Imagine it happens to you: your permanent make-up fails. The result is something you wouldn’t want on your face at all. And now it has really happened. What now? In this blog we tell you what can go wrong with permanent make-up, and we’ll show you what failed permanent make-up looks like. You can also read here what kinds of solutions there are, and whether one of them might suit you.
Contact us to see if we can remove or cover your old permanent make-up.
Failed permanent make-up
Failed permanent make-up is not something you can get rid of just like that. As with a tattoo, the process of removing everything takes a very long time. Unfortunately, you can never get rid of it in one go. So know what you are getting into! Think carefully about whether the salon you are going to is the right salon and has enough experience.
Here are some examples of failed permanent make-up, both powder brows and microblading.
Terrible to see! But even more terrible to carry this with you every day. Covering it with make-up is no longer an option.
You often see that with old permanent make-up the eyebrows look grey and dull. This is mainly because the PMU has simply been placed too deep in the skin. With pigmentation, only the first layer of skin is pigmented. So if you work too deeply, into the second or sometimes even the third layer of skin, your permanent make-up will turn grey. Working too deeply can also make the PMU turn red.
What can you do if your permanent make-up has failed?
If your permanent make-up has failed, you can always have an expert look at it. An experienced PMU specialist may be able to repair and cover the failed permanent make-up. However, this is not always that simple: it requires more than 1 treatment and can only be done by an experienced specialist. A lot of salons only apply PMU to clients who have no old PMU. We are different in this respect. We would like to help people get rid of their old PMU. You can therefore always come in for a consultation. Together we can draw up a treatment plan to partially or completely remove the old permanent make-up. After that, we can also apply new permanent make-up.
When the old permanent make-up has been properly removed and is very faint, new permanent make-up can probably already be applied. It depends a lot on how the skin heals. Sometimes you can end up with scars from a really bad PMU session. In that case, the question is whether it can ever be covered again.
How can you prevent failed permanent make-up?
Of course, there are always ways to avoid this kind of thing. Permanent make-up is a way to save time and always look good when it comes to your eyebrows, lips or eyeliner, for example, but it can certainly go wrong. Obviously, a lot depends on which salon you go to, whether you have read up on this salon and what kind of person you end up with. But there is more you can do to make sure you avoid failed PMU:
If you follow all these steps and put in some effort before making a final decision, you can get beautiful, natural powder brows like the ones we create at IZZI Beauty!
Check whether the salon is GGD approved
Check the salon’s social media
Check the reviews
Go to the website
Ask some questions
Look at the salon’s whole body of work
Compare prices
Trust your gut
Remove old or failed permanent make-up
If you wonder how old or failed PMU is removed, you have probably heard of laser technology, which is increasingly popular for removing old tattoos from the body. However, what is on your face is basically not a tattoo. If it is pigmented in the first layer of skin, we see it as pigmentation. If your PMU is already very old, it could also have been placed deeper than the first layer of skin. In that case the process takes longer, because the pigment lies in a deeper layer.
Dissolving permanent make-up with salt
Nowadays there is a wonderful way of removing old PMU: dissolving it with salt. Salt dissolves pigment. The great thing about this technique is that no laser is involved. The salt is actually pigmented into the skin, just as when you have powder brows applied, for example. The treatment is considered very mild and cannot be compared to a laser.
While the old pigment is being dissolved with salt, the skin can turn white. The whiter the skin becomes, the better the skin will heal and the more old pigment will disappear.
Unfortunately, you cannot dissolve old permanent make-up with salt if the PMU has been placed in the third layer of skin. The pigment is then much too deep to reach with a mild technique like this one, and you will have to switch to the laser technique. And especially if the old PMU is very dark and clearly visible, the laser will work faster than dissolving it with salt.
Removing permanent make-up with laser technology
If you want to remove the permanent make-up with laser technology, the laser more or less scorches the skin. Your skin repairs itself by making new skin and breaking down the lasered pigment. In effect, it becomes an open wound again. Besides the fact that this technique is experienced as very painful, the skin is really quite damaged after the treatment, and this whole process takes quite a long time before the skin no longer contains any old pigment and has healed.
Please contact us if you have any questions or need help. We are happy to help!
My name is Isabella Levels and, with years of experience in the industry, I love sharing my permanent make-up knowledge and techniques. My passion lies in accentuating natural beauty, and I hope to inspire others with tips and insights that can help both beginners and professionals in their careers!