by Amanda
Before your permanent makeup appointment
Day of: Do not work out. Do not drink coffee, alcohol or energy drinks. Also, because you want to keep the brows from getting wet as much as possible in the first week, showering and washing hair before appointment is recommended.
24 hours before: No alcohol. Do not take Aspirin, Niacin, Ibuprofen, Vitamin E or any other blood thinners.
2–3 days before: No waxing.
3 days before: No intense sun exposure. It is also recommended 3 days after your appointment.
1 week before: No Omega 3 (fish oil).
2 weeks before: No chemical peels, dermabrasion, laser or other intense skin treatments.
After your permanent makeup appointment
Post-treatment Care
- You will leave with a toner and balm. Before bed, and over the next 3 days, use the toner and balm morning and night. Balm can then be used whenever you feel your brows are getting itchy or tight. Lightly clean your brows with a mild face cleanser. You can get them wet, just don’t stand under the shower and douse them.
- No products or makeup on the brows for at least 5 days.
- Avoid heavy sweating for 10 days. Sweat will break down the pigment.
- Avoid sun exposure or tanning for 3-4 weeks after. UV rays will case the color to fade.
- Avoid chemical peels, botox, microdermarasion, and laser treatments for 4 weeks after.
- No Alpha Hydroxy Acids, other acids, Retin-A etc on microbladed brows. These will fade the pigment at a faster rate.
- To avoid scarring and removal of pigment, no scratching and picking of pigment.
- Always apply sunscreen to brows.
Healing Process
Day 1: Brows look awesome! They might be a little swollen and red, but that is completely normal, it just went through some trauma.
Days 2–4: The brows are going to appear really dark. This is mainly because the pigment is still settled on top of the skin and the scabbing process is beginning, making it darker.
Days 5–7: Now the skin is possibly scabbed up and flaking off, looking like dandruff. Also, they might be itchy. DON'T SCRATCH! Tap, tap, tap!
Days 8–10: Brows are lightening up now. Some strokes will even disappear because its being absorbed by the deeper layers of skin. In a few weeks, the strokes re-appear because skin cells push it back up to the outer layers.
Days 14–Second Date: Missing strokes are coming back, but may be a little patchy and uneven because you lose about 15-20% of the First Date strokes.
Second Date: Around 8 weeks later where those missing strokes and patches are filled in! :) Sometimes, even a Third Date is needed for some people.
Conditions that may prevent permanent make-up
from being performed:
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Diabetic
- On birthmarks, moles, keloids and if you have a tendency to keloid
- Sunburn, skin disease or irritations in the brow area
- Taking blood thinning medications
- Using Latisse or other brow growth serum (must wait 3–6 months)
- Currently on Accutane or other strong retinoids (must wait 6 months after done with regimen)
- Recently had Botox injections (must wait 2 months), or chemical peel (must wait 2 weeks)
- Bleeding and circulatory disorders, or serious diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, autoimmune disorders (need a doctor's note)
- Oily skin doesn't prevent one from getting permanent make-up done, but it can blur the lines and make the strokes look blended and not crisp. There may not be as much retention, due to the oil production pushing the pigment out of the skin. More than two appointments may be needed to get the desired look.