Tiny tats or a head of hair? That's the point

According to Darrin Gerr, producers who've worked with Oprah are aware of his camouflaging technique for thinning hair, but he's not equipped for the onslaught that could accompany such a national airing.

For two years privately and eight months publicly, Gerr, operations manager of Edina's Good Look Ink, has been working on a business that specializes in "Cosmetic Transdermal Hair Replication." This is a process whereby dots of pigmentation are placed among the thinning hairs of a head to resemble individual hair follicles and thus create the illusion of hair.

Gerr has two technicians, Leah and Tonya, trained in this pointillist process. Since a mention on, say, Oprah could bring a flood of clients, Gerr's not prepared for that level of national exposure just yet, although the master plan is that "We're going to make this global" eventually, said Gerr.

I ran into him at Fox 9 -- he's been on many Fox stations -- and got a chance to examine the finished product up close. See video of me playing in Gerr's hair at startribune.com/video.

This process was first used to disguise scars from hair-transplant surgery. It costs between $500 and $8,400, reportedly hurts much less than getting a tattoo, and there's no blood. The $8,400 is for a full head of 30,000 dots, the number required for someone with alopecia. The cost depends on how much hair you have left. The technique involves applying 200 or fewer dots per square inch to skin that's visible beneath thinning hair.

Hmmm. Wonder if this could be what's going on with Joey Lawrence, who has returned to TV in "Melissa & Joey," an ABC Family Channel sitcom?

"That's what everyone's asking me," Gerr said with a lengthy laugh.

Jenny does MOA

Jenny McCarthy didn't draw the kind of crowd I expected for her "Love, Lust & Faking It: The Naked Truth About Sex, Lies and True Romance" book signing at Mall of America.

McCarthy did, however, attract one ardent fan -- a woman who asked the comedian, model and author out on a date. That may be what you get when you acknowledge a woman asking a question with a "Yes, hottie?" as Jenny did.

The persistent fan was disappointed when McCarthy didn't really respond to the date request. Naturally, McCarthy took the whole exchange some place ribald, as you can see on startribune.com/video.

Favre debate rages

ESPN's "Sports Reporters" had a healthy debate Sunday about whether the NFL has the $tomach to punish Brett Favre if he actually violated the personal conduct policy.

Favre is scheduled to meet Tuesday with the NFL security team investigating allegations of an "inappropriate sextual relationship with Jenn Sterger," as a Fox sports reporter so cleverly put it in a column he flew to Minneapolis to write.

Not everybody is expecting the investigation to reveal the naked truth.

Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News said these are some of the questions that should be put to Favre: "Did you do this? Is this you? Did you send these pictures? Are you and this young woman already involved in some sort of deal about a financial settlement on this matter?"

Lupica said Favre's had "ample opportunity to say: No, I have been wrongly accused. This is a setup. Or I did it." If it's the latter, said Lupica, "Then the commissioner has to decide does it rise to the level of sexual harassment if there has been no complaint made by the injured party."

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe said the sexual harassment element is much more debatable than the matter of personal conduct. "This is the Sleaze Bag Clause. It embarrasses the league to have someone like this in the league" if Favre engaged in this behavior, said Ryan.

"Be real," said Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press. "This is one of the legends of the NFL." Because of Michael Vick and Ben Roethlisberger, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may look like some kind of sheriff, said Albom, "But he's a businessman who wants this league to do well, and it is not in the best business interest of this league to have one of its great legends suddenly have his consecutive game streak ended on a scandal." Albom doesn't think Goodell is likely to be "super tough" on Favre because this would be the first blemish on Favre's record.

John Saunders, "Sports Reporters" host, reminded the group that there were also allegations from massage therapists, according to recent reports from Deadspin, the website that broke the story with Sterger's blessing, although she didn't want her name attached to it.

Silence from Sterger, who doesn't sound as though she's going to cooperate with the NFL investigation, may be Favre's best excuse to plead the Fifth -- unless that's not him in those photos.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com.