"Is there an end to this madness": Tattoo artist goes viral for gender-affirming mustache design, sparks hilarious reactions online

Daisy, a tattoo artist from Brisbane, Australia, recently went viral for a particular gender-affirming mustache design. On May 26, she uploaded a TikTok video where she worked on a 5 o’clock shadow design on a supposed trans or non-binary client.

Gender-affirming tattooing is where artists use paramedical or cosmetic inking services as a tool to help their clients battle gender dysphoria. People get these designs to feel more at home in their bodies while identifying as their preferred gender.

In the video, the artist said she inked the stubble on the client’s upper lip upon their request for a gender-affirming tattoo. A 5 o’clock shadow is the faint stubble that many biological males get in the late afternoon after a whole day since their last shave.

Daisy used the Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) technique which creates an illusion of hair or stubbles. In the case of the mustache body art, the artist used SMP to create some mustache micro pigmentation.

However, a few accounts reposted Daisy’s TikTok video on Twitter, where netizens made fun of it. One user, @MaryC_Love, commented on the video reposted by Clown World and called it “madness,” asking if there was an end to it.

---

Internet reacts to gender-affirming mustache stubble tattoo

Given the number of conservatives voicing their anti-LGBTQ+ stance in recent months in the United States, something as trivial as a gender-affirming inking design did not get respite from their criticism and ridicule.

Netizens wrote that the client still looked like a woman with a hairy lip. Some said that if they wanted to look like a man, why did they wear makeup like “women.” One person asked why they needed to get the stubble design inked when they could grow a real mustache from testosterone injections.

Someone addressed the queer community as a whole and said that everything they do is fake.

---

What is the scalp micro pigmentation technique?

SMP is a process of implanting pigments on the skin to make it look like there’s hair on the skin. The goal of this procedure isn’t to create lines that look like hair, as is seen in microblading eyebrows. Instead, SMP is done using tiny, layered dots in different shades of black to replicate a shadow-like formation on one’s scalp.

This style is also referred to as pointillism and is done to create natural-looking definition and depth. Scalp Micropigmentation is resorted to by people who experience hair loss from illnesses such as alopecia, thinning hair, cancer, or male and female pattern baldness.

However, micro-pigmentation is semipermanent. The effects of the hair-like shadow may last up to eight years, and the treated area will start fading over time due to natural skin exfoliation.

Micro-pigmentation is not technically a tattoo since the ink used in tattoos goes much deeper into the skin, and the needle used is much thicker. However, a similar process as SMP is used in gender-affirming body arts.

There are many ways to transition one’s gender to feel more comfortable in their body. Tattooing can be versatile and give one the desired result without undergoing expensive surgeries.