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Sunday, August 21, 2016

Permanent Makeup: do your homework!

An analogous term for permanent makeup would be tattooing because this is essentially what you are doing if you partake in permanent makeup. (The above photo doesnt really exemplify what I mean by permanent makeup, but its pretty!)

As the name suggests, this process is permanent, meaning once you have it done you are stuck with it. Yes, tattoos can be reversed, but due to the location of this “makeup,” your skin (your face) will never look the same. And the removal of the tattoo can be extremely dangerous (as well as painful), especially around the eye area as in the case of permanent eye liner.

There are many dangers inherent in receiving permanent makeup. The first and most important is that the training for performing this procedure is minimal at best. The technicians simply don’t have a lot of requirements to be able to apply permanent makeup (tattoo your face). So you basically have the potential to have an unskilled person who may not know what he or she is doing tattooing your eyelids or lipline or elsewhere. I don’t mean to say that all people who are providing this service are unskilled or unqualified. But this is definitely a time where you’ll want to do a lot of research before agreeing to this procedure with a particular individual.

A second concern is what if you don’t like the tattoo? Guess whatyou’re stuck with it. Sure, the color or design can be altered, but the price you’ll have to pay is wearing this artwork on your face for the rest of your life.

Tattoo ink changes over time. And no matter how skilled the professional nor how exact the artwork, your body’s chemistry along with the aging process and gravity can change the appearance of even the most successful permanent makeup application.

If you don’t have hair (eyebrows, for instance) and you want to tattoo your skin, that is one thing. If you are utilizing permanent makeup just so you won’t have to apply lipstick and eyeliner, my advice is be careful.

At the beginning of my career, I worked at a spa which was frequented by many older ladies. There I saw several examples of what permanent makeup can do. Granted, this was back in the ’80s and early ’90s, and no doubt there has been a lot of progress made in the field of permanent makeup since then. But a tattoo is a tattoo, and some of the results I saw from this procedure were nothing short of horrible.

Remember, permanent makeup stays on even when your other makeup comes off at night (I hope!). So you have to be comfortable with this “lookhalf on half off. It might not be an issue for you, but it is something to consider going forward.

If you cannot be swayed from getting this service, you are doing yourself a huge injustice if you don’t first research what the risks are with this procedure along with questioning technicians at several reputable establishments who offer permanent makeup. Without asking questions and knowing what to look for in a talented professional, you could really be setting yourself up for permanent disaster. Do your research!

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