp before hand, after the first SMP session, after the second session, and then once it’s fully healed. im also planning to grow my hair long, so I’ll probably update this thread every month until I reach the desired length.

I’ve only been on it for 3 weeks so no change or anything to report just yet. It will likely take 6 months to notice a change, if any.

@Melvin-ModeratorHere’s what I got back from them: ”Your graft count was 2060 total. 150 Micro grafts, 450 Follicular Units and 1460 Multi-Units. Make sure the friends that are asking Understand that our graft counts differ from other places because of the Multi-Unit approach. The total number of transplanted hairs was 9,670.” Take that for what you will. The graft count seems low considering the coverage I got, but as stated before they do the chunky multi-unit grafts which means their graft count doesn’t match what a forum recommended doctor would have. I know I got a ton of coverage, but 9670 hairs seems a bit high too. I’m not going to obsess over it or over analyze it. For $12,000 I got pretty damn good coverage and I likely would have had to have paid a lot more money anywhere else for the same coverage.

This is for density treatment. I’m going to Hairline Ink in Chicago.

Not technically an update on my progress but something cool happened to me today. I was getting a haircut for the first time in about 2-3 months. I always dread the end when they hold up a mirror to show you the back, because the bright overhead lights shine right on your bald spot and makes it look worse than it is. At my last appointment 2-3 months ago I was still able to see quite a bit of scalp peeking through the hair. Well today, for the first time in over a decade, I saw no bald spot when she showed me the back. Not even a trace of it. Now of course my hair was styled, and if it’s messy I can certainly see some scalp. But the fact that my hair was styled and under those harsh lights and I saw no scalp was such an awesome thing. and to think it’s going to be even better here soon because I’m getting SMP density treatments in a couple of weeks.

I got quotes from 2 reputable places. One place charged $2500 for the first two sessions, then an additional $700 for a third session if it was needed (they said for density treatments most people don’t need a third session). If a fourth session was needed it was free. the other place I got a quote from charged a flat $3000 for three sessions. They said they always do three sessions regardless. with both places, this was a quote for a full scalp (hairline to bottom of crown) density treatment. Neither included any sort of scar repair, that would be extra. I did not get a quote on the shave look SMP from either place so I can’t compare the pricing between the two.

My SMP is going to cost $2500 for 2 sessions totaling 6-8 hours. That’s $312-$416 per hour. There’s no way I’m going to tip on top of that. Same reason I didn’t tip on my HT.

Looks great, but what’s the plan for that big patch of hair below his hairline? Laser it off? Wait and see if it falls out on its own?

I’ll be getting mine done in a month and posting the results then.

I’m on a discord chat about it, and lots of people are getting blood work done and finding that it does goes systemic to a degree.

Looks great but you forgot to blur his eyes out in one of the pictures.

Hairs can be transplanted into scars. People often get FUE after FUT and some of the FUE hairs get placed into the FUT scar. think of it like this, when someone gets a tattoo on their arm it doesn’t kill the hair right? The hair keeps on growing. I have full sleeves and chest tattoos and I have hair growing through them.

Of course it can, why would you think it can’t?

When I style and hairspray my hair now, my scalp is 90-95% covered. So I don’t really need any sort of concealer as I’m ok with this minimal amount of scalp showing. It’s only when my hair is messy and uncombed that I have noticeable scalp, and I’m those cases I wouldn’t be using concealer (I’d only use concealer if my hair was combed and styled.)

For what it’s worth, I’ve never read a bad review from someone who got an SMP density treatment from the guy I’m going to. I scoured review sites, hair sites like this one and others, social media, etc.

Gotcha. I’ve never used concealer and I refuse to. I want my hair to be at a place to where I don’t have to worry about if it gets wet, there’s wind, etc. Concealer won’t work for that, but I believe SMP will. Worst case scenario I try SMP and i don’t like it, then I get a second HT from someone who is renowned for densely packed crowns. Then the new hair would completely hide the SMP.

I think it all depends on how much hair you have to conceal it. The point of density SMP isn’t to take a bald spot and make it look like hair. If you have a bald spot or even a bald spot half covered with hair, it probably won’t look perfect in great light. Density SMP is for people like me where I have 90% coverage with small amount of visible scalp, and use the SMP to hide the visible scalp. I’ve seen pictures in very harsh bright light and outside and it looks good. Can you see dots if you zoom on up close? Sure I’m some cases. But for me I’d rather have dots than scalp showing.

I agree, and he’s got tons more just like it.

I’m going to Mike at their Chicago location. His IG is: https://instagram.com/mikehairlineink?igshid=50kqpm2m3qpu I didn’t look into any of their New York artists, only this guy. I’m in Ohio so it’s about a 4-5 hour drive for me.

I think the difference in shaved look versus density is the size of the dots, the density, placement, shading, etc. the place I’m going to is well known, 5 star reviews across the board both on review sites as well as SMP sites, and the artist doing mine has received multiple awards and is highly recognized in the industry. I’m not worried about the pictures being deceiving or inaccurate, but I understand the skepticism I’ve seen other places post video before and after me as well. Videos are much harder to sake.

Ah ok. I have mine as monthly, but I will likely suspend after the next one since I’ll only be applying it once a week versus every day. as far as SMP there are two kinds - the kind for shaved head look and the kind for density treatments. You have to find a place that specializes in the density treatment kinds. I found several places around me that do it, and ended up picking the one that has the most examples and best results. The other key is that you have to enough hair to provide good coverage, and not be bald to the point where you have full on bald spots. You can’t get density SMP on a bald crown, but you can get it on a thinning area with half decent coverage. some SMP places only do the shaved head kind, which is likely the case for the places you talked to. I’ve attached a few examples from the guy who will be doing mine.

Is this at Strut? If so i’m not following. I thought it was a monthly subscription at a set monthly cost?

It was included as part of the HT and done during it so I really don’t know anything about it nor if it worked.

Reading up on it a bit now, a lot of places (including where I went to) do say that it provides a greater illusion of density. Considering how dense my hair looks combed versus messy, it definitely does provide great coverage when combed. The issue is though if my hair is messy or really short, more scalp will be seen and the unnatural row like plugginess of the grafts are noticeable. So I think these multi units grafts only provide more density if the hair is beyond a certain length and able to conceal the scalp.