Why Would I Need 2 Sessions for Permanent Brows?

A lot of permanent makeup places do one session for their microblading or ombre brows, and just encourage clients to come in for a touch-up if they need it. 

We used to work this way too, but we quickly realized that it's not the best method to get the soft, natural results that we were looking for. 

It's also yet another reason that we always encourage potential clients to look for long-term healed results from the salons they choose.

This client's color stayed very well after the first session, but the strokes at the front of the brow faded a lot and will likely be almost entirely gone by the time she comes in for her second session. During that appointment, we will use the same color and go over the faded spots in the body of the brow again, and will use a slightly darker color to redo the strokes.

Not Everyone's Skin Reacts the Same!

This client had a red undertone. Sometimes, clients with red undertones absorb a lot of color, and it's important to start very light to make sure that the color looks natural when healed. 

We were happy with the color immediately after this client's service. We wanted to make sure that if all the pigment stayed, she would have a natural look. Before her 2nd session, only 6 weeks later, it's clear that she had quite a bit of fading. The nano strokes at the front of her brow were completely gone! If we only did one session, she would probably be disappointed with her results. 

We see other salons that encourage multiple sessions but charge for each one. We prefer to include both sessions in our overall price so that clients don't feel misled about the final cost. 

This is the best method to ensure that everyone gets the results they're hoping for. Even if someone only needs tiny adjustments, we think a 2nd session is worth the time.

When we first started and we only did one session, we would have clients reach out frequently to mention that their brows faded a lot, one brow was darker than the other, or the color had become patchy within the first few weeks. It obviously felt wrong to charge clients for a touch-up after their service didn't heal as expected!

So the solution was easy: We do one session, wait 6 weeks to see how it heals, and then do a second session. This way, we have time to learn how each client's skin will absorb the pigment and to see how everything heals. It also helps us build trust with clients because they know we're taking time to give them the best possible results.

Everyone's skin absorbs pigment at different levels, meaning that some people might take 100% of the color from a first session, while others might take only 40%. This can even differ between one person's two brows! Because of this, it's very risky for us to assume that the color will always fade, as it would lead to some clients having eyebrows that are way too dark or with uneven brow colors.

If we always did a very natural color in a single session, it's likely that many clients would have severe or patchy fading. 

Instead, we always start with a much lighter color, see how it heals, and then adjust the color if needed during the second session. For the clients that hold most of their color, we might just do another layer to ensure pigment retention. For faded or patchy brows, we can take our time to make sure everything is even. 

We often go a few shades darker in the second session, depending on each client's preferences. Sometimes we even have to use a darker color on only one of the client's brows to ensure even color.

A beautiful natural result after 2 sessions.

Remember: We can always go darker, but we can't go lighter.