By: Shea Lenniger, Contributing Writer for The Hair Society
Scalp micro-pigmentation (SMP), an increasingly popular cosmetic pigmentation procedure, can help the appearance of thinning or balding hair in both men and women. While there is a slight similarity to traditional tattooing, in so far as SMP involves injecting pigment into the scalp where it becomes unique, and very different than a traditional tattoo, is how the SMP artists will mimic the look of the hair follicles. Who better to do this, than a skilled barber who works with hair on a daily basis. Those suffering from male pattern baldness, balding patches, thinning hair, alopecia, scarring or poorly done hair transplants can benefit from SMP.
Master Barber Taylor Perry combined his years of experience as a tattoo artist and barber to found Premier Hair Tattoo, now the home of South Florida’s top studio for scalp micro-pigmentation treatments. “It’s not something to brag about, but I got my first tattoo at 14 years old,” Taylor says with a laugh and continues, “it’s an important part of my story.” Taylor soon started cutting hair professionally at a barbershop when he was 15 and started doing tattoos when he was just 18. So with over 20 years of experience now, it’s safe to say he knows what he’s doing.
“About 2 years ago one of my clients came in and asked me how I liked his head while I was cutting his hair.” Taylor told him it looked great and asked what he had done. To his surprise, his client responded, “it’s a tattoo.” When he looked closer, he wondered why he never thought of doing hair tattoos himself.
Three weeks later, he did his first SMP treatment on his brother-in-law and has been booked ever since. To this day he says that was “still some of my best work.”
Eager to learn more, Taylor called around to some of the local top-level trainers in the industry, but none of them were barbers and tattoo artists like he was. Many had only been performing the procedure for three or four years. As a well-seasoned tattoo artist and barber, Taylor knew that his expertise and knowledge about hairlines and density would make him a perfect fit for the SMP industry.
Those interested in SMP first need to go through a consultation, which Taylor offers for free. Pictures can be sent over the phone or through video calls, so clients can share their concerns, goals, and desired look for their hair. Once they receive pricing and decide they want to go through with the procedure, then they can come in and Taylor can provide more details.
Taylor says his most of his clients come in “typically for male-pattern baldness, which is probably 90% of SMP, maybe even more.”
While the procedure may seem simple enough, it’s the intricacies that ensure the final look is so perfect that it goes unnoticed. “For male pattern baldness, you don’t really want to add dark dots everywhere,” Taylor explains, “You want to outline the thinning areas and add density to those spots to match the hair around it.” He uses regular gray wash like traditional tattoos, making sure to go lighter as he blends it into the hairline so it appears natural.
Being located in South Florida, he treats hair from all different types of ethnicities. He warns that tight braids and dreads are some of the most damaging hairstyles you can have. “They’re really tight and pull the hair really bad, it’s constant pulling on the hair. Almost all of them that do braids or dreads for their hair for a really long time go bald.” He explained that the weight of dreads and braids continuously pluck out hair, which can actually kill the hair follicles and make it impossible for that hair to grow back. (This sort of hair loss is called traction alopecia