Last month we wrote a comprehensive guide about the possible contraindications of microblading and semi-permanent makeup. In today’s post, we’re going that extra mile to include skin types and some of the other non-contraindications that may also affect a treatment you have at our Kent Clinic.

As we mentioned previously, while there are some (mainly medical) conditions that may prevent us from being able to treat you, there are also other scenarios that, whilst they won’t prevent treatment, should nevertheless be considered before you go ahead with either microblading or any other semi-permanent makeup procedure. So, let’s take a brief look at what they are and why they’re important.

Ethnicity/Skin Tone

If you’ve never had any type of semi-permanent makeup before, you may be wondering why this is a factor so let’s take two polar opposite types of skin tones to emphasise the distinction.

If you have natural ginger, auburn or blonde hair then it’s likely you have a very pale complexion. If you’re mixed-race or are of Asian, African or Afro-Caribbean descent, you’ll almost certainly have much darker skin. As the tone of skin is very different for the two types of examples just given, the colour and technique used must also vary.

This is where choosing an experienced semi-permanent makeup artist can be so important as getting good results for a wide range of skin types can only come from having a good deal of prior experience of knowing what works and what doesn’t.

Microblading and Semi-Permanent Makeup For Darker Skin

The easiest way of describing the care and attention we give to darker skin can be seen firsthand in a video produced by the gorgeous Shadey Bangs. If you watch the video, Shadey describes her experience when she visited our Kent Clinic for the first time after being recommended by a friend. With over 16,000 views at the time of writing this, the video speaks volumes about our attention to detail and in particular, the process we went through to achieve the perfect result for Shadey’s particular skin type (more about this in a later post…).

Semi-Permanent Makeup and Asian/Latin/Middle Eastern Skin Tones

If you come from an Asian background, you may well have naturally thinner eyebrows. Culturally speaking, this means that its not unusual to have tattooed eyebrows in many Asian countries.

Geeky Fact Alert – Cosmetic tattoos have been a part of Chinese, Japanese and Korean culture for centuries, with tattooing said to date back to the Jomon Period in Japan sometime between 10,000 BC to 300 BC and between 2100 and 550 BC in China.

As such, many women from Asian backgrounds consider microblading to be a perfectly normal treatment to have so it’s vital that we choose the right hue and colour to use. Similarly, those from Latin and Middle Eastern backgrounds require equal attention to detail to achieve the perfect result. In other words, although Latin and Middle Eastern women tend to have thicker eyebrows, it’s by no means the only factor to consider.

For example, for those with darker skin, we’ll often use a darker shade of pigment compared to someone with very pale skin and light hair. If we used the same dark pigment, the results wouldn’t look at all natural. This is why I can’t emphasise enough the importance of choosing the right clinic. You want someone who has a keen eye for detail and the experience of working with all skin types to back it up.

Oily Skin and Semi-Permanent Makeup

An experienced practitioner can usually tell the difference between oily, normal or dry skin but bear in mind that oily skin in particular deserves special consideration for all types of semi-permanent makeup. Very oily skin will often show through already applied makeup so is easy to spot, but if you’re particularly skilled at hiding your oily skin, it’s best to mention it first when visiting our clinic as this will affect the work we carry out.

Although it’s highly unlikely that we’d refuse to treat you if you have oily skin, you’ll need to be aware that your microblade eyebrows (or other semi-permanent makeup) may fade quicker so may require more frequent touch-ups. It can also be the case that the strokes that we apply may expand more with this skin type.

Find out more

We hope you’ve found the above brief guide useful and if any of these scenarios apply to you but you still have further questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch with us for free advice or to book a consultation.