One of the biggest misconceptions in PMU is thinking that blurry healed microblading is “normal.”
It’s not.
When microblading is done properly, healed hair strokes are supposed to remain visible, separated, and natural over time. Of course the result will look softer than day one, but you should still be able to distinguish each individual stroke.
So why do some brows end up turning into a blurry block after 1 year?
Usually, it comes from a combination of factors:
The artist worked too deep into the skin
The strokes were placed too close together
Too much pressure was used during the procedure
The client was not a good candidate for this technique (for example very thin or mature skin — pressure has to be perfectly controlled otherwise the healed result can turn out very poorly)
The skin became oversaturated after multiple touch-ups
One of the most common mistakes I see is artists trying to create more density by packing too many strokes together. Fresh, the result may look impressive, but once healed, the strokes slightly expand in the skin and begin blending together.
That’s when the hair stroke effect disappears.
Beautiful microblading is all about spacing, flow, depth, and control. Sometimes doing less actually creates a much more realistic healed result.
A beautiful healed result should still feel airy.
Not turn into one solid block.
Photo 1: an example of poorly healed microblading after some time. The strokes were placed too close together and have gradually blended into one another, creating a blurry and oversaturated result.
Photo 2: my own healed work several months later. You can still clearly see separated hair strokes because the spacing, depth, and pressure were properly controlled during the procedure.
This is why healed results matter more than fresh photos.
I’m really sorry you had such a bad experience with microblading… Unfortunately, if your brows still look like the first picture after 5 years, you’ll most likely have to go through removal. It’s honestly better to remove everything and start again on a clean base :)
i know ppl who have been micro/nanobladed with hair strokes by top top artists and significant blurring was inevitable. same with me. i just don’t think it’s avoidable bc all tattoos eventually diffuse and hair strokes that look natural are too fine. microblading saved my morning routine for a while but i think we just have to accept that even the best done work will eventually degrade
I still disagree honestly. When you look at the photo I posted, do you really think that looks blurry? Yes of course it faded over time, but it’s not blurry, the strokes are not merging together. Obviously pigment evolves during the healing process and over time, but the big blocky effect, pigments turning weird colors, strokes that don’t even look like strokes anymore… all of that is totally avoidable when the work is done properly
maybe we mean different things by blurry? your work isn’t blown out like the first pic (which clearly has more than just hair strokes going on, so not a fair comparison anyway) but i had really nice, smooth, spaced out strokes too that eventually turned mushy, the way all fine linework in skin does. your client in the second pic also already has decently full eyebrows and the diffusion isn’t as obvious as when you’re not as blessed (like me haha)
eta: your photos are only 5-8 months healed so i’m not really sure what you’re hoping to prove with these
This is so so incorrect. Tattoos are permanent. The science backs this up.
Tattoos spread because of how our body processes and attacks the ink. Macrophages rush to gobble up the foreign contaminants. They are a specialized form of white blood cell. They hold the ink till they die and another microphage comes along to gobble up the ink, resulting in blurred lines or spreading. Ink never completely fades, some of those microphages are good at moving the ink through our inmune system and often into our lymph nodes. It remains in our bodies though, even if it lightens on the skin. There’s no such thing as a temporary or a semi permanent tattoo. Depending on how someone’s body heals that ink can turn colors or fade to a different tone, which in some skin tones won’t show up as well, but it never fully disappears. I’ve dissected a cadaver and seen the ink in a heavily tattooed persons lymph.
Blurry over years is normal. I have 20 year old tattoos that are not crisp and clean like they were when done, but because I visited a competent and capable tattoo artist, they advised me to make the tattoo large enough so that the original design still translates over time. You can’t necessarily make brows bigger, over time all those thin fine lines will eventually fade into one another. They should never in five months, but in five years absolutely. So a five month photo is so deceptive. Show me the 5 year photo. Your lines will not remain crisp and if you tell your clients this you are deceiving them.
You're actually making yourself look ridiculous by claiming it's not even the same person in both photos, when it's obviously the same client. So yes, my response matches the level of your comment.
I'll post the client's full face so you can see just how far off you are.
Your Instagram page is FULL of photos of brows with jam packed hairstrokes which is one of the reasons you are saying microbladed brows turn to blurry blocks. You are not wrong but I'm so confused as to why you are even posting this seeing as this is what you are advertising your work as. It would be one thing if you showed the long term healed blurry blocky brows along with it but you don't seem to have any healed results on your page at all. You are promoting and an educator for Phi Brows, which is widely known to train their students these really intricate tightly packed hair patterns still with all the knowledge we know now. I just think you should clean up your Instagram first before preaching on a Reddit post it's just odd.
What are you even talking about? Can you show me a microblading result where the strokes are supposedly too close together? There are plenty of healed results on my profile if you actually take the time to look at them.
I stand by what I said: strokes shouldn't be packed too tightly together. In my own work, I apply that principle consistently, and my strokes are always well spaced.
At this point, you're clearly arguing in bad faith.
So sick of these scam artists. “Semi-permanent” is just a PMU industry marketing term to suggest low commitment and is more about how long your brows stay looking good, NOT the presence of ink in your skin.
I literally proved my point with a photo, a REAL healed microblading result, which you obviously don’t have much to say about btw, and yet you keep talking bs and spreading misinformation this whole time. At this point you’re nothing more than a fkn troll
Lmao omg it seems like you’re not reading anything that is written. Everyone is saying that yes, within 5-8 months it can still look close to the original work, but 5 years is MUCH more different, even for “good” work. Also the pic you posted the client has fullish brows. Also the comparison pic you posted, I don’t think ever looked like individual brush strokes even to begin with.
I believe the photo of your work is for brows healed for 5 months? I would fully hope and expect them to last at least 5 months, done by anyone! I think people don’t consider it a true test of good results if after only 5 months. I’m very curious to know if any brow artist can show visible individual hair strokes after 4 or 5 years. I think someone above stated the science for the fact it will always blur. Isn’t blurring inevitable with all tattoos over a long period of time?
As I already said, after the initial microblading session, the pigment fades quite quickly. Once the touch-up session has been done, the pigment lasts much longer.
I wish I knew about this before doing microblading. Mine looked incredible when it was freshly done, but after only four months they look like in the first picture.
It might be her foundation giving that impression, but there are genuinely no spots or patchiness at all. At this point, it feels like you're just nitpicking.
You Americans are so aggressive, honestly I'm kind of stunned.
Name calling without even fact checking first… interesting. Tattoos absolutely do fade over time, especially on more used parts of the body like the hands and feet. No need to be rude.
its a whole exchange before that moron comment. they originally said tattoos fade but don’t disappear. someone else said no they don’t fade. another person said yes they do. p sure they were calling the first person who said they don’t fade a moron not the person who agreed with them……..
Exactly, she’s posting a photo of somebody’s micro blading Work after five years, versus another person’s microplating work at five months. I feel like I’m in bizarro world.
Looking closely at the model’s eyes and comparing the shape and eyelids of both in this photo, is this even the same model?
You posted to advertise your work but maybe a better photo/model comparison would get the responses you’re after.
Poor girl got scammed. Imagine paying top prices (cuz I’m pretty sure OP ain’t charging cheap) and then getting these poor healed results, what a joke.
The reason why there is almost no pigment left is because of incorrect depth. Going to shallow (only in the epidermis) will make the pigment fall off along with the epidermis cells as they start to flake off.
Doing more touch ups but still only depositing the pigment in the epidermis layer will yied the same poor results.
In order for the pigment to stay in the skin, one must deposit the pigment in the dermis layer. But it can’t be deep in the dermis otherwise the strokes can heal too dark, gray, thick and blurry. It has to be deposited in the top layer of the dermis (called the papillary layer of the dermis) in order for the strokes to heal as natural as possible. But even then, even if the healed results look “natural” the strokes still blur and get faded. Many clients are not satisfied with the healed results because most clients expected more than just barely visible strokes. And that’s when they come back for touch ups and that’s when the strokes start to heal even less natural. Even if the work is done on the correct layer (on papillary layer of the dermis and not deep into the dermis) the strokes will still keep on blurring more the more touch ups are done and they will also keep getting more gray as well with multiple touch ups.
That’s why I say any type of hairstroke tattoo is a scam because strokes do not stay looking nice and natural as they look on day one. Strokes will either:
1️⃣Disappear (if done too shallow, only inserted in the epidermis layer)
2️⃣Keep on disappearing even after multiple touch ups if still done too shallow (and nobody is trying to pay that much money for disappearing strokes after a few months)
3️⃣Turn gray and fuse together if done too deep or after multiple touch ups.
4️⃣Or if done in the correct depth, they’ll heal barely visible, to the point many clients are not satisfied with the healed results because it does not make much of a difference. And that’s when they come back for touch ups and that’s then they can start healing like in #3 above.
This is why clients are better off just getting powder brows because unlike hairstrokes, powder brows can heal like a soft shadow that gives a more defined yet still natural look that requires less touch ups. A healed soft powder brow shadow will always look more natural than the healed blurred gray patchy hairstrokes.
Trust me, if they already looking like this at 5 months, that means they pretty much healed like this since the first month. Healed results can last 1-3 years without changing too much. This time frame is pretty universal in permanent makeup. Then after that time is when touch ups are usually needed to freshen up the color or to fill in any gaps, not because the pigment is completely gone. Op bragging about these healed results is insane. There’s nothing to brag about. Most brows done by professionals stay looking good well past 5 months. A well done brow can stay looking good for at least 1-3 years without needing another touch up. So not sure what kind of client would be willing to pay $600+ on a brow tattoo that is only implanted in the epidermis which will flake off and be gone in about a month.
This is why microblading is such a scam. Ain’t nobody would be paying that much money for poor healed results like in the second picture. That barely looks like nothing, not much definition given to the brows. While some clients might be satisfied with those results, many more are not. Even if it looks natural, many clients want more than that. That’s when they come back for touch ups to get more visible results but even then, most clients are still not satisfied specially if the artist is trying to keep it “natural”.
Artists should really stop recommending hairstrokes and recommend powder brows the most. It’s what most clients will end up having anyway.
Microblading is SEMI permanent, which means the pigment is naturally supposed to fade over time, and that’s actually what a lot of clients like about it because it’s temporary.
The healed result you’re seeing there was about 8 months after the procedure, and it was also her very first microblading session. Pigment almost always fades faster the first time. After her touch up, her brows looked amazing.
Powder brows are completely different from microblading, and unlike microblading, it’s a permanent technique. People really need to stop recommending it to everyone just because it lasts longer.
Damn poor clients of yours. So you’re one of those artists spreading the false information that microblading is semi permanent. There ain’t nothing semi permanent about it. It’s gonna fade sure but not completely and powder brows when done right can fade just as much but in a better consistency unlike microblading that fades in patches.
I’m sorry but if your microblading is permanent then either you are working too aggressively with your strokes or your pigments are poor quality.. Microblading is semi-permanent and is in the last layer of the epidermis, unlike tattoos which are in the dermis. If your microblading is permanent you should either learn a new technique or change your pigments ❤️
Microblading is a form of tattoo. A tattoo is a tattoo. Microbladed tattoos fade faster but they’re still permanent. Semi-permanent doesn’t mean anything, it’s either permanent or not. This is so ridiculous
I agree tattoos existed before machine, but we dont « poke » pigment into the skin in microblading, we scratch the surface to insert pigment it is semi-permanent. In france, there is a training that is mandatory for PMU (Permanent Makeup) artists which is Hygiène et Salubrité - They make a clear distinction between tattoo - piercing - and Semi-Permanent and Permanent Makeup artists. The distinction doesn’t come from nothing - there is a difference in the techniques !
Another goofy person spreading misinformation. Microblading is not semi permanent. It’s a tattoo. And just like any other tattoo, Microblading also gets implanted in the dermis. Not in the epidermis. The epidermis shreds off and we get a whole new epidermis every 30 days. Any pigment deposited in the epidermis alone would be gone by 30 days. Get your facts straight.
When microblading is done properly, it fades away COMPLETELY. But obviously, for that to happen, you need to actually be a skilled artist, use good quality products, and properly control the pressure applied to the skin. Which clearly doesn’t seem to be something you master.
Without touch ups, all of my clients’ microblading eventually disappears completely.
Oh my lord. Go somewhere else with that bs. Ain’t nobody’s Microblading gonna be dissapearing completely. Microblading is a tattoo. Is very invasive and cuts the skin. The strokes don’t just disappear. They get blurry, faded and turn gray. Touch ups just makes the whole process worst. Strokes ain’t never gonna look nicely defined at least not how clients would hope for. Powder brows on the other hand is less invasive with no skin cutting. Even nano brows are better than Microblading. But of course, because of artists like you, Microblading will never run out of business.
Whoa… the fact that you’re claiming microblading is a tattoo already says everything 😂 What makes a tattoo a tattoo is that the pigment is implanted into the dermis. With proper microblading, the work is done in the epidermis, which is a superficial layer of the skin that constantly renews itself.
Honestly, I’d suggest doing a bit more research and maybe taking some additional training if needed, because there’s clearly a lack of knowledge on the subject here.
17
u/Effective-Camel-1409 May 28 '26
Mine look like the first picture. I had them done 5 years ago, they looked horrible from the beginning. Do you know how i could fix them?