Eyebrow Tattoo

Microblading, Nano Brows, Powder Brow, Ombre Brow

If you are exploring options to create longer-lasting, more defined, or maintenance-free brows, you might want to consider clinical eyebrow tattoo.  Clinical eyebrow tattoo is a proven (semi-) permanent to cosmetic tattoo procedure that restores and recaptures the shape and colour of your existing natural brow, using clinically proven, custom-formulated IVONNE® brand pigments.

Clinical eyebrow tattoo can be an excellent choice over drawing on or filling in your eyebrows each day.  It's also a more cost effective option than a drawer of cosmetics. Given the amount of options and information it can often be difficult to determine which eyebrow tattoo technique is the right option for you.

If you are considering eyebrow tattoo, you likely have a number of questions, including:

• What types of eyebrow tattoo are available?
• How much does it cost to have eyebrow tattoo done, and what are the upkeep costs?
• What styles of eyebrow tattoo are best for me?
• How long will eyebrow tattoo last?
• What are the risks in having eyebrow tattoo?
• What are the alternatives to getting eyebrow tattoo?
• Do I need to have my eyebrows removed or shaved off before getting eyebrow tattoo?
• Can I get eyebrow tattoo like microblading while pregnant or breastfeeding?

This webpage provides important facts on eyebrow tattoo (e.g. microblading, nano brow, ombre brow) to help you be more informed, supporting you to make the right choice for your face, skin and hair type, and colour. Using these questions as a guide, this webpage describes the most common types of eyebrow tattoo, and discusses the factors involved in choosing, scheduling, and maintaining eyebrow tattoo.

This webpage is intended for clients who are looking for background information on eyebrow tattoo options in order to support informed decision making regarding service selection, purchasing, and maintenance.  The information provided here is general, and specific details may vary depending on your eyebrow tattoo style, technique, and service provider.  This webpage should not replace working with an individual eyebrow professional or beauty advisor, who will ensure that your eyebrow tattoo experience meets your needs and desired objectives.

Eyebrow tattoo and cosmetic tattoo in general is an effective way to resolve an aesthetic concern, and to simplify your self-care routine.  In thinking about aesthetics in the context of your overall health and wellness, it is recommended that you factor in your state of mental well-being, as well as your body's ability to heal from an eyebrow tattoo procedure when subscribing to an eyebrow tattoo service.

Cosmetic products or services should never be used to mask what could be an underlying medical condition.  Please consult first with your primary physician before subscribing to any cosmetic products or aesthetic services.

Eyebrow tattoo is a proven cosmetic procedure that has been used for decades, in both Canada and around the world, to efficiently recreate the appearance of individual brow hairs, or the eyebrow overall.  In fact, it is likely that you know of someone personally, or have seen someone with eyebrow tattoo, whether or not you have realized that their eyebrows have tattoo pigments in them.

Tattoo Basic Concepts

Tattoo by itself has been a technique used for thousands of years by many civilizations to embed pigments beneath the surface of the skin, for various purposes, including tribal or cultural identification, religion, personal expression, and even by some civilizations as a form of medicinal practice.

How Tattoo Is Permanent

When receiving a traditional tattoo, a special machine with needles punches through the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needles travel through the epidermis and allow the ink to seep deep into the dermis, where all the nerves, collagen fibres, blood vessels, and glands are.

Each time the needle penetrates, it causes an individual wound that sends an alert to the body’s inflammatory process. This calls the immune system to the wound site to begin repairing the skin. This process is what makes tattoos permanent.

Special cells called macrophages consume the invading material (pigments) to clean up the inflammatory mess. The macrophages travel back through the lymphatic system carrying the dye all the way back to the lymph nodes, but other macrophages get left behind in the dermis.

When the straggling macrophages get stuck behind, there is no way to dispose of the pigment and instead the dyes trapped inside of them remain visible through the skin.¹

Initially, ink is deposited into the epidermis.  As the skin heals, the damaged epidermal cells are shed and then replaced by new dye-free cells, with the top outermost layer peeling off like a healing sunburn.  Complete epidermal regeneration happens in 2 to 4 weeks.

Pigments that remain stuck behind form the tattoo that is visible to the human eye. It stays with us for many years, subject to the influence of environmental factors like sun exposure and lifestyle during the healing process.

Eyebrow Tattoo Basic Concepts

Eyebrow tattoo is a non-invasive cosmetic procedure that embeds or etches (in)organic pigments beneath the epidermal layer of the skin, placed with the use of either a hand-held u-blade containing fine needles, or with a specialized electronic tattoo machine, quickly punching through the skin many times.

Why Eyebrow Tattoo Shouldn't Be Permanent, But Could Be

Eyebrow tattoo is intended to be superficial, and long-lasting, but shouldn't be permanent. The correct technique focuses on depositing pigment only into the outermost layers of the skin – the epidermis – (otherwise, in the dermis, you experience nasty scarring and an ashy “washed out” look).

For eyebrow tattoo to be truly permanent, dye needs to reach all the way into the dermis for the macrophages to ingest it and to become lodged in the tissue. That is not the goal with eyebrow tattoo.

Certain eyebrow tattoo techniques that offer a natural hair-stroke look (like microblading and some nano brow techniques) are better when focused closer to the surface, and because the epidermis sheds every 2 to 4 weeks eventually, these pigments will become ejected over time. Some sooner than later.

Recap for Eyebrow Tattoo

Deeper is better for retention, but retention is less cosmetically pleasing. Superficially placed pigments allow clients the option to receive more eyebrow tattoo sessions and to make more changes in their look over time. Deeper placed pigment reduces the amount of touch-ups and changes that a client can make, before ultimately requiring removal.

When it comes to eyebrow tattoo less is more. It is better to have your pigment fall out prematurely and have the opportunity to refresh it over and over again than to have pigment that has blurred itself in the skin needing removal.

In all cases eyebrow tattoo eventually has its limits, and clients will only be able to undergo so many eyebrow tattoo procedures before having it removed (via laser) and starting over. If the previous eyebrow tattoo has been performed correctly, and there is less scar tissue, then it may be possible to continue with new eyebrow tattoo over and over again. Every individual is unique.

Here are some common terms you may come across while investigating eyebrow tattoo.

Eyebrow Tattoo Service

An Eyebrow Technician, Eyebrow Practitioner, Dermopigmentist, Eyebrow or Microblading Artist is a person who performs Eyebrow Tattoo, and who may have received formal, or informal training or certification.

A tattoo ink is a pigment that is combined with a carrier, and used in eyebrow tattooing, and is generally considered to be permanent.

An organic pigment is the result of chemical synthesis and does not come from organic sources.

An inorganic pigment is a dye substance which does not contain carbon, except in its elementary form (carbon black – carbonate) or carbonate. They include mainly oxides, salts or silicates. They can be obtained from finely pulverized minerals or chemical synthesis. They are composed of other elements such as iron, aluminium, cobalt, or chromium.

Permanent makeup is the application of tattoo ink pigments into the skin to achieve a long-lasting to permanent colour effect to look like makeup.

Tattoo removal is the process through which tattoo ink is lifted or removed from within the skin. This process is sometimes performed manually with saline removal but more commonly with a laser device. Tattoo removal can be difficult, and painful.

The dermis is a layer of skin between the epidermis and tissue beneath the skin.

The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin that we can see with our eyes.

Macrophages are a type of white blood cell in our immune system that engulfs foreign substances found in the human body.

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The style of eyebrow tattoo that you want will determine which technique your eyebrow professional uses.

Microblading

Microblading is the most commonly used name for what we know as eyebrow tattoo. This approach uses a non-electronic, non-motorized, hand-held u-blade (that looks like a pen). When performed correctly microblading targets the epidermal layer of the skin (the outermost layer). This procedure focuses on paper cut thinness and shallow depth to deposit pigment.

Because the cuts are so shallow, the pigment is very susceptible to the sun’s rays and the usual rapid cellular turnover of the skin’s outermost layer. Your microbladed brows are here for a good time, not a long time. Eventually, as the body sheds these epidermal cells the pigment disappears. When performed correctly microblading is the most temporary form of all eyebrow tattoo techniques.

When performed correctly, microblading shouldn’t cause any scarring because it is only a superficial permanent procedure. This also means that you should be able to receive a microblading treatment again in the future because the professional is not contending with scar tissue.

If your eyebrow artist goes too deep (to force a longer pigment retention), this will result in more trauma (e.g. scabs), and a blurred ashy look and scar tissue. This means that it will look terrible from the start, and you won’t be a candidate for future microblading. The best microblading is intentionally superficial, it looks crisp, and doesn’t last long.

Styles that can be achieved with Microblading include:

• Natural hair-stroke
• Limited shading (some powder brow effect, but for full powder and ombre the nano brow is the best technique)

Benefits of Microblading include:

• Ideal for first-time clients with normal skin type
• Minimal retention period, allowing clients the choice to easily make changes to colour

Microblading Specific Risks:

Microblading uses manual trenching, or etching to place pigment into the skin. It has the potential for most trauma to the skin, especially if your eyebrow professional trenches too deep. While the goal with microblading is shallow, it presents the greatest risk in terms of accidental depth and scarring, especially among inexperienced eyebrow artists.

Nano Brow

Nano Brow is a permanent makeup cosmetic procedure that is less permanent than traditional cosmetic tattoo, and more permanent than microblading.

A digital machine tool with fine needles is used for the procedure. After carefully measuring to determine placement and shape, each ‘hair’ stroke is gently pressed into the skin. The result is an incredibly natural, realistic set of brows.

Nano Brow does not use trenching or etching as is the case with microblading. As a result the eyebrow professional can achieve a slightly greater depth that doesn't result in the same trauma as with microblading. This means potentially better retention, with less scarring, and better results than microblading.

Styles that can be achieved with Nano Brow technique include:

• Natural hair-stroke
  
• Shading (Powder brow, and/or Ombre brow effect)
  

Benefits of Nano Brow:

• Ideal for clients with any skin type, including oily or combination
• Less trauma
• Shorter healing times
• Slightly longer retention than microblading

Having our eyebrows done can be an invigorating and refreshing way to feel better about ourselves. There are however other aesthetic treatments that can achieve the same (although shorter term effect). These include:

• Eyebrow waxing and shaping (to help define the existing brow shape)
• Eyebrow tinting (to apply a new shade and consistency of colour to the brow and skin) includes Henna Brow.

Waxing and tinting are alternatives to eyebrow tattoo that offer an immediate, short-term way to achieve an eyebrow look that is less maintenance than applying makeup daily. These alternatives may help you in deciding what colour and shape of brow you prefer the most, before making an eyebrow tattoo decision.

Another alternative to eyebrow tattoo includes a virtual proof of concept. Submit a photo of your face in natural light without any makeup to your eyebrow professional and request a digital proof of what your brows could look like.

Eyebrow tattoo performed incorrectly, and too deep into the dermis, could last as long as a traditional tattoo (forever). But this is not ideal since it will become dull, ashy, or blurry, and too quickly.

There are general factors that impact the retention period of your eyebrow tattoo:

• Lifestyle
• Adherence to precare and aftercare instructions around the eyebrow tattoo service
• Smoking
• Exposure to sun and other environmental influences
• Genetics
• Skincare and Skin health

The lifecycle of your eyebrow tattoo can vary, and these timelines below are only a guide. There are of course exceptions, and outliers to any guideline:

• Microblading: Varies from up to 12 months, and sometimes up to 18 months in total.
• Nano Brow: (machine work): Up to 18 months or longer, depending on lifestyle

The body's natural response to foreign material, like tattoo pigments, is to remove it. This is the natural healthy response, and so eyebrow tattoo professionals are always up against the unknown when it comes to how effective the body will be in response to pigments.  There are no guarantees, warranties, or assurance, express or implied on how long your eyebrow tattoo may last - only guidelines. Since eyebrow tattoo is impacted by a variety of factors such as lifestyle, sun exposure, and things that are generally outside of our control there are no certainties about the lifecycle of your eyebrow tattoo.

The Province of Ontario, through its local Public Health Units oversee eyebrow tattoo as a Personal Service Setting under O. Reg 136/18. Through annual, or period inspections, Public Health officers of a local Public Health Unit will assess a Personal Service Setting for its compliance with the regulations and report its findings to the public through the mandatory display of inspection certificates, and through its online database of inspection results.

Public health units do not assess the practitioner's skill, ability, or credentials as it relates to eyebrow tattoo. Instead public health inspectors ensure that the environment and related processes to deliver eyebrow tattoo are safe, and in accordance with the prevailing Infection Prevention And Control best practices.

Health Canada is responsible for overseeing regulation of cosmetics in Canada. Through their regulations they have set out what ingredients can, and cannot be included in cosmetic products, and at what concentration levels.

Health Canada does not have an approval process for cosmetics like tattoo pigments, and does not, as an ongoing practice assess tattoo pigments for their chemical or toxic ingredient composition.

To ensure that your eyebrow tattoo professional is complying with the established safety protocols and regulations it is recommended  to search the name of their business in any local Public Health Inspections database.

Life is busy, and moms (and moms-to-be) are always on the lookout to make things a bit more manageable in the early years. Self-care routines can get pushed aside during pregnancy and time is so precious during the first few years of motherhood.

This is one of the reasons why permanent makeup has become so popular among women with young families. It lightens the daily routine and keeps us feeling fresh. But, should you avoid permanent makeup if you’re pregnant or even breastfeeding?

Microblading, nano brows – these are forms of permanent makeup and ultimately they’re tattoo. During pregnancy experts recommend avoiding tattooing for many reasons. In fact, you may find it difficult to find a Permanent Makeup Artist who is willing to perform the procedure if you are pregnant. There are unnecessary risks and complications could arise either during or as a result of the procedure. Ultimately, it’s not worth the risk of premature labour, or worst.

Getting eyebrows tattoo’d requires up to 3 hours or more of laying on your back. While pregnant this isn’t easy, or comfortable. But the procedure itself involves penetrating the skin with a needle and foreign material. If you’re new to inking this could lead to more unknowns and the risk of allergic reaction, although minimal, is not something you want to risk for the fetus.

During pregnancy this is a critical time during the development of your baby. All measures should be taken to guard baby’s development. Permanent Makeup – this can wait.

What About During Breastfeeding?

With baby as priority 1 there are risks even while breastfeeding. Although the chances are slim infection is always a possibility following any cosmetic tattoo procedure. This infection could be passed onto the baby through the breast milk, and place unnecessary stress on an already demanding lifestyle. Avoid any semi-invasive beauty procedures until baby has been weened.

Contraindications of Eyebrow Tattoo

A contraindication is a specific situation in which a procedure or treatment should not be used because it may be harmful to the client. There are over a 100 possible contraindications that could impact whether Eyebrow Tattoo like Microblading or Nano Brow is right for you. Click here to learn more.

When choosing an eyebrow professional for eyebrow tattoo consider the following:

• Am I comfortable with them? Can I communicate my expectations clearly and do we understand each other? Do we have a good rapport?
• Am I comfortable with their work? Can I envision myself with "their" brows on my face?

Eyebrow tattoo should always be performed by a qualified provider. Consult a local permanent makeup or skincare clinic to understand your options. You should choose a provider that is located close by so that you can access them easily for follow-up appointments, or to receive any additional skincare or aftercare support.  While out of town and fly-in clients are increasingly common we recommend choosing a professional that you can work with for years to come.

The cost of having eyebrow tattoo depends on the type and volume of brows, quality of equipment and supplies, the experience and setting of the professional, and of course your objectives and budget.

Great brows need to be refreshed about once every 12 to 18 months. It's a good idea to keep your eyebrow appointments booked according to the touch-up schedule that your professional sets to avoid having to start over again.

It is recommended to first request an official cost estimate request ("quote") and/or a virtual consultation with your eyebrow professional before proceeding with any service. This can be done several months before scheduling your appointment.

Once you have made the decision to proceed with eyebrow tattoo be sure to schedule both your initial appointment and your first follow-up about 6-8 weeks later. Doing so ensures that you have access to that critical touch-up appointment to perfect your new brows.

During the scheduled appointment your eyebrow tattoo professional will perform consultation where you will:

• Review the colour, shape, and style options
• Review and approve the pre-draw, providing feedback along the way
• Receive the initial eyebrow tattoo treatment

Your initial eyebrow tattoo treatment will take approximately 2 to 3 hours. It's a great idea to plan your day by having a snack before your appointment and using the toilet when you arrive.

Follow These Important Steps Before Your Eyebrow Appointment

Follow These Important Steps After Your Eyebrow Appointment

You should take note of several important things to maintain your brows. Remember:

• Find a Skincare Routine. Great skin is the best foundation for any permanent makeup service. Adopt a consistent skincare routine and tackle any skincare concerns before investing in permanent makeup.
• Maintain Your Skincare Routine. Adequately protected and hydrated skin that balances any excess oil is critical to support longer-lasting eyebrow tattoo.
• Schedule Your Appointments Around Botox, Fillers, or Surgery. Be sure to leave yourself enough space on either side of a Botox or filler service (2 weeks) and up to a month before or after any plastic surgery or eye surgery.
• Temporarily Set Aside Exfoliants and Active Skincare. For the week before and after your eyebrow tattoo avoid any skincare services or products that require the skin to undergo controlled injury and healing. Be sure to consult with the precare and aftercare instructions provided by your eyebrow professional.
• Avoid The Sun. Prevent from burning and prolonged exposure to sun around your eyebrow tattoo appointment. Support your eyebrow tattoo pigment retention by avoiding sun tanning/burning altogether.
• Plan Ahead. Great eyebrow tattoo professionals are often booked for months in advance. Be sure to pre-book your touch-ups and annual colour boosts.
• Schedule Your Brows Annually. Be sure to schedule your annual colour boosts in advance. This will keep your brows looking fresh, and protect your investment.

It might seem like a good idea to choose a lower-cost, or first-available option when scheduling eyebrow tattoo. This can sometimes lead to unexpected or undesirable results. Receiving bad eyebrow tattoo can be emotionally difficult, time consuming, and cost considerably more than if you had made a different choice.

If you or someone you know has recently had a bad experience with eyebrow tattoo then please consider these options:

• Immediately make contact with your eyebrow professional so that they can hear your feedback, and provide you with guidance and instruction. If they are unwilling to work with you then reach out to their master trainer, or certifying body in case they can refer you to an alternative resource.
• If your eyebrow professional is no longer available, or you do not feel comfortable working with them again then you can also ask your social network for recommendations for a new provider, sending them the criteria from this webpage.
• If several months have passed, and you are well outside of the healing period for your new brows consider speaking with a laser removal specialist to discuss your options.