By Meirav Devash, Allure
By now, you’ve probably heard of—or even considered—the latest
semipermanent eyebrow procedures, which got a boost of publicity when Bella Thorne
got her brows tatted in a series of Snapchat videos last month. (If
not, we’ll wait for you to catch up: A quick Instagram search for #eyebrowtattoos,
#3Dbrows, #archaddicts, or #browsonfleek brings up a never-ending
stream of close-up #browspo pics.) The world of brow tattoos is a
baffling place. It’s easy to get lost in the jargon: eyebrow embroidery,
micropigmentation, tattooing, and microblading;
methods include hair strokes, feathering, etching, powder-fill, 3D, 4D,
even 6D eyebrows. Hundreds of pics later, you still may not be sure
what exactly you’re signing up for. Here’s what you need to know before
you go under the needle. (Or microblade? Don’t worry, we’ll get to all
that in a second.)
Call them what you want, but they’re all tattoos.
The
only difference between a semipermanent tattoo and a permanent one is
how deeply the ink is injected into the skin. The deeper you go, the
longer it stays. Traditional body tattoos are meant to last, so artists
use electromagnetic coil machines to implant the ink deep into the
dermis. Semipermanent brows are expected to fade, so artists use a
digital pen or microblading tool to implant ink more superficially into
the skin.
What is microblading, exactly?
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this procedure, you get a manual tattoo made with a dedicated tool that
looks like a slender Exacto knife but isn’t a blade at all. Artists
arrange tiny needles so they can make small incisions in the skin with
the tool’s tip depending on the thickness and depth of hair strokes they
want to etch. “I dip the needles into pigment when I make each hair
stroke, and I ask clients to sit and let the color sink in for a few
minutes after I'm done drawing,” says NYC cosmetic tattooer Bethany Wolosky. “When you wipe it off, you’ve got eyebrows.”
Price: $400 to $1,400 (depending on your location and the artist’s expertise)
Touch-up required:
Yes, usually four to eight weeks after your first appointment.
“Generally it takes two sessions to get the full effects,” says Wolosky.
There are a number of factors that affect how well you retain pigment.
(Oily skin doesn’t hold onto ink as well as dry skin; if you’re anemic,
your body may use iron oxide in the pigment as a supplement and the
tattoos will fade faster, she says.) On your second appointment, an
artist might go over original strokes to darken them for a client, tweak
the shape, or build up sparse brows by layering thinner strokes in
between.
How long it lasts: One to two years. “If you don’t touch them up again after 12 to 18 months, they’ll eventually completely fade away,” she says.
Insider tip:
Repeat microblading by an unskilled technician can cause scarring,
which is difficult to tattoo over. “At each yearly touch-up, you
re-create your incisions,” says NYC permanent makeup artist Emilia Berry. “So it’s likely that scars will form over time.”
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So what’s an eyebrow tattoo (a.k.a. micropigmentation)?
A
hand-drawn tattoo using a digital pen, which has needles for injecting
ink at the tip. It looks sort of like a vaporizer attached to a
medical-looking console by a wire. Depending on the artist, results can
vary from scary Sharpie brows to very natural, thin hair strokes. “The
digital pen allows you to use a single needle, three needles in a row,
all kinds of configurations,” says Berry. “When I tattoo brows, I create
hair strokes one by one with a single needle, which looks identical to
microblading.”
Price: $400 to $1,400 (depending on geography and the artist’s expertise)
Touch-up required: Yes, usually four to eight weeks after your first appointment.
How long it lasts: Two to five years.
Insider tip:
Bad news for early adopters, if you already have solid/Sharpie-style
brow tats, you’re not a candidate for microblading. The ultrafine lines
won’t be visible through the ink you already have.
What’s with all the different names?
The
first generation of permanent eyebrows in the ’70s and ’80s was much
less natural-looking than the eyebrow embroidery we see today. Fear of
looking like a Boca Raton grandma with stamped-on brows shaped the way
people wanted their brows etched—so instead of thick, solid lines,
cosmetic tattooers began hand-drawing thin hair strokes, mixing inks
that didn’t fade to unnatural shades, and using thinner needles and a
lighter touch. They don’t last as long, but that’s what people find
appealing this time around, since you can update them as beauty trends
change or your face sags with age. All the terms defined in the glossary
below are different words for the same thing—eyebrow tattoos. Since
there’s no regulation, an artist can call their method of tattooing
whatever they want.
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Wait, what do you mean they’re not regulated?
No matter what anyone says, eyebrow tattoos are not FDA-approved.
Cosmetic tattooers tend to use cosmetic-grade pigments in their inks,
which they will often say is FDA approved. And it is—for topical
cosmetics you wear on the skin. Just FYI, zero tattoo pigments have been
approved for implanting in the skin. It just hasn’t historically been
the FDA’s thing. (They do, however, occasionally investigate adverse
reactions from tattoos, permanent makeup, and temporary tattoos, as well
as problems with tattoo removal.)
This lack of oversight means
it’s doubly important to find an artist who has a state license—some
states grant permanent-makeup licenses through their board of
cosmetology and others require tattoo licenses—as well as certification
from a reputable professional organization like the Society of Permanent Cosmetics Professionals or the American Academy of Micropigmentation.
OK, why is it so expensive?
Consider
it back pay for all those hours your artist spent perfecting their
ink-slinging skills on unsuspecting grapefruits or brave friends and
family. Call me crazy, but anyone who can freehand a tattoo on someone’s
face—that they’ll want to walk around with afterward—is a fine artist
and probably a national treasure.
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What else should I keep in mind?
The
most important thing after making sure your artist is legit is that you
like their work. Look through artist portfolios until you fall in
love—don’t just go to the first person you hear about. The absolute best
way to vet an artist is through a recommendation from a satisfied
friend who has already used them. That said, remember, all tattoos are
kind of a crapshoot. There’s no real way of knowing how well you’ll
retain color until you do it. One final caveat: “Semipermanent” or not,
these are tattoos—so there’s no 100 percent foolproof way to remove
them. (Lasers don’t always work, as iron oxides in the ink may actually turn darker and become resistant to further treatments.)
BROW TATTOO GLOSSARY
3D, 4D, or 6D Brows
Any
brow tattooer worth his/her digital pen uses multiple ink colors to add
dimension to their hair strokes. 3D usually refers to the artist using
three ink shades or needles to draw multiple hair strokes with depth.
Same idea with 4D and beyond.
Color Correction
Just
as typical tattoo artists avoid tattooing over each other's work, brow
artists hate working on non-virgin skin. Not only is it difficult to see
their fine line drawings over old ink, but when you tattoo over
already-inked skin, results become much less predictable. Know this: If
it’s not your first time under the needle, the artist you choose may not
want to touch you. If they do, you’re likely getting charged extra for
color correction—it can be a huge pain in the ass to match ink colors,
mask discoloration and blurring, and still get a good result.
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Embroidery
This is another word for microblading.
Feathering
The
feathering technique is usually a combination of hair strokes and
shading (to add a little depth when someone has very little natural
hair), usually applied with a digital pen, Berry says.
Hair Strokes
By
injecting or microblading individual hairs to bulk up the natural
brows, this method gives a no-makeup makeup look. “You still have the
option to pencil them in when you’re wearing dramatic makeup,” Wolosky
says.
Micro Strokes
This is Berry’s
addition to the brow lexicon—she uses a very fine needle to draw each
hair stroke’s varying widths. “They start thin and then get a little
thicker, and at the ends they get much thinner again,” she says.
Powder Fill
This
colored-in look is meant to mimic made-up brows and is thought of as
outdated by most people. It’s best for people who have brow hair but
want a filled-in look. Without definition or individual hair strokes,
“it's just one solid color from one side of the eyebrow to the other,”
says Berry.
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