Eyebrows

Microblading refresh

Retouch appointments

Retouch appointments

What is a retouch appointment?

You will likely have heard of annual top-ups/refresh appointments of permanent brows… however your brows will only benefit from a “Retouch” when they have faded enough. If your brows aren’t faded enough, touching them up too soon will result in thick, unnatural-looking strokes or heavy blocked-looking brows and eventually becoming saturated.

Ideally, microblading and other permanent brow techniques should fade gradually over time
and eventually almost disappear. This is the best scenario, otherwise, if it remains prominent in
the skin for years then pigment can alter to an undesired colour and hair strokes may blur
together. There are many reasons that this can happen for example the type of pigments used
where the body can’t break down their components consistently and completely. Or the colour blend wasn’t the best match for your skin’s undertone. Or it could be down to the artists technique where the pigment was deposited too deep into the skin.

How do I know if they are faded enough?

Ideally you should book a retouch appointment when the permanent makeup has become hard
to see when looking in the mirror from a short distance. You should still be able to see them
close up in a mirror and the shape should be barely visible. In these instances, the brows are at
a perfect stage to have them refreshed.

When is NOT a good time to have a Retouch?

If your brows are still very visible, then a retouch may not be the best option at the this time. If your brows have been holding onto the pigment for years with not much fading, the colour has maybe changed slightly or if your hair stroke brows have blurred together and they now look like a powder brow. You have maybe had microblading or tattoo brows a long time ago with several top ups over the years and your brows are now SATURATED. If this is the case, then there are a few ways in which we can help you achieve the look you desire again…

Here are a few options…

  1. Wait longer for them to fade naturally – It is maybe too soon for you to have a Retouch. Permanent brows should last anything from on average of 6 months up to 3 years, however, old techniques and pigments may mean that the pigment is permanently in the skin and the only option is removal or lightening.
  2. Powder Brows – can be used to freshen up old permanent makeup but results cannot be guaranteed due to many factors such as type of pigments used, how saturated the skin is of pigment, skin type etc.
  3. Colour Correction, it may be that you need a colour correction as pigment colours can change in the skin over time. In order to do this we would use a pmu machine and single needle to powder over the brows with a corrective colour then layer with the target colour to bring back the desired colour of your brows. It won’t be possible to maintain the definition of hair stroke brows with this technique, therefore, the powder brow effect is inevitable, but it may be possible to combine with additional nanoblading or microblading stokes for a combination brow effect.
  4. Lightening/Removal procedure – various methods can be used to help create
    fresher looking brows of your choice depending on your goal. When your brows
    become saturated with pigment then we may only need to lighten them to
    remove some of the pigment and create space in the skin for new pigment
    molecules. Or, depending on your desired look for example a hair stroke look
    then we may need to completely remove all of the old pigment to start a fresh.

 

What are saturated brows?

If your brows are too saturated with pigment from previous work, this means there is no room
in the skin to add more pigment. It is a common misconception that more pigment can simply
be added, but this is not the case – you would be wasting your time and money. The likelihood
is that we would refresh the brows with new stokes or powder technique and they would look
great when you walk out of the salon only to be disappointed with the healed result having very
little or no improvement in the look of your old permanent makeup. The reason is that the
pigment molecules take up space in the skin so you cannot keep topping up permanent make
up as the skin will eventually not accept any more pigment. This means a removal is the only
solution.