Healed Microblading - The facts

One of the main questions I get asked when we begin the consultative process at the start of a microblading session is “how long will my microblading last”?

Now, as those of you who are already regulars of mine will know, I don’t subscribe to the idea of selling my customers down a garden path, or being the “yes to everything” microblader. There are many of those out there, and academies like Phi Brow (just one of many) are making it their mission to saturate the market with thousands of sub standard microbladers who couldn’t tell the difference between a pig and a donkey, never mind the epidermis and the sub cutis (layers of skin). A two day course a good microblader maketh not.

Before we start I will arm you with the facts. If my job was to create a beautifully sculpted pair of brows on a piece of paper, I could probably draw them again and again and there not be much in it by way of many differences. The face, however, is a skull made up of 14 bones and 43 muscles, intricate vascular systems and is never completely symmetrical from one side to the other. Asking me how long your microblading will last is like asking me how much you are going to weigh in a years time. I can give you an idea by having an understanding of your physiology and lifestyle, but in the end, an idea is all it is if you want me to be honest.

The variables that govern how long your microblading will last include factors such as the effect of free radicals in the environment, sun exposure, how much you bled in session, diet, your general alcohol and anti inflammatory drug consumption, the oily versus dry (and everything in between) nature of the composition of your skin, the aftercare regimen you conducted proceeding the session, how much anaesthetic was used mid session, not to mention probably the biggest one, the level of cortisol in your blood stream. (This has such a tremendous effect that I intend to write a blog post specifically about it).

Needless to say, the details of how your microblading will last and how good it will look predicate on factors that are human, and vary from person to person. Ultimately, what you should want, is a microblader who will be honest with you about what you can and can’t do to give yourself the best chance of successful microblading treatments for many years to come.

If that (along with some interesting conversation) is your jam, then I’m your gal.

Galata x

London Brow Clinic

Blood isn’t just blood in this game, this is the marker of skill...

These might look like insignificant little dots of blood to you, hell, they would to most people!

But this is where the magic is happening and I want to tell you why....

I can’t tell you how many times I have come across microbladers who guarantee that their microblading lasts years without a touch up, or that they have the best solution for blading someone with “oily” skin (usually not blading them at all but using the machine method instead). By the time someone lands in my clinic they are so full of all of this misinformation that they have read online, they feel like they are the authority on what to do to achieve the best possible results.

This is is why I am showing you the picture above. When we microblade, much to our dismay, we don’t have a pair of X-ray vision goggles that are going to show us the inner depths of the membranes of your skin. Herein lies the problem of knowing where you are blading to, the depth of skin you reach with your blade. Any good microblader should be explaining to their customer that they will look to use the way you bleed as a marker of knowing the depth to which they blade, it’s the only way of knowing where we are in the skin. The physiology behind it is not that complicated in all fairness, the basal membrane peaks and troughs like a wave within the layers of skin. If you cut the membrane off at the peak as you blade, you will see a beautiful dotted line of blood, not a solid one. Eureka, you have hit the sweet spot.

As you can tell by the nature of this post, the medical aspect or “science“ behind microblading must be understood and adhered to by a microblading professional. If you don’t know the anatomy of the skin, and what to look for to understand the depth to which you blade, I would argue you shouldn’t be a microblader. And, while we are here, I would argue that you should not be making false promises about how long your microblading will last and what predicates the efficacy of a good or bad session of microblading.

Simply put, if you don’t know the science behind the blade, you better put the blade down.

Mic drop.

Galata

London Brow Clinic

xxx

Cancer will NOT stop me from having fantastic eyebrows... Memoirs of a microblader.

It’s not often that I pick up my laptop to do MORE work when I get home from a day microblading. If any of my regular clients are reading this, you will know the way my days feel when I am in clinic, the work is undoubtedly rewarding, but of course, tiring in equal measure. Needless to say, today was similar in most respects bar one. I microbladed someone that moved me and compelled me to extend this working day further by putting pen to paper (sort of). 

We all know that the benefits of microblading can be far reaching. I often feel as though I sound like a totally brow obsessed idiot talking to clients about not underestimating the power of what these eyebrows can do, and I know that to some extent you all secretly laugh at me when we first meet. How can someone be so passionate about a silly pair of eyebrows, I can almost hear it when I am looking at you with those blank looks on your faces when we are going through our consultative process. But, as I always say, you will be back. And you will probably end up putting my number on speed dial. Not because I can guarantee how long your microblading will last you, how defined each stroke will be and promise that I get the cool/neutral tone just right once it has dealt with your entirely unique physiology and composition of skin. It is really down to something a lot more basic than that. My clients know that I care (sometimes beyond the limits of what can be deemed normal); that I am not just a yes person. That I will not just make you look like Spock because that’s the brow trend that is “in” right now (in Iran mainly but still)!

But today, when I met Emily, a 29 year old young lady who should have her whole life ahead of her, I felt even more deeply about creating the best pair of brows I can. She has a form of breast cancer, metastatic stage 3 to be exact, and she found out literally about 3 weeks ago. In the weeks since having found out, she has already sourced wigs, started the process of freezing her eggs and embryo’s, researched everything there is to know about the implications of the harshest and most severe forms of chemotherapy (which she will be undertaking in a matter of weeks) and also sought to find a microblader to provide her with a pair of brows that will last her through the process of losing her hair which she has been advised is essentially a forgone conclusion. In short, she is a fucking miracle. 

Now, I know that I make this sound so incredibly everyday. But genuinely, this is how she came in today. With her head held high and not a seed of doubt in her mind about her ability to get through what she is about to embark upon. I asked her a series of questions before we started in order to ascertain whether I felt she was sound of mind enough to undergo the procedure (I wanted to make sure she wasn’t pinning all her follicle related hopes on my brows) and by the end of a suitably inspiring chat we were ready to start her treatment.

What I can tell you people is this. This woman made an everlasting impression on me today. I felt like I needed to come on here and write it down, a memoir of how today’s encounter went, so that we can look back on this account over the years to come, and I have promised her that we will share it together; that I have every confidence that she will be here for a long while yet, and that I look forward to her knocking on my proverbial door for her brows for decades to come. 

Emily, this blog post is for you, thank you for giving me the permission to write it, your generosity knows no bounds. I salute you and your insurmountable courage and I look forward to seeing you again and again and again 

Galata

London Brow Clinic

Xxx