This may seem a strange comparison at first. After all, hair loss concealers are nothing more than a temporary cover-up whereas scalp micropigmentation is a permanent solution.
The two options are completely different and each has its own benefits, however the comparison is important because a large proportion of people who come to HIS Hair Clinic for an SMP treatment have become completely reliant on concealers over a long period of time.
Which concealers are we talking about?
Although there are slight differences between some of the main brands, they all do basically the same thing. For the purpose of this discussion I refer to all major concealer brands such as DermMatch, Nanogen Nanofibres, COUVRe, Caboki and Toppik. There are a great many more as they are cheap to produce, are often white-labelled by manufacturers to allow distributors to create new brands, and are sold at a price and regularity of purchase that offer retailers an attractive product line.
The issues with concealers
Temporary concealers rely on the existence of real hair to provide structure for the fibres or powder in the formula. For this reason the more hair you have left, the better results you will experience. Many thousands of men become addicted to concealer use, but sadly as their hair continues to get thinner, their addiction becomes more expensive because more concealer is required to make up for the lack of hair, and the results become more and more unnatural looking.
Even when the results are acceptable, concealers carry many lifestyle restrictions that most people would consider unacceptable. Concealer users in general are anxious about their hair being ruffled or touched, are constantly wary of rain or strong wind, cannot go swimming while wearing concealer and can make intimate moments difficult. Many men tell tales of when they woke up in the morning after a night of passion, only to find their pillow (or worse, their partner) covered in soot-like concealer. No-one should have to live in fear of events like these.
The implications of scalp micropigmentation
For the purposes of this comparison, I’ll assume you already know what scalp micropigmentation is, and how it works. If you do not, please see this page.
So how would your life improve if you ditched the concealer and had SMP? Well, there are a number of differences you will notice. The first is that you will be required to shave your hair. Exactly how short depends on your individual treatment, but certainly at a zero clipper guard and quite possibly you will need to wet shave. This usually produces the most realistic appearance possible.
You will be released from all concerns about the weather. Come rain or shine, you can live your life free from worry. The only consideration is that during periods of prolonged sun exposure, it is advisable to use some sort of sunscreen to prolong the life of your pigments, and of course to protect your skin.
All restrictions around what you can and cannot do will be gone. Unlike when wearing concealers, after SMP you can run, sweat, swim, carry children on your shoulders, in fact you can do anything you want.
A real life case study.
The following video features Mark Andrews, a recipient of hair transplant and scalp reduction procedures. Although these are the focal points of the video, for me the key part of this story is how he looked when he was using concealers to cover up his failed transplants. He had to use so much of the stuff that it looked completely realistic. After SMP, he really has had the opportunity to turn his life around.
