Remember that video on Facebook that went viral last week of a woman trying to microblade her eyebrows at home? And it make everyone and their mother say, "Sweetie, NO?"
Well, it's not the first time someone has tried to DIY microblade their own eyebrows. In fact, at-home microblading has become the most dangerous trend in beauty.
You heard that correctly — there is a SLEW of at-home microblading tutorial videos on YouTube.
They say if something happens three times, it's a trend. Well, a search for "DIY microblading" on YouTube yields almost 40,000 results. That's a trend if I've ever seen one.
And some of them encourage some very, VERY dangerous habits and techniques. Take this one by user RachelXXNicole for example.
In this video, Rachel breaks some of the most obvious and most important rules of microblading. She doesn't wear gloves, uses a coffee lid to hold her pigment rather than a clean, disposable plastic cap, and fails to follow the proper immediate aftercare measures just to name a few.
Though this seems simple when done by a vlogger in their own home, microblading professionals can spot abut a million issues with videos such as this one.
Evertrue Microblading Salon founder Ramon Padilla noted the burning sensation this vlogger feels throughout her at-home procedure and attributes it to poor technique.
"Having the right pressure with the microblading tool is crucial," he said. "It needs to penetrate the skin only enough so that pigment reaches the upper portion of the dermal layer and no deeper — deep enough so that pigment stays but not too deep that scarring occurs. If the tool cuts to the hypodermal layer, then long-term scarring can occur. There is also risk of infection.
"At one point in the video she notices a burning sensation when applying pigment on the microbladed strokes — she cut too deep and that is her skin crying for help. The eyebrow reveal showed what looked to be open wounds."
Both Padilla and cosmetic tattooer Bethany Wolosky agree that performing this procedure on yourself without the proper qualifications might save you money in the short term, but will likely cost you way more than just money later on.
"It is true that [microblading] is not an inexpensive procedure, but the cost of fixing a botched job will be much higher, both in terms of money and emotional distress," Padilla said. "I would advise those who find themselves in similar situations to perhaps go with a microblading technician who is just starting out with lower prices — the work might not be as good, but it will be better than if done on one's own — or get together a group of friends and ask for a group discount, or maybe look for training sessions and ask to be a training model."
"Besides the risk of looking bad, there is the potential to cause permanent scarring and pigment migration if you are not trained in the proper techniques to implant pigment into the skin," Wolosky said. "Doing this in your home instead of a licensed establishment that meets lawful guidelines in hygiene puts you at risk of an infection. Disfiguring your face is not worth the money you will save by doing this yourself."
On top of that, it undermines the hard work of trained professionals and spread dangerous advice to a very vulnerable audience, Wolosky said.
"People spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to become professionals in this industry and to undermine this because you want to save money puts yourself at a great risk; filming it and distributing it is irresponsible," she said.
"Microblading is hard and takes a lot of time to master, it is ignorant and arrogant to assume that just because you can order the supplies means you are qualified or capable of tattooing yourself."
But if that still didn't convince you to leave this trend in the dust, just look at the results of an amateur versus a professional's work:
On the left: Microblding done at home. On the right: Microblading done by a professional.
Microblading done safely by a professional isn't cheap, but the cost is crucial if you don't want botched results. So don't even think about this one.
To learn more about professional microblading, please visit the websites of Evertrue Microblading Salon and Bethany Wolosky.
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