MIcrobladed Eyebrows : Immediately after the procedure: Eyebrows microbladed by one of the best and very experienced technician
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MIcrobladed Eyebrows
The same eyebrows microbladed by one of the best and very experienced technician starting to heal with the crust slowly chipping away together with the color after about 3 to 4 days post procedure
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MIcrobladed Eyebrows
The same eyebrows microbladed by one of the best and very experienced technician after about 2 weeks of healing. As you can see most of the color and sharp lines are gone leaving merely a shadow. The beginning of the eyebrow is not a tattoo -it is customer's own hair.
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Compare: microbladed eyebrow's photos above vs. eyebrows done by USING soft tap technique photos below
Soft tap technique eyebrows before they were done by Lana Schluter
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Soft tap technique healed after only one session!!! Far superior to microblading technique , with much better color retention, faster healing time and no skin damage , longer color retention , less # of visits are needed to build the eyebrows color. Better shape retention.
Done by Lana Schluter via soft tap technique
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Are you thinking about getting permanent eyebrows ?
Say No to face measuring !
Keep on reading to find out why
The Truth About Microblading They Don't Want You To Know
Soft tap is by far a superior technique to microblading .
With the sudden popularity of microblading and an explosion in microblading mass production by inexperienced technicians many customers are led to believe microblading is not a tattoo process. Permanent cosmetics, micropigmentation, dermal implantation, microblading/microstroking, eyebrow embroidery, and long-time/long-lasting makeup, are all different names for the same procedure – cosmetic tattooing. Whenever color is placed into the skin with any device, it is a tattoo process as defined by the medical community and the state government regulators who recently rewrote its tattooing regulations clarifying that “microblading,” in which a practitioner uses fine needles and pigment to create eyebrow hairs, is tattooing and not an aesthetic, or cosmetic, practice.
Many practitioners are promoting microblading or eyebrow embroidery as a semi-permanent process; and that the color only reaches the epidermal (outer) layer of the skin. A careful review of basic skin anatomy and physiology would reveal this is not true. By definition and tattoo industry standards, color is tattooed/implanted into the dermis of the skin. If pigment particles do not reach the dermis, they will disappear during the healing phase of the skin, during normal regeneration of cells at the epidermal level. Pigments do fade in the skin over time, but that does not make the process semi-permanent. It is impossible to predict how much pigment will fade away and how long it will take to do so with any measure of consistency or reliability.
The biggest mistake one can make when shopping for permanent makeup done via microblading technique is to do the search based primarily on photos of microbladed eyebrows taken immediately after the procedure thinking this is how their eyebrows will heal. Have you ever wondered why most permanent makeup technicians and salons never display the results of their work after it is healed??? Are you ready for this??? Sorry to be the one to drop the bomb , but none of those real looking eyebrows still look "real" or even the same after one month when they are fully healed. Really! What most consumers do not realize is that permanent and semi-permanent makeup does not heal the same as does regular body tattoo, because in permanent and semi -permanent makeup we do not use ink, we use pigment. Pigment does not heal the same as ink used for traditional body tattoo, because pigment has a different chemical structure it heal blurry and more powder like. Therefore, the same sharp looking hairs that you see immediately after your eyebrows were microbladed are actually nothing more than a thin paper cuts in your skin and not an actual tattoo. Once those thin paper cuts heal they no longer look delicate or thin. With microblading there is no way to predict how much pigment will remain in your skin and how exactly it will look after it is healed. Most heal like a shadow or patchy or mostly disappear needing multiple reapplications only to fade into a very patchy looking eyebrows 6 to 7 months later. So why microblading is suddenly so popular? Because it is nothing more than very trendy money making machine. Anyone can learn it by attending a 3 day course and then turn around and make money by teaching others. It doesn't require any special tattooing skills or an expensive tattoo equipment. Most importantly It is very easy to sell to unsuspecting customers who think that this is how their eyebrows will look when they heal in few weeks. To further contribute to public confusion many of those " happy and satisfied " customers immediately after their procedure go to yelp to write a raving review about how they just had their eyebrows microbladed today or yesterday and how they absolutely love their eyebrows and how natural they look... Then later on their eyebrows fully heal and of those "real" looking sharp hairstrokes "turn into a pumpkin after the ball" once all the tiny papercut scratches heal in 10 -15 days they will either turn into a shadow or in many cases they will simply disappear. Of course most of those customers never do follow-up on their earlier impulsively premature review with another review on fully healed eyebrows because most feel embarrassed and disappointed. In those rare cases where customers do follow up and post photos of healed eyebrows, those photos almost always are too dark, blurry , taken too far or the customer might have had so much of their own eyebrows hair to begin with that anything, even black sharpie would make their eyebrows look natural.
My biggest concern with microblading in the long run is formation of permanent scarring and destruction of client's eyebrows hair follicles as a result of frequent and multiple skin slicing/cutting and scratching touch ups required by microblading technique. At this time microblading is still relatively new in United States and it is too early to see its long lasting complications. However, something is telling me that many of today's biggest fans of microblading will soon begin to notice that with each touchup they loose more of their own eyebrows hair and how with each touchup their skin is loosing its original elasticity resulting in hair strokes no longer healing or looking the same, and because of the scar tissue formation they will experience less color retention , more pain that impossible to numb or to keep numb.
When shopping for permanent makeup, try to be as realistic as possible and look for the photos of healed microbladed eyebrows showing people who do not have any of their own eyebrows hair, to get a better picture of what to expect. What else most microblading technicians don't tell you is that they just recently received their training either online or by attending a 2 to 3 day class taught by someone who also just recently learned how to microblade and microblading is primarily the only method they know.
The solution- try to find an experienced permanent makeup practitioner with the track record of at least 5 years of full time permanent makeup experience and who can utilize a variety of different permanent makeup application techniques, not just microblading, including soft tap and permanent makeup machine. A talented and experienced permanent make up artist will work with their customers to determine which technique would work best for their skin.
Microblading vs other permanent makeup tattooing techniques
FAQ: What technique do I use to tattoo eyebrows?
Answer:
I use combination of several different techniques, whatever is necessary to obtain a desired and beautiful results
Technique #1 The modified Japanese hand- tool technique, aka "Soft tap" technique
Technique #2 Microblading Technique
Technique # 3 Shading aka Ombre technique
FAQ: So what is the difference between microblading and soft tap techniques?
Answer:
Soft tap - done manually; looks dark and solid immediately after the procedure, heals soft and natural looking with some areas lighter and some darker creating a very natural multi-dimensional look; 25% to 50% lighter after it healed. Pigment is tapped into the skin; most require two sessions
Microblading - done by hand; simulated hair strokes created mainly by scratching client's skin. The pigment is scratched into the skin; each scratch looks more like real hair immediately after the procedure. However, the results might be very different after it is fully healed(see below pros and cons ); most require three sessions if done alone without added soft tap technique.
FAQ: What are the pros and cons? Softap vs. microblading technique
Answer:
Soft tap - less painful than microblading; heals faster (crust is off in 5 to 6 days); more color is absorbed by the skin, and it lasts longer than microblading (2 to 3.5 years after 2 sessions); results are more predictable; look soft and natural after they healed ; look good with or without existing eyebrows hair; multiple sessions do not leave scars; eyebrows shape and design is much more predictable with soft tap; looks great on blondes and brunettes. The color is more predictable and easily adjustable; will cover and correct the existing eyebrows scars; takes much more time and require much more effort and precision from the technician.
Microblading - more painful than soft tap, can leave scars, healed results are not predictable; color might look good immediately after the procedure, but almost disappear after fully healed. Darker color looks great immediately after the procedure, but might completely disappear after it is fully healed, or shortly after (about 3 to 12 months); hair stroke lines do not look as sharp and delicate as they do immediately after the procedure and do not blend in with the existing hair like they did immediately after the procedure; after fully healed clients who had very little to no hair might look like their eyebrows are made of randomly painted (bad fence) or perfectly lined up thick hair sticks;color is not predictable and not easily adjustable; color heals cooler than soft tap. Therefore hair strokes will heal bluish purplish; will not cover eyebrows scars; tattooing an exact thin or medium shape as it was designed is not as easy as it is with the soft tap; takes much less time than soft tap and require much less effort and precision from the technician.
The hair stroke technique with a tattoo gun vs. manual Japanese technique (aka soft tap) Quality vs. Quantity
Personally, I prefer to use a manual modified Japanese hand-tool technique, aka "Soft Tap" , to tattoo eyebrows, since this is the only way we can achieve consistent, predictable, desirable and precise results, while at the same time creating a multidimensional, beautiful, natural and soft looking eyebrows without any surprises or mistakes. The manual hand-tool technique is also much gentler on client's skin, it can cover existing eyebrows scars, it does not create scars, it can actually make existing scars less visible, and it can even stimulate new hair growth. When done manually eyebrows heal much faster, swell less , less prone to bleeding and infection , and they also look very soft and natural almost immediately after the end of procedure.
So if manual technique is the best then why doesn't every permanent makeup technician doing it? The answer is simple - it is all about money. Just another classic example when the service providers don't act in their clients' best interests. Although the manual hand tool technique is by far superior to the tattoo gun's hair stroke technique, most permanent makeup technicians don't use it because it takes 4 times longer to tattoo by hand than it does with tattoo gun. Most permanent makeup practitioners value quantity more than quality. Most will book less than 1.5 hrs for client's first permanent eyebrows tattooing appointment, and less than one hour for their second follow up appointment.
I book 4 to 7 hours for client's first eyebrows procedure appointment and 4 hours for their second followup appointment. You are probably wondering why does it take me 4 to 7 hours to tattoo client's eyebrows, so here is my average first appointment time breakdown:
1. Discussion of client's needs and expectations 30 min and up
2. Choosing the right color by mixing wide variety of eyebrows colors ,while testing it on the client, up until we found a perfect mix. I would like to point out that I do not stop mixing colors until we find the one that isn't just ok, it has to be perfect! This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to sometimes over 2 hours, depending on how soon we find what we are looking for, where client is completely happy and confident with their choice.
3. Eyebrows design. This is the most important part of our appointment . It can easily take 2 to 4 hours, since we usually draw many different eyebrows shapes and designs until we found the perfect one .We don't stop drawing util it is perfect
4. Numbing the eyebrows area- 15 to 30 minutes
5. Manually tattooing client's eyebrows 1.5 to 2.5 hrs
6. End of procedure: taking pictures and going over home care instructions, gathering client's home care supplies that include everything they will need to take care of their eyebrows -20 to 30 minutes.
While most permanent makeup technicians do not stop tattooing if their clients are in pain, I frequently stop to re-numb the area to keep my client pain free throughout the procedure, which adds another 45 minutes to an hour to my tattooing time.
Just in case if you are wondering what usually happens at the "drive trough" permanent makeup salons when client is not done within their 1.5 hrs appointment time frame? Well, I must admit that those places "really know" how to treat their clients! The unfortunate client who is not done in 1.5 hrs time frame will be labeled as being too difficult, needy and picky, and blamed for wasting too much time on drawing and choosing the shape and color of their new eyebrows (more than 15 minutes). The technician will be rushing and in the end that client will end up with uneven and unflattering eyebrows that they absolutely hate. This client will then go home and cry every time they see themselves in the mirror, spending hours and days on the internet looking for tattoo removal information, being too embarrassed to go anywhere, not even to work! It is always the same story that I heard over and over again from the clients whose eyebrows I had repaired.
BTW I forgot to mention that most permanent makeup technicians do not mix and choose colors, since they don't want to waste their valuable time and pigments on such " unimportant and time consuming" task. They will simply pull one single color and tattoo it without even trying it on client's skin.
So as you shop for permanent makeup keep all the above information in mind and remember that when it comes to permanent makeup cheaper is not better because you might end up paying 10 times more for correction, if its even correctable. Also keep in mind that it is very hard to find someone who is good at correcting permanent makeup, since many clients come to me from all over United States once a month for many months until we are done correcting their eyebrows.
My main goals are: quality, safety and beauty. I always do what's best for my client even if it takes me more time and work.
Based on my experience, the eyebrows done with the tattoo gun's hair stroke technique do not look natural. They especially look fake on clients who have no eyebrows hair to hide the "hair sticks" that some call "hair strokes" , because that's what that person's eyebrows usually would look like - a bunch of evenly positioned sticks, one by one under the same incline. It looks very unnatural and rather "freaky" when you see this person up close face to face. The real eyebrows hair do not grow in such perfect sequence one by one, all starting at the same level , in the same perfect direction under the same perfect angle! Plus we are not supposed to see an individual eyebrows hair unless person's eyebrows are sparse.
Another big reason why the hair stroke technique can never look like a real hair is because in permanent makeup industry we do not use ink, we use pigment which is made out of much larger particles than ink,so it is impossible to draw thin hair lines with pigment because pigment is too thick to be able to do that.
Facial skin is much thinner than the rest of our body, so when ink is used to tattoo in the most delicate parts of face ( eyebrows, eyes and lips) it is more likely to migrate (spread under the skin which called an ink migration. An ink migration looks like a bruise and it is NOT repairable! Google "ink migration photos" and you will understand exactly what I am mean. This is is why the best and most reputable permanent makeup practices in the US only use the best quality, expensive and thick pigments made in the USA, they NEVER use ink or cheap , low quality ink- like pigments . I personally like pigments made by"Kolorsource", whose president and owner is American Medical Doctor Linda Dixon MD. All of their pigments are top quality, tested for safety and made in the USA . So to make a long story short, a good quality pigments are much thicker than ink, so the possibility of them migrating is very slim to none, however, there are many poor quality pigments out there, made by unknown or foreign companies, that are very thin and just as bad as ink. I can not stress enough the importance of educating yourself abut the permanent makeup before trusting your face to just anyone! Keep in mind that tattooing industry is not really regulated by anyone! Just because someone has a tattoo license does not mean that they are good at what they do. A tattoo license is not issued to one person, it is issued for the whole tattoo facility regardless of who works there , as long as they are over 18 yo, to show the public that the facility was inspected by Department of Health and found to be clean! That is all! The FDA does not regulate tattoo industry's ink or pigment, not anymore than they regulate candies. If someone is telling you that their pigments or inks are FDA approved- run! A tattoo parlor or a permanent makeup salon can pretty much use whatever they want , they can make their own ink or pigment, or they can buy it from China, Mexico, India , Taiwan, Africa, anywhere they can get it cheap. So do you know what is being implanted under your skin ? Good question -write it down and make sure to ask your tattoo artist. So lets say your face was destroyed with a horrible looking eyebrows, totally uneven and migrated eyeliner,blue or black lips and scars all overt your eyebrows, eyes and lips. Can you sue them? The answer is sure you can sue anyone for anything, but will you win? Sorry , but you will not win because in case you didn't know it - tattooing is art and you can't sue an artist for bad art, not anymore than you can sue Picasso and Dali for not painting the people right! When is comes to art there is no right or wrong, good or bad. As far as the scars go - sorry, but can you recall someone signing a consent forms? Do you remember what those forms said?..... Oh, so you weren't given any consent forms to sign? Well guess where your permanent makeup technician is now? Lets take some geography lessons and see what would be the furthest county on the map? Ok, lets not take the geography lesson, why go too far when we have Mexico right in our back yard ? Wait a minute did someone say that you can sue for graffiti? Bingo! You right, you can sue someone for graffiti ... but only if it was done on private or government property without the owner's consent! Was that permanent makeup tattooed without your consent?
Sorry, we got off the subject here. Lets go back to pigment versus ink discussion. A good quality pigment is much thicker than ink, so as a result it can never imitate the human hair, because it can not make the line thin enough to look like real hair! When done with pigment using hair stroke technique eyebrows will always look like either a bunch of thick sticks, or if the strokes were tattooed too thin with a pigment, then they will nearly disappear in about 1 to 2 weeks after the procedure. This is the main reason why most permanent makeup technicians who advertise a hair stroke technique don't like to display the photos of healed eyebrows in their portfolios. Notice that most of the "after"photos in their portfolios were taken immediately after the procedure and not after they healed, since since healed eyebrows will look nothing like they did immediately after the procedure. A hair stroke technique is too unpredictable and inconsistent and can not guarantee the expected results, since the exact shape, hair location and length can not be pre-panned ahead of time; It is pretty much created and improvised during the actual tattooing process.
Here at "Chicago Permanent Makeup by Lana Schluter RN" we value quality above quantity. We have many high profile clients many of whom are also well known public figures. They need to look good not only in person, but also on TV as well as in front of the camera. Many of our clients are actors and models whose work and income depend on how they look. Clients choose us not because we offer competitive prices and not because our services are on sale, they choose us because they are not willing to take any chances with their faces. They know that here they will receive consistent, high quality, personalized, custom work with high attention to every detail. They also know that here they will never be rushed, like they would be at any other permanent makeup salon.
A hair stroke technique is too unpredictable and inconsistent since it can can not be pre-planned in advance. A technician can not show their clients exactly what their eyebrows will look like when they are done, since the exact shape, hair location and length can not be pre-panned ahead of time; it is all created and improvised during the actual tattooing process. For more information about manual hand tool tattooing technique please visit " Soft Tap" web site at :
http://www.softaps.com/
Say No to face measuring !
Keep on reading to find out why
The Truth About Microblading They Don't Want You To Know
Soft tap is by far a superior technique to microblading .
With the sudden popularity of microblading and an explosion in microblading mass production by inexperienced technicians many customers are led to believe microblading is not a tattoo process. Permanent cosmetics, micropigmentation, dermal implantation, microblading/microstroking, eyebrow embroidery, and long-time/long-lasting makeup, are all different names for the same procedure – cosmetic tattooing. Whenever color is placed into the skin with any device, it is a tattoo process as defined by the medical community and the state government regulators who recently rewrote its tattooing regulations clarifying that “microblading,” in which a practitioner uses fine needles and pigment to create eyebrow hairs, is tattooing and not an aesthetic, or cosmetic, practice.
Many practitioners are promoting microblading or eyebrow embroidery as a semi-permanent process; and that the color only reaches the epidermal (outer) layer of the skin. A careful review of basic skin anatomy and physiology would reveal this is not true. By definition and tattoo industry standards, color is tattooed/implanted into the dermis of the skin. If pigment particles do not reach the dermis, they will disappear during the healing phase of the skin, during normal regeneration of cells at the epidermal level. Pigments do fade in the skin over time, but that does not make the process semi-permanent. It is impossible to predict how much pigment will fade away and how long it will take to do so with any measure of consistency or reliability.
The biggest mistake one can make when shopping for permanent makeup done via microblading technique is to do the search based primarily on photos of microbladed eyebrows taken immediately after the procedure thinking this is how their eyebrows will heal. Have you ever wondered why most permanent makeup technicians and salons never display the results of their work after it is healed??? Are you ready for this??? Sorry to be the one to drop the bomb , but none of those real looking eyebrows still look "real" or even the same after one month when they are fully healed. Really! What most consumers do not realize is that permanent and semi-permanent makeup does not heal the same as does regular body tattoo, because in permanent and semi -permanent makeup we do not use ink, we use pigment. Pigment does not heal the same as ink used for traditional body tattoo, because pigment has a different chemical structure it heal blurry and more powder like. Therefore, the same sharp looking hairs that you see immediately after your eyebrows were microbladed are actually nothing more than a thin paper cuts in your skin and not an actual tattoo. Once those thin paper cuts heal they no longer look delicate or thin. With microblading there is no way to predict how much pigment will remain in your skin and how exactly it will look after it is healed. Most heal like a shadow or patchy or mostly disappear needing multiple reapplications only to fade into a very patchy looking eyebrows 6 to 7 months later. So why microblading is suddenly so popular? Because it is nothing more than very trendy money making machine. Anyone can learn it by attending a 3 day course and then turn around and make money by teaching others. It doesn't require any special tattooing skills or an expensive tattoo equipment. Most importantly It is very easy to sell to unsuspecting customers who think that this is how their eyebrows will look when they heal in few weeks. To further contribute to public confusion many of those " happy and satisfied " customers immediately after their procedure go to yelp to write a raving review about how they just had their eyebrows microbladed today or yesterday and how they absolutely love their eyebrows and how natural they look... Then later on their eyebrows fully heal and of those "real" looking sharp hairstrokes "turn into a pumpkin after the ball" once all the tiny papercut scratches heal in 10 -15 days they will either turn into a shadow or in many cases they will simply disappear. Of course most of those customers never do follow-up on their earlier impulsively premature review with another review on fully healed eyebrows because most feel embarrassed and disappointed. In those rare cases where customers do follow up and post photos of healed eyebrows, those photos almost always are too dark, blurry , taken too far or the customer might have had so much of their own eyebrows hair to begin with that anything, even black sharpie would make their eyebrows look natural.
My biggest concern with microblading in the long run is formation of permanent scarring and destruction of client's eyebrows hair follicles as a result of frequent and multiple skin slicing/cutting and scratching touch ups required by microblading technique. At this time microblading is still relatively new in United States and it is too early to see its long lasting complications. However, something is telling me that many of today's biggest fans of microblading will soon begin to notice that with each touchup they loose more of their own eyebrows hair and how with each touchup their skin is loosing its original elasticity resulting in hair strokes no longer healing or looking the same, and because of the scar tissue formation they will experience less color retention , more pain that impossible to numb or to keep numb.
When shopping for permanent makeup, try to be as realistic as possible and look for the photos of healed microbladed eyebrows showing people who do not have any of their own eyebrows hair, to get a better picture of what to expect. What else most microblading technicians don't tell you is that they just recently received their training either online or by attending a 2 to 3 day class taught by someone who also just recently learned how to microblade and microblading is primarily the only method they know.
The solution- try to find an experienced permanent makeup practitioner with the track record of at least 5 years of full time permanent makeup experience and who can utilize a variety of different permanent makeup application techniques, not just microblading, including soft tap and permanent makeup machine. A talented and experienced permanent make up artist will work with their customers to determine which technique would work best for their skin.
Microblading vs other permanent makeup tattooing techniques
FAQ: What technique do I use to tattoo eyebrows?
Answer:
I use combination of several different techniques, whatever is necessary to obtain a desired and beautiful results
Technique #1 The modified Japanese hand- tool technique, aka "Soft tap" technique
Technique #2 Microblading Technique
Technique # 3 Shading aka Ombre technique
FAQ: So what is the difference between microblading and soft tap techniques?
Answer:
Soft tap - done manually; looks dark and solid immediately after the procedure, heals soft and natural looking with some areas lighter and some darker creating a very natural multi-dimensional look; 25% to 50% lighter after it healed. Pigment is tapped into the skin; most require two sessions
Microblading - done by hand; simulated hair strokes created mainly by scratching client's skin. The pigment is scratched into the skin; each scratch looks more like real hair immediately after the procedure. However, the results might be very different after it is fully healed(see below pros and cons ); most require three sessions if done alone without added soft tap technique.
FAQ: What are the pros and cons? Softap vs. microblading technique
Answer:
Soft tap - less painful than microblading; heals faster (crust is off in 5 to 6 days); more color is absorbed by the skin, and it lasts longer than microblading (2 to 3.5 years after 2 sessions); results are more predictable; look soft and natural after they healed ; look good with or without existing eyebrows hair; multiple sessions do not leave scars; eyebrows shape and design is much more predictable with soft tap; looks great on blondes and brunettes. The color is more predictable and easily adjustable; will cover and correct the existing eyebrows scars; takes much more time and require much more effort and precision from the technician.
Microblading - more painful than soft tap, can leave scars, healed results are not predictable; color might look good immediately after the procedure, but almost disappear after fully healed. Darker color looks great immediately after the procedure, but might completely disappear after it is fully healed, or shortly after (about 3 to 12 months); hair stroke lines do not look as sharp and delicate as they do immediately after the procedure and do not blend in with the existing hair like they did immediately after the procedure; after fully healed clients who had very little to no hair might look like their eyebrows are made of randomly painted (bad fence) or perfectly lined up thick hair sticks;color is not predictable and not easily adjustable; color heals cooler than soft tap. Therefore hair strokes will heal bluish purplish; will not cover eyebrows scars; tattooing an exact thin or medium shape as it was designed is not as easy as it is with the soft tap; takes much less time than soft tap and require much less effort and precision from the technician.
The hair stroke technique with a tattoo gun vs. manual Japanese technique (aka soft tap) Quality vs. Quantity
Personally, I prefer to use a manual modified Japanese hand-tool technique, aka "Soft Tap" , to tattoo eyebrows, since this is the only way we can achieve consistent, predictable, desirable and precise results, while at the same time creating a multidimensional, beautiful, natural and soft looking eyebrows without any surprises or mistakes. The manual hand-tool technique is also much gentler on client's skin, it can cover existing eyebrows scars, it does not create scars, it can actually make existing scars less visible, and it can even stimulate new hair growth. When done manually eyebrows heal much faster, swell less , less prone to bleeding and infection , and they also look very soft and natural almost immediately after the end of procedure.
So if manual technique is the best then why doesn't every permanent makeup technician doing it? The answer is simple - it is all about money. Just another classic example when the service providers don't act in their clients' best interests. Although the manual hand tool technique is by far superior to the tattoo gun's hair stroke technique, most permanent makeup technicians don't use it because it takes 4 times longer to tattoo by hand than it does with tattoo gun. Most permanent makeup practitioners value quantity more than quality. Most will book less than 1.5 hrs for client's first permanent eyebrows tattooing appointment, and less than one hour for their second follow up appointment.
I book 4 to 7 hours for client's first eyebrows procedure appointment and 4 hours for their second followup appointment. You are probably wondering why does it take me 4 to 7 hours to tattoo client's eyebrows, so here is my average first appointment time breakdown:
1. Discussion of client's needs and expectations 30 min and up
2. Choosing the right color by mixing wide variety of eyebrows colors ,while testing it on the client, up until we found a perfect mix. I would like to point out that I do not stop mixing colors until we find the one that isn't just ok, it has to be perfect! This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to sometimes over 2 hours, depending on how soon we find what we are looking for, where client is completely happy and confident with their choice.
3. Eyebrows design. This is the most important part of our appointment . It can easily take 2 to 4 hours, since we usually draw many different eyebrows shapes and designs until we found the perfect one .We don't stop drawing util it is perfect
4. Numbing the eyebrows area- 15 to 30 minutes
5. Manually tattooing client's eyebrows 1.5 to 2.5 hrs
6. End of procedure: taking pictures and going over home care instructions, gathering client's home care supplies that include everything they will need to take care of their eyebrows -20 to 30 minutes.
While most permanent makeup technicians do not stop tattooing if their clients are in pain, I frequently stop to re-numb the area to keep my client pain free throughout the procedure, which adds another 45 minutes to an hour to my tattooing time.
Just in case if you are wondering what usually happens at the "drive trough" permanent makeup salons when client is not done within their 1.5 hrs appointment time frame? Well, I must admit that those places "really know" how to treat their clients! The unfortunate client who is not done in 1.5 hrs time frame will be labeled as being too difficult, needy and picky, and blamed for wasting too much time on drawing and choosing the shape and color of their new eyebrows (more than 15 minutes). The technician will be rushing and in the end that client will end up with uneven and unflattering eyebrows that they absolutely hate. This client will then go home and cry every time they see themselves in the mirror, spending hours and days on the internet looking for tattoo removal information, being too embarrassed to go anywhere, not even to work! It is always the same story that I heard over and over again from the clients whose eyebrows I had repaired.
BTW I forgot to mention that most permanent makeup technicians do not mix and choose colors, since they don't want to waste their valuable time and pigments on such " unimportant and time consuming" task. They will simply pull one single color and tattoo it without even trying it on client's skin.
So as you shop for permanent makeup keep all the above information in mind and remember that when it comes to permanent makeup cheaper is not better because you might end up paying 10 times more for correction, if its even correctable. Also keep in mind that it is very hard to find someone who is good at correcting permanent makeup, since many clients come to me from all over United States once a month for many months until we are done correcting their eyebrows.
My main goals are: quality, safety and beauty. I always do what's best for my client even if it takes me more time and work.
Based on my experience, the eyebrows done with the tattoo gun's hair stroke technique do not look natural. They especially look fake on clients who have no eyebrows hair to hide the "hair sticks" that some call "hair strokes" , because that's what that person's eyebrows usually would look like - a bunch of evenly positioned sticks, one by one under the same incline. It looks very unnatural and rather "freaky" when you see this person up close face to face. The real eyebrows hair do not grow in such perfect sequence one by one, all starting at the same level , in the same perfect direction under the same perfect angle! Plus we are not supposed to see an individual eyebrows hair unless person's eyebrows are sparse.
Another big reason why the hair stroke technique can never look like a real hair is because in permanent makeup industry we do not use ink, we use pigment which is made out of much larger particles than ink,so it is impossible to draw thin hair lines with pigment because pigment is too thick to be able to do that.
Facial skin is much thinner than the rest of our body, so when ink is used to tattoo in the most delicate parts of face ( eyebrows, eyes and lips) it is more likely to migrate (spread under the skin which called an ink migration. An ink migration looks like a bruise and it is NOT repairable! Google "ink migration photos" and you will understand exactly what I am mean. This is is why the best and most reputable permanent makeup practices in the US only use the best quality, expensive and thick pigments made in the USA, they NEVER use ink or cheap , low quality ink- like pigments . I personally like pigments made by"Kolorsource", whose president and owner is American Medical Doctor Linda Dixon MD. All of their pigments are top quality, tested for safety and made in the USA . So to make a long story short, a good quality pigments are much thicker than ink, so the possibility of them migrating is very slim to none, however, there are many poor quality pigments out there, made by unknown or foreign companies, that are very thin and just as bad as ink. I can not stress enough the importance of educating yourself abut the permanent makeup before trusting your face to just anyone! Keep in mind that tattooing industry is not really regulated by anyone! Just because someone has a tattoo license does not mean that they are good at what they do. A tattoo license is not issued to one person, it is issued for the whole tattoo facility regardless of who works there , as long as they are over 18 yo, to show the public that the facility was inspected by Department of Health and found to be clean! That is all! The FDA does not regulate tattoo industry's ink or pigment, not anymore than they regulate candies. If someone is telling you that their pigments or inks are FDA approved- run! A tattoo parlor or a permanent makeup salon can pretty much use whatever they want , they can make their own ink or pigment, or they can buy it from China, Mexico, India , Taiwan, Africa, anywhere they can get it cheap. So do you know what is being implanted under your skin ? Good question -write it down and make sure to ask your tattoo artist. So lets say your face was destroyed with a horrible looking eyebrows, totally uneven and migrated eyeliner,blue or black lips and scars all overt your eyebrows, eyes and lips. Can you sue them? The answer is sure you can sue anyone for anything, but will you win? Sorry , but you will not win because in case you didn't know it - tattooing is art and you can't sue an artist for bad art, not anymore than you can sue Picasso and Dali for not painting the people right! When is comes to art there is no right or wrong, good or bad. As far as the scars go - sorry, but can you recall someone signing a consent forms? Do you remember what those forms said?..... Oh, so you weren't given any consent forms to sign? Well guess where your permanent makeup technician is now? Lets take some geography lessons and see what would be the furthest county on the map? Ok, lets not take the geography lesson, why go too far when we have Mexico right in our back yard ? Wait a minute did someone say that you can sue for graffiti? Bingo! You right, you can sue someone for graffiti ... but only if it was done on private or government property without the owner's consent! Was that permanent makeup tattooed without your consent?
Sorry, we got off the subject here. Lets go back to pigment versus ink discussion. A good quality pigment is much thicker than ink, so as a result it can never imitate the human hair, because it can not make the line thin enough to look like real hair! When done with pigment using hair stroke technique eyebrows will always look like either a bunch of thick sticks, or if the strokes were tattooed too thin with a pigment, then they will nearly disappear in about 1 to 2 weeks after the procedure. This is the main reason why most permanent makeup technicians who advertise a hair stroke technique don't like to display the photos of healed eyebrows in their portfolios. Notice that most of the "after"photos in their portfolios were taken immediately after the procedure and not after they healed, since since healed eyebrows will look nothing like they did immediately after the procedure. A hair stroke technique is too unpredictable and inconsistent and can not guarantee the expected results, since the exact shape, hair location and length can not be pre-panned ahead of time; It is pretty much created and improvised during the actual tattooing process.
Here at "Chicago Permanent Makeup by Lana Schluter RN" we value quality above quantity. We have many high profile clients many of whom are also well known public figures. They need to look good not only in person, but also on TV as well as in front of the camera. Many of our clients are actors and models whose work and income depend on how they look. Clients choose us not because we offer competitive prices and not because our services are on sale, they choose us because they are not willing to take any chances with their faces. They know that here they will receive consistent, high quality, personalized, custom work with high attention to every detail. They also know that here they will never be rushed, like they would be at any other permanent makeup salon.
A hair stroke technique is too unpredictable and inconsistent since it can can not be pre-planned in advance. A technician can not show their clients exactly what their eyebrows will look like when they are done, since the exact shape, hair location and length can not be pre-panned ahead of time; it is all created and improvised during the actual tattooing process. For more information about manual hand tool tattooing technique please visit " Soft Tap" web site at :
http://www.softaps.com/
