Permanent vs Temporary (Tricopigmentation) SMP

[JoeTillman]

Your message should be for people to use caution when selecting a permanent SMP clinic, not to avoid the industry altogether... at least in regards to the 'it's an industry of con-artists' critique.

I'll do no such thing. I will continue to tell people to avoid the permanent SMP industry because I know enough about it to know that it should be avoided. I do know some people in the industry that appear to be good people and try to exercise some restraint with their claims and marketing but for the most part I stand by my critique. The permanent SMP industry is, in general, corrupt with only a few exceptions. I have proof of permanent SMP clinics pretending to be clients posting reviews and I have proof of SMP clinics conducting advertising fraud with undisclosed conflicts of interest. The list of issues is quite shocking.

The permanent SMP industry's corruption is like the hair transplant industry's corruption multiplied by a factor of ten. Some of what I read and even hear coming out of the mouths of even some of the most respected practitioners blows my mind. One of my favorite claims is that one's ink won't fade for ten years and may only require minor touch ups every few years. Why? Because it has been formulated in a special way that prevents degradation. Sounds great, right? But when you ask that practitioner how long they've been performing SMP and they say two years, or even five years, or anything less than ten years, it has to be spelled out for them that they really don't know what they're talking about. If they haven't been around for ten years, of if the company they work for hasn't been around for ten years, how in the Hell can they say with a straight face that the ink won't fade for ten years? Or five, or whatever they (insert clinic name here) may claim? It's absolute lunacy.

Fair point about tricho clients that are unhappy wanting to get rid of it ASAP but my position about tricho compared to permanent is that it is the lesser of two evils. You're still tattooing your head and if you want to talk about the lasering of dots in long hair with tricho vs. permanent you're leaving out the issue of follicular damage from laser treatments. No one I know in the industry, on any level, recommends laser removal of pigment into hair bearing regions of the scalp. That is follicular suicide.

With all of the people that have reached out to me to thank me for educating them about the differences, and the number of people that have been helped by reputable tricho practitioners after being screwed by permanent SMP procedures, I think I'll continue to trash permanent SMP when the opportunities arise. My message is one of restraint, not just education, and if one can just accept themselves the way they are without having ink or surgery, then they win. That is what matters to me.

If you don't see the downside of permanent SMP with the company of your choice, more power to you, but don't lecture me on what I may or may not know. The only reason you've heard of tricho to begin with is because of me. I was the first person in the English speaking world to even discuss tricho and the reason why I haven't kept up with what the permanent SMP companies are doing is because I know that it is no different than it was a year ago. No magical formula has materialized that makes permanent SMP any different than it was last time I looked at it seriously. It is still the same and still something that should be avoided.

You are more than welcome to disagree with my position but don't plan on making this a drawn out, multi-post debate, because I'm really not that interested in the issue to dedicate any more time to it.