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Scalp Micro USA review


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I would like to take a second and thank Scalp Micro USA and in particular Matt Iulo who has given me a great result and really helped me get my life back together.

 

This forum i had been reading for some time the different options and finally decided scalp micro pigmentation was the solution for me.

 

Over the last month I have had 2 treatments with Matt at Scalp Micro USA and it went even better than i had planned. Matt was a professional from the start and said it would be no problem to help my situation.

 

I wanted a natural hairline and still to look a little thin on top because I don't mind being bald...but i wanted some color back. He did it EXACTLY as i wanted.

 

I have attached pictures so you can see. I am thrilled and so is my wife and little girl. I can't recommend Matt enough. He handles every case personally and is easy to reach during the process. I may go back for one more session in a month or so, but i am over the moon already.

 

Let me know your feedbacks and how you think it looks!

 

Thanks guys

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Just wanted to check in and tell every1 my 2 sessions have held up very well so far, really no fading at all. I have gotten either no comments or only positive comments that it looks like my hair is starting to grow haha!

 

Love the look and just wanted to share that anyone thinking of doing it should go ahead (as long as you pick the right company) . In NY Matt is the guy! I will have a 3rd just to slightly lower the hairline in a few weeks will give more pictures after.

 

take care!

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  • Moderators

I think you run the risk of making it look fake if you lower the hairline. It looks good right now. With a hairline too low, it will not look natural.

Al

Forum Moderator

(formerly BeHappy)

I am a forum moderator for hairrestorationnetwork.com. I am not a Dr. and I do not work for any particular Dr. My opinions are my own and may not reflect the opinions of other moderators or the owner of this site. I am also a hair transplant patient and repair patient. You can view some of my repair journey here.

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Personally, I would avoid any provider who employs the 'HIS Hair Method' of SMP. Any former HIS Hair technician who has gone into business for himself is most likely doing things the "HIS Hair way".

 

Receiving your SMP treatment at a provider who is using the 'HIS Hair Method' means that your results will fade naturally much quicker than a proper SMP treatment- about one and a half to two years time after the final treatment you will have experienced severe fading.

 

This method is designed to fade very rapidly, not as quickly as Tricopigmentation, but much quicker than a proper SMP technique. This is good if you prefer your results to fade rapidly, some people like that.

 

You can usually tell if a provider is using the 'HIS technique' b/c they will advertise that you will need up to 4 or 5 sessions with 10-15 day intervals in between sessions.

 

Also the SMP dots will appear very large for the first couple of weeks before shrinking to a smaller size.

 

Most providers use this method b/c they can charge by the session and make more money this way. Great for the provider, not so much for the client.

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I only needed 2 sessions. Matt said he gets them all done within 3 session and I never saw big dots. I think he's advanced since HIS hair days, but who knows. Im just very happy I went with him. But now its hard to get back in he's booked until July :(

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I only needed 2 sessions. Matt said he gets them all done within 3 session and I never saw big dots. I think he's advanced since HIS hair days, but who knows.

 

It is difficult to gather much from the photos you posted b/c they do not seem to be high def photos.

Back in 2014 when he worked at a place called headstrong, one of his clients posted this photo of results with Matt, and to me the dots look pretty big, and resemble HIS hair results quite a bit. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/176515-smp-clinic-question-2.html

MattIulosmp.jpg.eba2799ccbfa7771138d3744bf61828e.jpg

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  • Senior Member
Just wanted to check in and tell every1 my 2 sessions have held up very well so far, really no fading at all. I have gotten either no comments or only positive comments that it looks like my hair is starting to grow haha!

 

Love the look and just wanted to share that anyone thinking of doing it should go ahead (as long as you pick the right company) . In NY Matt is the guy! I will have a 3rd just to slightly lower the hairline in a few weeks will give more pictures after.

 

take care!

 

Your SMP looks awesome! I wouldn't lower that hairline at all! Matt does a great job and you are in great hands!

 

Each of us has an opinion on which company we like best. Personally, I was trained in permanent pigmentation and actually started my career in this industry in that field. I can tell you that today based on that inside knowledge if I have patients that want permanent pigmentation I really only refer to previous HIS employees . IE: Matt at ScalpMicro and Simon or Paul at Brandwood in the UK. The technique and pigments that they were trained with are far superior and much safer than those of some of the other more permanent companies (not including Vinci). Touch-ups are a far better inconvenience than color repair.

I am the SMP and Micro-Pigmentation Specialist for Shapiro Medical Group. Always feel free to message me privately with any additional questions you might have. I am trained in both the permanent and temporary pigmentation methods and am happy to be here to offer support as a neutral resource.

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Quite right, I agree that Matt does good work, and Simon and Paul with Brandwood have some good results as well. My point is that the method they use fades very quickly, and if a client is okay with that and prefers to have a more temporary result, then they should absolutely go to one of these providers.

It all depends on the individual and his or her standards and expectations.

 

As far as that method being safer, I would say that the "HIS Hair way" is safer than going to an untrained, unproven, unskilled, inexperienced provider. Absolutely correct, but that is just kind of common sense, right? If you are just going with any ole bloke doing micropigmentation, then you would be far better off not having it at all.

 

Got to exercise due diligence and do your homework with anything permanent, or in this case, Semi-permanent.

 

And touch-ups are definitely much better than repairing a bad SMP job, absolutely.

 

But again, my point is that if you go to a good practitioner who is also using the proper method:

1) the client will not have to worry about color change or migration

2) the client's results will not fade as quickly and he will be able to enjoy his results longer without the necessity of frequent touch-ups

 

Finding a good practitioner or technician is not that difficult these days. Most people should not have that hard of a time finding someone within reasonable proximity of their home.

 

The Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals is a good resource. SPCP - Society for Permanent Cosmetic, Micropigmentation, Permanent Makeup and Cosmetic Tattooing Professionals

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Quite right, I agree that Matt does good work, and Simon and Paul with Brandwood have some good results as well. My point is that the method they use fades very quickly, and if a client is okay with that and prefers to have a more temporary result, then they should absolutely go to one of these providers.

It all depends on the individual and his or her standards and expectations.

 

As far as that method being safer, I would say that the "HIS Hair way" is safer than going to an untrained, unproven, unskilled, inexperienced provider. Absolutely correct, but that is just kind of common sense, right? If you are just going with any ole bloke doing micropigmentation, then you would be far better off not having it at all.

 

Got to exercise due diligence and do your homework with anything permanent, or in this case, Semi-permanent.

 

And touch-ups are definitely much better than repairing a bad SMP job, absolutely.

 

But again, my point is that if you go to a good practitioner who is also using the proper method:

1) the client will not have to worry about color change or migration

2) the client's results will not fade as quickly and he will be able to enjoy his results longer without the necessity of frequent touch-ups

 

Finding a good practitioner or technician is not that difficult these days. Most people should not have that hard of a time finding someone within reasonable proximity of their home.

 

The Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals is a good resource. SPCP - Society for Permanent Cosmetic, Micropigmentation, Permanent Makeup and Cosmetic Tattooing Professionals

 

I agree with you that due diligence in finding a provider is really #1 and please do not take what I wrote as me disagreeing with you -- my focus is always the best patient care no matter who they choose to go to for their actual procedure. I'm a big fan of predictability. Although, I do believe the SPC is a fantastic organization (I'm a member) I would be very cautious recommending that as a place to find a skilled SMP technician. We have to remember SMP is still new to the permanent cosmetics industry. And, in my experience what I believe that will lead to is lots of people "trying" to do it without all the existing knowledge that we have gained in the SMP industry practicing out here as a separate entity from them. Many of these people will be trained by their pigment companies or a machine manufacturer without real insight into what the long term fading will look like or without understandingprocedurly that SMP really requires a special machine and special needles compared to what they have been using. Today, we (smp industry) know traditional permanent makeup pigments and tattoo ink are not compatible with the scalp for the long term because treating the scalp is a whole new animal compared to eyebrows, eye liner, lips, and really any skin on the body. The sebaceous glands, varying epidermal depths, natural thinning of the skin due to male pattern baldness, and transplant micro-scarring present a much different challenge than their traditional methods. I feel certain in predicting this training pattern because I receive almost daily phone calls from pigment reps wanting me to test their pigments or try their pigments on my patients. They offer no real science other than "because we say so" or "we are the best" and lot's of examples of great work in other procedures. Now, these reps don't care what the result will be they want to make a sale. But, these makeup artists who have had great results with these pigments in their eyebrow clients don't know all that. And, all these companies now have at least a 1-day training for SMP which never discusses general science but only how to use their product and get a business started. And, I won't start on the topic of how testing a pigment on a patient without some knowledge of how it will react in the long term is 100% irresponsible.

 

My personal preference to using a pigment that fades really has nothing to do with "a company" so to speak but more to do with the science. Same thing with finding a provider who spreads treatments into multiple sessions. It's not a personal issue I have with "the clinics" that provide these 1 and done treatments its the science that doesn't make sense. And, trust me if I could find a pigment that would last forever and spare people time, travel, and expense I'll be in line to purchase and use it. Thus far, everyone I have tried (on myself) doesn't hold up. Every pigment I have ever used I try on my feet to see how they hold up in the long term. If they change color in the foot the scalp stands no chance. Thus far, I have 2 pigments I will personally endorse and neither one will last more than 5 years.

 

Pigment that is not designed to fade has a larger molecule that cannot escape the cell wall. So, even if it's properly placed in the dermal layer in time it will produce a color changing effect. Here is why: because the skin over the top of the pigment will change with time causing it to appear faded. And, by faded I mean it will appear a shade or two lighter. So based on the science of color, take the color black for instance which is made up of several layers of the color blue. Even if I implant it at a nice color and it stays true to color at the dermal layer if that skin damage in the epidural layer makes it look a shade or two lighter it will look blue at the surface level. Think of like wrapping a black ball in layers of cellophane. It's the optical illusion. Now if the provider used a pigment that was carbon based and it lasers out easy than this is not such a big issue but if they used something oxide based it will be harder to get out. IE: big pain in the butt.

 

I worked for a company who did many good same day treatments that's actually the model I first knew and I know many great techs who are still doing that model. But, I also saw and continue to see many complications due to this model. The model not the tech. The problem comes from inflammation. When the scalp becomes inflamed it makes it harder structurally speaking for the skin to support the pigment in the incisions. So, lets say I'm using a 3-prong needle which will make three little incisions very close together with one poke that look like a triangle and I do a full head treatment. Inevitably all the triangles (3 incisions in 1 poke) will become 1 larger dot. Now, lets say I have many of these placed very close together all over the head the trauma and inflammation from the incisions makes it very hard for the skin to not only support that 1 dot but if another incision was placed too closely now that will now join the dot next to it. I would be nice to think that this could be avoided by a good provider and I know many who claim it won't happen to them but skin is skin and the scalp has so many different epidermal depths that this phenomena is not really about the skill that day during that procedure but the knowledge of knowing when enough is enough and telling somebody we can't do it all in one day for their safety. Maybe 7 out of 10 times they would be fine in a one and done procedure but I don't want to be one of those 3 patients that aren't. That's why you will also notice that all of these places have a laser in house. Because inevitably small migrations need to be corrected. They just act like it's normal. Well, and always claim the laser is there to correct other people mistakes never their own. ;)

 

I hope this is making better sense of what and why I gave a bit of a different recommendation above. It wasn't to insult you or attempt to start a debate. We really want the same thing...for patients to get the best possible care and treatment out here.

 

All the best

I am the SMP and Micro-Pigmentation Specialist for Shapiro Medical Group. Always feel free to message me privately with any additional questions you might have. I am trained in both the permanent and temporary pigmentation methods and am happy to be here to offer support as a neutral resource.

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You make some great points and obviously have great knowledge regarding SMP. I definitely respect your opinion and agree that there are many factors unique to each individual that can determine whether a treatment is successful. I just feel that there are a great number of convenient "facts" that providers put out there that ultimately are utilized as scare tactics to gain business.

 

My personal experience contradicts what you feel or claim is valid regarding pigments and machines and techniques. Some of the best SMP treatments I have witnessed were performed by practitioners who primarily do eyebrows and permanent makeup, and the results have had great longevity. But of course, keep in mind, these are very experienced practitioners having been doing micropigmentation for 15-25 years and didn't just jump into it in the last few years like many of the SMP providers you will find.

 

Also, most in the industry feel that the scalp is much easier and more predictable to work with than the face. But again, that is just my own personal experience. I am sure you have witnessed and repaired quite a few bad SMP treatments so you are all too familiar with what can go wrong, and you are correct that it is better to be safe than sorry.

Kind Regards:)

Edited by BaldKen2
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  • 4 months later...
It is difficult to gather much from the photos you posted b/c they do not seem to be high def photos.

Back in 2014 when he worked at a place called headstrong, one of his clients posted this photo of results with Matt, and to me the dots look pretty big, and resemble HIS hair results quite a bit. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/176515-smp-clinic-question-2.html

 

 

Oh, the dots look big in that picture? The one taken only THREE days after a treatment?

 

In that post where later on the same day you told the guy that his results looked really good?

 

And on the next day told him: "Your SMP results look great! I do not notice that the dots are too big, but it can be difficult to tell from photos, and as you mentioned, the dots do shrink throughout the healing process so no worries there."?

 

You know, when you posted that picture, it reminded me of something else, but i cant quite place it... oh yeah... i think it reminded me of when that guy posted another picture on day 5 and said that the dots had shrunk, and then you told him again that you thought the treatment looked good.

 

 

Personally, I would avoid any provider who employs the 'HIS Hair Method' of SMP. Any former HIS Hair technician who has gone into business for himself is most likely doing things the "HIS Hair way".

 

Receiving your SMP treatment at a provider who is using the 'HIS Hair Method' means that your results will fade naturally much quicker than a proper SMP treatment- about one and a half to two years time after the final treatment you will have experienced severe fading.

 

My point is that the method they use fades very quickly, and if a client is okay with that and prefers to have a more temporary result, then they should absolutely go to one of these providers.

Now remind me, was that the same thread where you also told the guy:

 

"I wasn't implying that b/c you had your SMP done by HIS former practitioner that yours would fade also. The fact is, Matt is one of the best practitioners out there, and just as you have said Matt's reputation speaks for itself. Anyone would be fortunate to have Matt do their smp. Plus I believe it is safe to say that Headstrong uses different inks/pigments than HIS, and may employ a slightly different method geared more for permanent results."?

 

Oh wait, yep... now i remember. Yeah, that was the thread where you repeatedly - accused - the - guy of working for headstrong, and then inexplicably reversed course in the middle of the thread to tell him how good his results were, and how lucky he was to have that HIS trained technician.

 

Good thread.

 

Now what was it that you were saying about big dots and former HIS employees?

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Hairhairhair456- JOIN DATE: September 2016, POSTS: 3

Pffft, hahahhaaa,you went to a ton of work in researching this forum for that post mate....

 

A ton of work? These posts are literally on the first page of your forum activity. It takes two button clicks to see them... once on your name, and once on posting history. Whew, i need to sit down after all that work.

 

The truth is that i am making a rather scathing critique of Joe T's smp website on another forum, and ran across your posts while i was researching it here. You were on sort of the same track as me here, except you went off the rails with a bunch of childish insults, which diminishes your message.

 

.it is almost as if you have something invested in this..... you wouldn't by chance rent a crappy building where you tattoo tiny dots on men's heads a couple of times a month for ridiculously high prices and call what you do "a very specialized medical procedure" and try to pass off tiny scalp dots as a "scientific miracle" now would you???

 

Ah, so i see your discerning nose has caught the same scent as you did with the guy in that other thread. You're very quick with such things! I mean, you're wrong in both cases, but man are you quick!

 

I love how anytime someone is criticized on forums like this, the person being criticized invariably shouts 'SHILL!'. Somebody point out your contradictions? 'SHILL!'. Somebody disagree with your opinion? 'SHILL!'. Someone say a treatment looks good? 'SHILL!'. It's as if shouting 'SHILL' magically makes the other persons argument invalid, even if it isn't. How about we all just assume everyone else is a shill, and then we can focus on the merits of the arguments that are made? I mean, they are either valid or they aren't, right?

 

It's really funny because on the other forum where i am refuting JT's website, the first two people that replied (including JT) immediately called me a shill. Then i come over here, and the guy who is on the same side as me on that issue also calls me a shill. Man, somedays you just cant win. :)

 

Opinions change in 2 years time, and mine have changed regarding SMP as well as HIS technicians and their inferior method.....

 

First of all, it was just over 8 months, not 2 years. If you are so off the mark on that easily verifiable fact, it's no wonder why you are all over the map with everything else.

 

Second, it's really less of a change of opinion, and more of a contradiction.

 

You stated that that former HIS employee did excellent work, that a friend of yours had a treatment with him that was holding up, and that there was no reason to think that the other guys treatment would fade prematurely just because it was by a former HIS employee.

 

Then 8 months later -- citing nothing more than the one picture you previously based all of those compliments on -- you say exactly the opposite.

 

Come on now... even you have to admit that's a big ole flip flop.

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