How to choose an SMP artist.

Choose an SMP artist by checking their healed results, how they mix color for your skin, how they design your hairline, their session plan and who performs the work. SMP lasts long enough that it’s worth getting those five answers before you book, whatever city you’re in; a later correction is a separate cost.

1. Ask for healed results

From $2,500. Three sessions and a perfection session, all included. See what it costs in Miami →

Every artist’s work looks sharp the day it’s done. The only photographs that matter were taken weeks or months later, after the skin has settled, because healed work shows whether the impressions stayed crisp, whether the color stayed true and whether the hairline still looks like hair. Same-day shots show the work before it has settled, so ask to see those cases healed as well. Ours is photographed healed, and labelled as such. Before you compare portfolios, who’s who in SMP explains the lanes that matter.

2. Ask how they choose pigment for your skin

Ask for an explanation specific to your skin. It should cover your undertone, the ratio of red, yellow and black your skin produces, and the correction added to the pigment so it heals neutral instead of drifting blue or green. Plain black alone doesn’t account for that undertone. You can read how we choose the mix before your consultation so you know what to ask.

3. Look hard at the hairline design

A great SMP result can be ruined by a hairline drawn too low, too straight or too dark, and it’s the single most visible decision in the whole treatment. Ask how they design for your face, your age, and how you’ll look in ten years rather than only today. Almost every man asks for it a little lower than it should sit. Softness and restraint age well; sharp, low and dense rarely does.

4. Understand the session structure

Quality SMP is built across three sessions and a perfection session, with the first three spaced two to three weeks apart and the perfection session after 30 to 60 days of healing so density layers naturally. The gaps let each layer heal before the next is placed; density forced into one sitting heals dark and blurs early. Ask what happens at each appointment and why it’s needed. The price should be quoted per scalp, for the whole plan.

5. Ask who does the work

Confirm who will perform your treatment and whether you’ll meet that person at consultation. At our Miami and New York studios, every impression is placed by the artist you sat with at consultation, and that is the standard this whole practice is built around.

Five good answers

You should leave with healed photos to look through, a clear answer on color, a hairline designed to suit you as you age, a reason for each session and the name of the artist doing the work. Together, those five answers give you a sound basis for choosing. The easiest place to start is a free consultation, where you can ask us all five yourself, and what moves the price is on the Miami and New York cost pages.

What should I look for in an SMP artist?

Five answers: healed results rather than same-day photographs, an explanation of how the pigment is mixed for your skin, a hairline designed for your face and your age, a session plan with a reason for each appointment, and the name of the person who will actually perform the work.

How do I check SMP before and after photos are authentic?

Ask for healed photographs taken weeks or months after the last session, not the day it was done. Every artist's work looks sharp on the day. Healed work shows whether the impressions stayed crisp, the color stayed true and the hairline still looks like hair, so ask to see the same-day cases healed too.

What questions should I ask at an SMP consultation?

Ask how they choose pigment for your skin, covering your undertone and the correction that keeps it from drifting blue or green. Ask how the hairline is designed for your face in ten years, not only today. Ask what happens at each session and why. And ask who will be placing the impressions.