Minnesotan To Meet: Good Look Ink's Leah Matsch
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – From a young age Leah Matsch had a love of art.
It was that love that took her from sketching to inking.
Now, Matsch still uses her ink skills but, since joining the staff at Good Look Ink in Burnsville, they are used to create a different type of tattoo and that's what makes this Hastings resident a Minnesotan to Meet.
Matsch began her artistic career in graphic design.
"I worked at a business card company. I did some business cards, I did some menus," Matsch said.
After getting bored with business cards she joined a tattoo shop in her hometown.
But that job still left her searching for something more.
"I was looking into getting into more of the cosmetic tattooing, the permanent cosmetics. I was actually initially looking getting into breast reduction tattooing," Matsch said.
Breast cancer runs in her family so she thought about helping women with breast reconstruction. Then, in 2007, right when she was considering making the switch she was approached about doing something else called scalp micro-pigmentation.
By 2010, she was helping others struggling with hair loss.
"I felt like I was too young be bald," Richard Woods, one of Leah's first clients, said. "My wife loves it. She would tell you she loves me regardless. She liked me when I was losing my hair, she liked me when I was bald and she loves me with the SMP done. I think more with the procedure done, I continue to look young and I think that's something she really appreciates."
Since then the procedure has been fine-tuned.
Matsch and her team wouldn't let WCCO ssee just exactly how the tattooing technique is done, but did agree to give a glimpse.
"We use completely different needles, a lot smaller needles; different pigments. We're not going in quite as deep as a tattoo would," Matsch said.
The procedure is very meticulous and the average time is right around six hours.
"When we are doing our procedure we have a needle trying to replicate hair follicles," Matsch said.
She said it's not what she expected in terms of her career but it's the best of the both worlds.
"It's really amazing to see the clients just getting that weight lifted off their shoulder. They're so happy. It's such a big insecurity with them," Matsch said.
Matsch now does a lot the training in Burnsville.