How cosmetic tattooing and microblading fades over time.
It’s easy to fall in love with freshly microbladed brows but how are they going to look when they aren’t so fresh anymore?
We’ve all seen the beautiful microblading results on Instagram, and sure your brows will look poppin’ for at least 3 months following your microblading treatment. But permanent makeup isn’t designed to last forever, and even the finest of tattoos will age over time and lose their crispy lines and vibrancy.
So how can you expect your microbladed or tattooed brows to look once they begin to fade? This is a topic I have personally struggled to find clear information on, and I’m sure that I’m not alone.
This is also the question that held me back from booking a treatment for the longest time… I personally have made poor tattoo choices in the past and have paid for it in painful and expensive laser tattoo removal. So naturally, I was cautious about having my face tattooed, semi-permanent or not.
Microblading, ombre brows, powder shading, feather brows….
All these fancy brow terms are essentially the same thing. They are all a form of semi-permanent tattooing, whether it is done with a tattoo machine or with a microblade by traditional stick and poke method, it is the same basic principle.
So to answer this question once and for all I offered up my brows to eyebrow expert and international master trainer Zara Naderi – who also happens to be my Cosmetic tattooing mentor, as I am a brow artist myself now.
Before any Microblading or Cosmetic Tattooing
Right After Microblading & Cosmetic Tattooing
To understand how the results of permanent makeup and microblading can vary for each person we need to understand what is causing the tattoo to fade over time.
Tattoo pigments are made up of millions of tiny colour particles that are specially selected to create the perfect shade.
Cosmetic tattooing and microblading pigments, unlike those that are used for traditional body art tattooing, are specially formulated so that the body will break down the colour particles inside the pigment and gradually carry them out of the body over time. Sometimes different colour particles are broken down faster or slower depending on each person’s unique response to the pigments. Sometimes low-quality pigments contain some colour particles that are too large for the body to break down.
As a result, your body might break down all the red particles in a pigment faster than the other particles, leaving a bluish coloured tattoo. This process is what can cause some pigments to change colour over time, and why it is so important to choose a high-quality pigment with stringent quality control.
Now let’s get to it…. Here is a close up photo of how my brows looked 12 months after my microblading and cosmetic tattooing treatment.
Of course, I have had them done again since this image. To correct the slight redness from the remaining pigment I used COOL BROWN shade available here >
How my brows look now
It’s important to remember that my experience of cosmetic tattooing will not be the same as yours. My body may break down the pigment faster, or slower than yours, and different colour pigments will contain different types of ingredients.
Before you commit to having microblading or cosmetic tattooing of any kind It’s a good idea to ask your artist what brand of pigments they use. Are they organic or inorganic? And if you are worried you can always ask for a test patch – I recommend carrying out a test patch just above your hairline somewhere that won’t be visible to anyone else.
