What Are Ombre Brows

The whole ombre brows treatment usually lasts around 2 hours. The length of the treatment mostly depends on how experienced the artist is.

Some artists claim that ombre brows are a type of micropigmentation and differs a lot from microblading. In microblading, the strokes are elongated so as to resemble the hairs, while micropigmentation is done by dotting.

The procedure is done using a single needle, which the artists uses to inject pigment countless tiny dots. This gives almost a powder-like effect. The darkness depends on the density of the dots, so the concentration is lowest at the beginning of the arch, and gradually higher towards the tail.

There are two phases and several steps in the procedure:

Ombre brows are done using a single-needle machine that injects organic pigments into the skin. The pigments come in a wide range of colors that can be mixed for as close a match to your natual hairs as possible. A trained artists can predict how a certain pigment shade will look under the surface of the skin. They will also consider your hair color and undertone.

It is important to choose an artist who uses top quality pigments, as low quality ones are unstable and their color can change significantly over time. Allergic reactions to pigments are extremely rare.

As already mentioned, in microblading, the strokes are elongated so as to resemble the hairs, while ombre brows are done by dotting. Since there is no constant dragging of the blade through the skin, ombre is not so invasive, therefore the expected pain can be slightly less than in microblading.

Although this is a very difficult question to answer, mainly because pain varies from person to person, the artist will use a safe topical anesthetic cream that they will apply to your eyebrows in order to ease the procedure as much as they can.

Ombre brows are a relatively non-invasive procedure, but it does include some trauma to the skin. Since the skin is broken, there is always the risk of infection, but if you choose a certified, professional artist who is licensed and uses sterile equipment. If you follow aftercare instructions, the risk of infection is close to none.

There are several conditions that make ombre brows impossible, including pregnancy, breastfeeding, heart conditions, diabetes. If you suffer from any illness, consult your doctor whether this procedure is safe for you.

If you want to make the most out of this procedure, you need to know some things about the aftercare process:

• Your artist will most probably give you an ointment to use on your brow area. Make sure to apply the ointment 3 times a day, and always use clean fingers or a cotton swab, especially in the first 3 days after the procedure.
• Never touch your healing area with your fingers unless they are completely clean. They may contain bacteria that you don’t want to get on your eyebrow area.
• As far as the cleaning is concerned, always gently cleanse the treated area with a mild antibacterial soap – never scrub as it will affect your final result. Rinse with water and gently pat the area until it’s dry.
• Always apply a light coat of ointment on the area before any bathing, and continue with this regimen until the procedure area is completely healed. It is important to try to avoid getting your eyebrows wet.
• Do not scratch, rub, pick or peel the healing skin. Allow it to flake off on its own as this is the healthiest way. Once you complete the peeling phase, you may proceed with your regular activities.

Here are some additional aftercare tips you should be following:

• Avoid any makeup, facials, sweating, sun exposure, sauna, Jacuzzi or swimming until the area is completely healed.
• Do not use any anti-aging products, especially those that contain Lactic acids or Glycolic acids, as it will fade your eyebrow area.
• In order to prevent future fading of your pigment color, use a total sun block after the procedure.

The treated area is very sensitive and prone to infections right after the treatment, so it is forbidden to wear makeup on the treated area. You are allowed to apply it on the other parts of your face.

However, since makeup can get to the treated area easily, it is risky to wear during the healing period. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid wearing makeup at all for about two weeks.

It takes about 1 month to show the real effects of the ombre brow treatment.

It’s important to point out that healing process can be different for everyone due to many factors that affect the results:

• medication,
• skin characteristics – if it’s oily, sun-damaged, thick or thin,
• skin’s personal pH balance,
• alcohol intake,
• smoking,
• post procedure aftercare.

Take a look at the healing process and expected eyebrows healing stages given by days:

Day 1-10: The result will look approximately 50% darker than the desired effect in the first week, and it will take 4-10 days to lighten. The first 7 to 10 days after the procedure are crucial to your health, as well as the appearance of the results.

As any type of pigment injection is trauma to the skin, there will be some inconvenient consequences – redness and some swelling. This is normal and will go away relatively quickly, so there’s nothing to worry about.

Day 11-15: As the dotting motion breaks the skin surface, some scabbing, flaking and dryness is inevitable. It is essential not to touch or pick at your skin. Just leave it be. It will heal at its own pace, usually by the end of the second week following the procedure.

Day 16-30: You will also notice that the pigment color will fade slightly over time; this is normal and expected. This is why the touch up appointment is done so that the corrections can be made.

Ombre brows do have their lifespan, but certain factors can speed up their fading. The main cause of premature fading is a sunlight exposure and tanning beds. You should always try to keep your ombre brows out of the sun. Also, they tend to fade faster on oily skin and on clients with certain medical conditions.

Mechanical damage can lead to fading, too. You should avoid exfoliation (both scrubs and chemical peels) on the treated area.

The touch up appointment that is part of the treatment should be done 6 to 8 weeks after the initial appointment, once the pigment sets into the skin. This is an opportunity to add pigment where necessary and make corrections to the pigment shade, and correct the shape. For example, if your skin didn’t take the pigment in some spots, there is the touch up to fix it.

Additional touch ups are not obligatory, but if you don’t want your ombre brows to fade, you can have them touched up every 6 months or more often.

There are many advantages to choosing ombre brows. Here are the most prominent ones:

• It uses a more traditional tattooing method, which means that the results are longer lasting.
• Moreover, this procedure works with most skin types, including oily skin which can be quite troublesome for many other cosmetic procedures.
• Finally, the eyebrow looks much more defined and dramatic than with the classic, hair stroke (microblading) method.

As with every permanent and semi permanent makeup procedure, the duration of the results without touching them up varies based on skin type, lifestyle, attention the clients pays to them, amount of sun exposure, proper aftercare, beauty habits such as facials or peels, the quality of the pigments used, sun exposure, as well as the overall wellbeing of the client.

Considering all this, we can only give you a general window – 2 to 3 years.

As the dotting motion breaks the skin surface, some scabbing, flaking and dryness is inevitable in the days following the procedure. It is essential not to touch or pick at your skin. Just leave it be. It will heal at its own pace, usually within two weeks. If any unusual irritation or significant swelling appears, consult the artist.

Although it is rare, it is possible to be allergic to the pigments used for permanent makeup, or more precisely, to some ingredients. If you’re allergic to tattoo ink, you’ll probably react to the pigments, too. If you know you are allergic to certain ingredients, tell your artist so they can work with pigments that do not contain them.

If you don’t know of any allergies, it’s best for the artist to do a patch test before the procedure. If you’re prone to allergic reactions, it’s a good idea to consult a doctor beforehand.

If you’re not happy with the results and don’t want to wait until they fade naturally, there are ways to remove ombre eyebrows. Although, it can take some time and effort. The most obvious way is to do all the things that accelerate fading: sunbathe, wash your face often, visit saunas, etc.

The alternative is laser removal, but this is not advised as it can seriously damage your skin. Also, it’s quite an expensive option. Yet, the best solution seems to be scheduling a correction appointment and trying and fix them. Also, you can try a different artist, if you don’t trust your initial choice any more.