Jenna: Hello, this is Jenna, and welcome to the Elevate Yourself podcast where we can talk about beauty and self-care without judgment.

Hey guys, it's Jenna. I'm so excited to be with you for another episode of Elevate Yourself Podcast. Today we are going to talk about something that I think is super important and I'm hoping that this episode is going to save everyone a lot of time and frustration because I know sometimes retention can be one of the most frustrating things you go in for an appointment and you're so excited. And it's so disappointing when you miss one or two key things that are going to really give you the best results on aftercare. So this episode, all dedicated to brow retention for permanent makeup and cosmetic tattooing, what you can do before your appointment during your appointment and after your appointment for best thing we break these up into mini podcasts episodes for you guys, depending on how long this is. So make sure that you check out all three episodes to get the full scoop. So that you don't miss anything and you can master your pension.

Of course there are always things that can happen during appointments that will require more than one visit. And oftentimes that can be just the skin itself. Everyone's so unique The way that your individual's skin is going to take pigment and your desired style to say you have a certain condition or a deficiency in a mineral or something like that. That can really affect the way you're inspecting hold pigment sometimes can result in need for additional appointments but I think like the more you stick to these tips here, the better your attention is going to be. It's going to save you a lot of money and a lot of hassle. So before your appointment this is so important to get started though number one thing that shocked me the most before you even book your appointment I just don't understand this. It just scares the bejesus out of me. I don't understand how people don't read through the website for the descriptions and read all the information when they're planning to get their face tattooed. It's your face. So definitely her research your artist or read through all the information they provide for you and make sure that you are planning your appointment at a time which you can do. So with all these things, make sure that you're actually committed to all the things that are going to be necessary for your brows to stick. If you're setting yourself up for failure.

Maybe you have a big swim meet right after you are planning your brow tattoo, maybe whatever life brings you but you want to make sure that you're setting yourself up for success. So in order to do that, you really have to do the research and everyone is going to have different information for you. And it's important to read wherever you're going to book you need to read through all the literature that they have provided for you so you can be prepared to make that decision before you book. Don't book, a face tattoo, please, anywhere without reading all the information and doing your research. It's so important. So that's why we get started here. ask all your questions before you.

You really have to take that initiative, and it's so scary as an artist. On one hand, you're really flattered because obviously that person has developed a trust for you, which is also really important to developing that relationship. However, it's really scary because that client also needs to have done the research to decide that this is a good thing for them and something that they're willing to commit to so it is a definitely it's like a two way street there. And so it is scary as an artist to get a client who has not given any thought really or consideration to booking their brow appointments and hasn't done the research. I definitely love to see a client who's gone through done all the research, asked all the questions and has really checked off all the boxes for themselves and set themselves up for success rather than someone who's super excited. I'm super flattered to be so trusting in our services. But has not taken the time to consider that this is a face shot tune is a very serious decision and it deserves at least 10 to 15 minutes of your consideration before you book that appointment. So listen to this podcast. That would be a great bit of research here. So let's get started with before your appointment.

So this is after you have already booked your appointment. You are going to be wanting to plan these things out for yourself so that you are set up for success because there's some things we just can't undo once you're in your appointment. Number one do not consume alcohol caffeine or blood thinners aspirin ibuprofen, niacin, primrose oil 40 hours at least before your permanent makeup cosmetic tattooing procedure. So this is so important because a lot of these things will cause you to bleed more than ideally we can push out the pigment it can shift the color of your healed pigment as well. And things like caffeine can also interact with vascular restrictor that we use as a numbing agent can give you anxiety during your appointment it can also lead to other complications. So we really need you to avoid caffeine for a couple of days before it also dehydrates your skin. Just like when we talked about in the microneedling appointment. We want a slow non traumatic healing response so that it holds all the pigment possible. If you're coming in hungover pounded back the coffee, the espressos to get through that appointment. You're setting yourself up for trauma healing and trauma healing does not hold pigment because trauma healing wants to close that wound as fast as possible. It wants to push out anything foreign from that wound because it's afraid of infection. It's afraid of foreign bodies.

It's trying to maintain basically and it's trying to do it as fast as possible because your body's in a trauma healing state. It does not have the extra energy to slowly heal and rebuild the skin texture and integrity of the skin. So you really do want to take that seriously. Don't consume alcohol, caffeine or blood thinners before your appointment. Oso Negro makes the best decaf coffee he won't even miss it. So go head up to also if you need to have a coffee, grab the decaf. So number two avoid laser facials Botox and fillers, chemical peels, exfoliation and retinol products within three to four weeks of your cosmetic tattoo. You definitely want to check with whoever you are getting these procedures with because everyone is going to be unique and you want to consult with them that it's going to be okay and how long after you have these things they are recommending, just make sure that nothing goes wrong with the other procedure that you've had with Botox fillers. We have an Instagram Live I believe on this with Dr. Kirsten from the Caribbean medical esthetics and Nelson BC. So it's really working with Botox and fillers. So we're checking for symmetry in the brows. So if you go in you get bunch of Botox done. We're mapping a face and trying to create symmetry between ours but maybe brow lift or maybe you think happening there literally. Because once it was semi permanent all cosmetic tattooing is always going to be with you a little bit for your whole life.

So don't think about it's a semi permanent makeup. Basically, you do want to have that settled. Because once there's no taking it back, it's really hard to get laser saline tattoo removal is like not the easiest solution either. So the best thing is to make sure that you have that Botox and fillers settled before you come in so that we can address symmetry issues then, if you do have one brow that popped up way higher than the other, you might want to consider some Botox instead of trying to address it all with cosmetic tattooing. I know I definitely had one brows and I would be looking at pictures I'd be like wow, I just looked like that. Really surprised on one side of my face, and so got a little Botox in there and now they're even it's been awesome. I do have my brows done permanent makeup as well, but it wouldn't have looked as good if I didn't have the Botox in there too because I just naturally hold my face in a weird way and that comes through in my muscle strength and creates that ad in my face. So the Botox, just snap that right out of there. So also with retinal products, chemical peels, exfoliation and this is really important because we want the integrity of your skin to be really good. We want to make sure it's not too thin no by these products. We want to make sure that it's ready to accept the pigment and not do anything weird or shifting the color. So that's why we want to make sure those are completely out of your system. By the time we're going in there with cosmetic tattooing.

Number three if you're planning on getting other cosmetic procedures, please make sure to do it before your brow tattoo. So don't poke a brow wax right after your brow tattoo. You also shouldn't need one same thing. Tinting you cannot tend to rouse you can't do anything after you've had them done for six weeks.

Some people will get a brow tint before I recommend one week in advance and that will get you through any kind of weird patchiness while you're having like scabbing happening so especially blonde to have white blond hair. You can get a broad tint before you come in for your appointment and it will help you through the healing stage as you're losing your pigment. And you aren't really able to apply makeup to those areas.

It'll just blend it in and make sure that you're not feeling self conscious as the pigment shifts in your skin because it will take a full six to eight weeks for the healed color to come out. And at times especially if you have scarring in your skin. You will see it look bolder or less bold and it can be in some areas less bold and bolder and others especially if there's a scarring tissue that had to accept pigment. So definitely if you're going to be more fair skinned I might recommend a broad hint before we can invest just to get through that weirdness in the healing process. I recommend not doing any. I used to recommend this but pigment. If you go to the wrong place, it can be a disaster.

And we really want to make sure we know exactly what we're working with because sometimes they take an hour ish to map out a brow make sure it's absolutely perfect and I want to see all the natural hair you have. I want to know what your brow looks like when it's bushy. And grow in. I don't want to know what it looks like after someone else has gone through and done the shaping because I'm going to go through and I do a very thorough mapping with a 3d technique and then also a 2d technique to make sure that it looks good in photos. I'm also looking for the way your face looks lying down and sitting up so that you're looking good all the time.

So no one who does eyebrow wax is going to be spending that much time shaping your brows and doing the mapping this usually like 15-20 minutes service so we really need to take more attention and more detail to that a skip the brow wax or threading or whatever before you come in for your appointment for at least four weeks so you get the best shape possible. Number four, avoid sun tanning bed exposure for 30 days before and after your procedure. So in the summer, this is especially important to you have to prep the skin so it would be an SPF 50 all the time and no big beach days for 30 days before and after your procedure, big sun hat and really avoiding the sun.

If you show up for your appointment with a new tan or a sunburn you will need to reschedule and forfeit your deposit because you can get scarring you're basically you're showing up with trauma already in your skin. So we will be activating that trauma healing response we would be possibly leading you into a situation where you could scar and that's absolutely just not what we want to do. And I don't want to be put in that situation of creating that as a possibility in your skins it will also lift the pig with your sunburn so there's just no point so really take the time to avoid tanning beds 30 days before and after.

This is also why I don't do a lot of permanent makeup in the summer. I just find this is a very very very difficult thing for people to avoid given our lifestyles in the kidneys. So it's just been something that I don't want to say I told you so this is not a fun thing for me to say ever. So I'm just usually my Skittles jam packed in the summer anyways, so I just have been limiting my cosmetic tattooing appointments really to before and after summer just to avoid this but also we're going to Mexico right before you get your brows done or after. So those are up to you to make sure that you are free and clear of that before and after your appointment for the best results. Number five is super super important as well be well rested and hydrated.

This I cannot stress it enough and I've seen it over and over with different clients. If you are not well rested and hydrated. If you are not in a healthy state, you are going to have a much more painful appointment your pigment is likely not going to retain and you can have weird things happen to like allergic reactions, etc. So I've had a client before who had to be up all night before for an emergency situation up all night before her appointment that was like unavoidable and this woman we've done a bunch of different procedures on successfully with minimal pain and discomfort and good results and she has had a lot of different tabs. For us she said it was the most painful thing that she ever went through and she did not retain that pigment. At all. So it's definitely something you want to be thinking about and also please don't book another big tattoo session.

This is not a two for one like you're not able to do all the fun things that book another thing with it. Please just let your face he'll just pick one thing at a time body tattoos I think are and I'm not an expert in this situation. But I think that you're doing it dealing with a different type of skin. And so I think they can be a lot more forgiving than when you're dealing with a very, very, very delicate nature of your face skin. So because we're doing such a delicate, delicate tattooing. If you have two things that are healing and also because the face tends to want to heal fast, it wants to heal and close up those injuries way faster. So you do not want it to trigger that trauma healing. So if you already have another big wound open from another tattoo happening, your body's going to be overwhelmed and it can't do everything so it's likely going to prioritize that larger body tattoo or like the tight body tattoo over your face which it likes to heal up super fast and likely it's going to purge all your pigments from your face and we really need that facial tattoo to heal really slowly. So that the delicate tissue can hold on to that pigment

So please do not schedule two sessions around the same time of healing. Please just focus on one thing at a time. Really keep focus on doing the things you need to do for them to stay because it is the most sensitive and delicate. Knowing that you are going to be having it's expensive and we want you to have the best results possible. So let's just focus on one thing at a time and if the body sessions for another time.

During your appointment so this is not as technical. It's really you have to set yourself up before your appointment for success in a lot of different ways and after your appointment for success during your appointment, there's a lot of things that I will do as skilled cosmetic tattoo artists, but you're making the job a lot easier if you're doing everything properly before your appointment.

So obviously number one do not consume caffeine or alcohol on the day of your bridal appointment. Number two do not wear any makeup. We want to make sure that the face is clean and could also affect your skin. They have lots of different products in there sometimes SPF or different serums or stuff like that. So no facial creams or Sims number three do not book and only after your appointment. This is crazy to me. There's been a couple times where I've been in the middle of someone's bad times I can't tell what your skin is going to do. I would love for it to go super quick and I would love for it to soak up the pigment but the truth is if your skin is difficult, the only choice I have as an artist is to go slower. I cannot speed up this process. I have to be patient and work with your skin so that I don't create damage in it. So I don't know that until I open up your skin and see and lots of the time the client doesn't know either the history of the browser as lots of people will show up and they've got chicken pox scars in their browser. They've got other kinds of scars that they didn't even remember from when they were a kid. And so we discovered these things as we go and they slow down the time of the appointment and so I have to really book my appointments very cautiously in the studio because I definitely do not want to rush as an artist in your browser.

This is your face and I take it really seriously so don't book anything right after your appointment please because I don't want you to feel rushed and I really want to take my time in the studio to do the best job possible with your brows that sometimes take a little bit longer unfortunately. Number four, bring a blanket if you get chilly to keep you cozy. Because of the nature of the tattooing. We're opening up your skin we really can't provide a blanket to you. So we do have like a company set up with everything and be professionally cleaned with and sanitized with medical grade disinfectants. There's a foam wedge that to keep your knees up but some people get chilly as they're laying there after a while. So if you bring a blanket, you'll be much more cozy. Make sure it's a clean blanket, and I've even had people fall asleep during the procedure which is absolutely I think the best way for you to feel comfortable during your procedure.

Don't be afraid to bring that blanket get cozy. Number five, ensure you've eaten before your appointment. This is really important because we're going to be there for a long time we could possibly have to stay a little bit longer. We also want to make sure that your skin is set up to do the best healing possible.

So again, with the trauma healing, we do not want to have that unnecessary stress on your bra tattoo. When you're also like dieting or fasting it can affect different things in your body, your hormones and also possibly the way you heal so you want to make sure you're well nourished and you want to make sure even before your appointment so that you're not having any like blood sugar or low blood sugar or anything like that. Coming in to make you appreciate those well.

After your appointment, so many important things here. So right after your appointment, I am going to get you to get your phone out and set a 30 minute timer on your phone and you are going to reset this timer about three or four times as long as it takes to wipe off all the lymph that's coming out of your brand new tattoo. So limp is what awaits scabbing it does a bunch of different things for the Browns but we are trying to make this brow tattoo heal kind of slowly and we want it to keep the pigment we don't want it to be drawing things out with a limp and pulling things out with the scabbing like a regular scab does it wants to clean out that wound right so we want to be wiping off that lymph with your aftercare product you'll be given a package of wipes in your aftercare pack so every time that timer comes off, make sure your hands are clean. Wipe off that limb from both of your brows and then reset your timer and keep doing it until you are touching those brows and they are not feeling wet at all and they are just feeling tight. A little bit like feeling like sunburn, but they shouldn't be feeling wet at all or like they're still secreting. So the healed results and the longevity of your new cosmetic tattoo will depend greatly on your lifestyle sun exposure and how you take care of your skin during the healing process and beyond. So after the procedure, you might experience slight discomfort in the area of your cosmetic tattoo. Clients usually describe it as a sensation similar to a sunburn, redness, a little swelling that should subside within 24 to 48 hours. Lots of clients feel great after if they're Canadian natural.

You're getting a cold feel more than 48 hours also depends on how well he set up for your appointment to and how well your skin takes the pigment because sometimes some people like to have a longer term experience experience a little bit more swelling, especially if you have scarring or something like that. Week The Tattooed area will initially appear darker bolder in color and more sharply defined in the final result.

You can generally expect your fresh cosmetic tattoo to fade by by 40 to 60% of its original intensity. You'll also notice that it's going to look really red possibly and orangey in the beginning. This is partially because your skin's inflamed and a little bit sensitive for sure. So the redness is coming through your skin and also like possibly your blood this little blood mixed in there. But also we need to make it a little bit warmer because it will feel cooler cooler so you will notice much more natural color once the scabbing comes off. scabbing comes off usually for most people around 10 ish days but you really can't rush that so let's just jump back to the after care pack.

You're going to have wiped those brows and you are going to bed on fresh clean sheets. You're not going to be using dirty sheets because that can transfer any kind of bacteria or dirt onto your brow. You're going to make sure that you're not petting your dog you're going to be sanitizing your glasses if you wear any glasses so that they're not touching your brows and contaminating your brows that way. We live in rural areas also so we have to be mindful of well water if you are on well water I recommend buying some bottled water so that you can safely cleanse your face without having bacteria or possible minerals aggravate or infect the freshly healing tattoo.

So after you wake up the first day, your brows are gonna feel really tight and inside the aftercare package. You will find a little bit of cream I only give a little bit of cream because I don't want you to overdo it. This is a situation or less is more so I'm going to give you a little bit of cream in your aftercare pack and then you are going to take out half a grain of rice size amount for each brow and you're gonna spread it on each brow in the one time in the morning. And then you're only going to do that if they feel super, super tight. We want to keep them not too moist so also no soaking these bows in water and no direct steam or no direct water on these brows until the scabbing is off basically you can do a really light wipe with a very damp not soaking hell but you do not want to be looking these brows because it will cause the scabbing took come off faster which will also lift your pigment. So number one to avoid loss pigment do not remove or itch the skin as it sheds. So you're going to be shedding probably within days three to 10 of eyebrow tattoo and it's going to be really itchy.

And you're just going to have to avoid it and at night is the hardest time because I've even caught myself trying to edge my brows in the middle night and I'm like no don't do it but you're sleeping. So the trick for that is you can wear gloves to bed but most people will be come more aware of it once they do something like listen to this episode and then they have it in their minds that they're not supposed to be doing it. You totally cute into it at night when you're doing it and you're like No, don't do it again. So no picking or itching of the skin as it sheds. Number two any adjustments or touchups can be made only after the healing period is complete. So reserve your judgment also until it's fully healed. Full healing processes six to eight weeks. And sometimes there will be things that you want to change. It is possible entirely. It's not probable but it's possible that through the tattooing process, we could have bumped in the line just slightly. We will never tattoo outside of the guideline during a permanent makeup process and this is because of swelling, etc. If you have a really difficult skin type to work with. Sometimes there could be little areas that don't grab as well. They might need to be touched up afterwards.

So don't worry if you feel like there's something that needs to be adjusted in the touch up. This is completely normal. Remember how we went through so detailed? spent all that time and are able to see everything measured out so we'll never go outside of the lines.

If we need to bump the line back because it doesn't take we can totally do that in the touch up. Less is always better than more so we'll always on the side of caution. And really just remember how that mapping was so integral and how confident you felt when you saw that shape. Just remember, we can always recreate that shape and perfect things in the touch up. How the healing process goes. Number three during permanent makeup process to avoid the following for the best sealed results.

So I might have covered some of these but I'm just going to go through them pretty quickly. But these are all very serious violations. So number one is definitely working. Sweating will cause the payment from your cosmetic tattoo to be pulled out. Like basically giving yourself a ceiling tattoo removal. So it's 100% in order to avoid working out in any way shape or form. So also going skiing, etc. All those people that say they don't sweat. Yes, you're human. You do sweat so please don't say that to me. Please don't think that you're going like immune to this aftercare. You cannot violate this or else it's going to impact the heal result of your cosmetic tattoo 100% Avoid Vaseline, foreign and any other petroleum product.

Avoid application of the makeup on to area for two weeks. Avoid attract tattoo and certain cleansers so heavy creams. Wash around areas. clean cloth or oil free makeup white. Avoid activities of sweating for 10 days or until you're stabbing is gone. Also weighed rain or steam or anything like that. Avoid swimming pools, hot tubs or bodies of water for 14 days. Avoid people exposure to the sun and that can cause fading discoloration of the Pimenton Once completely healed, always wear sunscreen. I recommend SPF 50 But SPF 30 Definitely a great area we have an amazing sunscreen brought in specifically for our organs, but also because it's looking for an awesome field the coolest sunscreen is amazing. It has an SPF 50 That is great. It also has a matte fate to tinted sunscreen for all the girls who have oily skin so awesome and such a shirt to wear underneath makeup or just by itself.

I love the BB cream because it gives them the most amazing glow to your skin. It's also they like damn slow oils and just below you get is amazing from here. So yes, definitely in the browser once the scabbing is off for remember avoiding laser therapy as it can darken. Or avoid Asian products retinal acid is on topic 30 days after the equipment premature fading. So this includes skin lightening terms. Avoid thought is facial or like definitely it is off and otherwise probably contact the studios for specifics with that. You might be wondering will cosmetic tattooing work well for me. If you have extremely oily skin the hair stroke eyebrow technique will not be the best for you. The constant production of oil will cause the hair strokes to kill with a diffuse softer look. Your end result will look more than outer eyebrow than defined so I often just recommend POWder Brow for oily skin. It will hold a lot better for you and you'll generally be a lot happier we can do supernatural technique with POWder Brow too. It doesn't have to look like super makeup.

It can just give fullness and definition to your brows where you want it. If you have little to no existing hair your tattoo will appear more two dimensional than those clients who have more hair naturally. That's something to consider as well. If you are a frequent smoker, your pigment may fade sooner. So smoking actually can affect your healing in a lot of different ways. I was watching this I forget it was like Nip Tuck or something like that. And they actually won't perform certain plastic surgeries on your face. If you are a smoker because your skin does not heal as well as people who aren't smokers and in some cases it will die actually and it won't kill like at all the right way so they just won't do the procedure. So it's something to think about because if you are a smoker, your skin is just not going to be set up to heal as well as someone who isn't a smoker with the chemicals and all that in your system prepared. They have a difficult time with your pigment retention or it may fade sooner. If you are deficient or anemic, your pigment also may fade sooner and bleeding. Bruising may occur during the permanent makeup procedure or after so sometimes if you're very thin skin too, that can also happen or if you have like an older skin type. But it's not always like that.

Hypothyroidism can also affect and many other medical conditions can make it a little bit more difficult for you to get cosmetic tattooing but it's usually always possible for certain things that are contra indications to cosmetic tattooing. Please check out our website. It's already really long episode for you guys here. So I want you to focus on aftercare and brow retention in this episode and if you have any specific medical situation that you are concerned about, please contact the studio directly or better yet your physician and our website also has a bunch of amazing information with that too. If you ever have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at Elevatelash.ca through Instagram is the best way to get in touch with us. Now also works great Jenna@Elevatelash.ca. Just go out and ask the questions and we'd love to answer them for you. So if you're ever feeling like wondering, is this normal during my healing or unsure about what should be done or interpretation of these instructions, please reach out I would be happy to help you so that you can have a great experience and so that you end up with browsers that you love. Thanks for joining us and I hope you have learned a lot from this episode. If you have any other questions, get in touch. Remember, it's a combination of both do before during and after your appointment that will give you the best results and Brow retention don't forget to check out the other two mini episodes we prepare for you. Consider this a part of your research before getting a brow tattoo to make sure you'll get the optimal results. Love this episode head over to iTunes to subscribe rate and leave a review. Don't forget to join us next week for another episode. Thanks for listening!