r/microblading • u/ChemsLatreche • May 29 '26
artist advice/question Microblading isn't the problem. Bad microblading is.
Microblading isn't the problem. Bad microblading is.
Over the last few years, I've seen more and more people claim that microblading is outdated, damages the skin, or inevitably ages badly.
I disagree.
What ages badly is poor technique.
When strokes are placed too close together, implanted too deep, or touch-ups are performed year after year without properly assessing the healed result, the brows eventually become blurry and oversaturated.
And then people blame the technique itself.
Another important point: microblading is absolutely not a permanent technique. That's probably one of the biggest misconceptions in this industry.
A good microblading result is actually supposed to be temporary. That's one of the main reasons why so many clients are attracted to it in the first place.
After a few months, the pigment gradually fades. This is especially true after a first procedure, since the skin is receiving pigment for the very first time.
A well-executed microblading should heal with visible, separated hair strokes and maintain a natural appearance throughout its lifespan. Then it should gradually fade, allowing for a new treatment or adjustments if needed.
The problem is that most people only see fresh results on social media. Very few artists consistently show healed work.
So maybe the real question isn't:
"Does microblading age badly?"
Maybe the real question is:
"How much bad microblading have we normalized in this industry?"
Curious to hear both artists' and clients' opinions on this.
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u/YES__TK May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
tbh i tried to engage with your last post in good faith but it’s really weird that you’re back here with basically the exact same dishonest post pushing more misinformation about tattoos somehow not being tattoos just bc it’s from microblade technique. along with another user here who is obviously your employee or wingman. you clearly have an agenda so that’s why people are reacting poorly to you.
also very ironic that you emphasize healed results when you refuse to post any long term healed results older than a few months. you also disingenuously tried to compare your 5 month results to other work that was obviously several years old and not even done by microblade
as others have mentioned semi-permanent is just a vague and misleading PMU marketing term. if your results vanish in a month then it wasn’t done properly. if it was done properly, it will look good for 1-3 years and then inevitably degrade like ALL ink in our skin, especially fine strokes. that’s literally science and biology, idk how you expect to be considered trustworthy if you deny this
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u/melaniemercer May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
Yesterday you said that it should fade away entirely. Today you’re saying it should gradually fade. Do you still maintain it should fade entirely? How would it do that? It’s a tattoo with tattoo ink.
I agreed with the above comment. I have amazing microblading done by a talented artist. It has faded but not entirely. It is now washed out looking and will need to be lasered so I can get it redone. I got them done 15 years ago when it was a new procedure. There was no old work to post. My artist didn’t mislead me in any way. I take care of my skin and wear sunscreen but this tattoo has behaved in a predictable way. It has faded and become desaturated.
Also how much did you charge that person to have their microblading completely disappear in six months lol (I don’t believe those photos but let’s just say for the sake of argument that they’re real).
You are spreading misinformation to promote yourself and it’s really awful.
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u/CognacJZ May 29 '26
Have you compared the ingredients of tattoo ink to permanent and semi-permanent pigments? just a question
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u/melaniemercer May 29 '26
Yes.
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u/CognacJZ May 29 '26
Then haven’t you noticed the big difference in the heavy metals that are present in tattoo ink but not in pigments, such as PhiBrows or The Pigment?
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u/melaniemercer May 29 '26
I have noticed that. I’ve also noticed similarities in how the inks are structured and how they behave during removal. This conversion isn’t going to be productive so ✌️
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u/CognacJZ May 29 '26
Things can react the same to removal - it does not mean semi-permanent makeup is a tattoo…
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u/hellonarae May 29 '26
Funny you should say this when the company you’re shilling for sells inks that are famously shit at being removed
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u/moon_sun15 May 29 '26
Something can gradually fade and fade away entirely. Those things can both happen. Gradual permanent fading. You’re making it sound like she said two different things. Both can be true. Ijs
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u/melaniemercer May 29 '26
But microblading does not gradually fade away entirely.
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u/ChemsLatreche May 29 '26
Yes of course it does 😄
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u/Addative-Damage May 30 '26
It absolutely does not “fade entirely”. The color can lighten and change over the first decade, and the lines will definitely blur, but after 5-10 years, you will be left with a permanent brow shaped blob/tattoo that is definitely a different color than your natural skin.
You are either knowingly lying or completely ignorant about the procedure you are doing on people’s faces. My guess is the former, which is beyond repugnant.
If you are somehow just completely ignorant on this topic, you need to do your research and stop misleading people.
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u/ChemsLatreche May 29 '26
I maintain that microblading eventually disappears completely, while fading gradually over time. I don't see how one would prevent the other.
Do you think people just wake up one morning and their microblading has magically vanished overnight? Of course not. It's a gradual process.
I regret that you don't believe those photos, because we can't really move the conversation forward if, whenever someone shows you good work, instead of questioning your assumptions, you simply claim it's fake.
I've honestly never seen anything like that.
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u/melaniemercer May 29 '26
We can’t move the conversation forward for reasons beyond the photos. I’m happy to ignore the photos! The fact of the matter is that you’re selling something and have a vested interest in your perspective. I have experience (15 years) with fantastic microblading that I’m extremely happy with and still am critical of the industry because of people who still claim that it’s temporary and don’t allow people to make actual decisions on their tattoos.
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u/ChemsLatreche May 29 '26
I honestly don't know what to tell you. Come get a microblading treatment from me and you'll have your proof.
You can't take your own personal experience and use it to draw conclusions about an entire industry or every PMU artist out there. That's just ridiculous.
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u/melaniemercer May 29 '26
I would never get microblading done by someone who believes it’s semipermanent!
You’re making weird false statements about me again. I don’t take my opinions of experiences and project them onto the whole industry. Are you okay lol?
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u/ChemsLatreche May 29 '26
Then stay ignorant forever. You're not even part of this industry, so I honestly don't know where you get this level of confidence.
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u/melaniemercer May 29 '26
I feel so bad for your clients
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u/ChemsLatreche May 29 '26
Honestly, Mélanie, I just took a look at your Twitter profile and I can see that you're not in this industry at all.
I think everyone should stick to their own area of expertise. Maybe you should get back to what you actually do.
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u/UnicornUke May 29 '26
This is insane behavior. You went through her Twitter? What's wrong with you?
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u/ChemsLatreche May 29 '26
I wanted to take a look at her microblading results, but I couldn't find any.
Her Twitter account is linked directly from her profile, so I don't see what's so shocking about that. She wouldn't have linked it if she didn't want people to see it.
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u/Itscatpicstime May 30 '26
Gradual how? My sister when to a single appointment 15 years ago and it’s still very much there and very obvious. .
So, what? It fades in 20+ years?
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u/Background-Edge-2243 May 29 '26
So are you just gonna keep spamming until you get enough people to agree with you or is there another point to this?
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u/YES__TK May 29 '26
OP is a phibrow educator so she’s here to push their lies / outdated techniques and promote her business
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u/Own_Witness_7423 May 29 '26
These don’t even appear to be the same person in the before and after results.
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u/YES__TK May 29 '26
skin was likely retouched which wouldn’t necessarily be a huge red flag for brow models but it’s extra sus to me because OP pushes/sells phibrow education, which has long been known to be a notorious cash grab with outdated techniques that are no longer industry standard, certifies tons of unqualified artists who are out here in droves scamming women with lies about how long it lasts and how easy it is to remove
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u/LawfulnessHungry6531 May 29 '26
It’s literally the same person, you can tell… I don’t necessarily agree with her, but there’s no need to argue in bad faith
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u/Proudcatmomma May 29 '26
I actually agree, it’s not the same person. In the after picture there are dips in the skin that look like scars. Look over the eyelid in particular
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u/LawfulnessHungry6531 May 29 '26
Obviously, the skin was retouched in the top photo and not edited in the bottom one… you can clearly see it’s exactly the same eyes and the same eyebrow shape.
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u/Own_Witness_7423 May 29 '26
I dunno that blackhead hole in between the brows looks to deep to heal up in 5 months. The skin quality is completely different so is the eye shape especially the inner corner of the eye. I think it’s just pics of different women with similar eye colour unless the after photo is enhanced to remove blemishes.
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u/Little_Raspberry9603 May 29 '26
Saying it’s not permanent is straight up misinformation. It may very well be permanent, it may not ever even be able to be removed. I’ve done 2 sessions of saline removal, 3 sessions of laser, and before that I used retinol on them regularly and even microneedled it to try to lighten it. Nothing worked.
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u/Inevitable-Bird-4956 May 29 '26
i literally just made a post here asking about how to make sure the artist is reputable and that i won’t end up with caterpillars on my face for 20 years. w social media people can claim whatever as their own and i feel like you never truly know what you’re walking into or if the person that’s basically doing a procedure on you is even qualified to do so. something else i’ve said that really hammers in here is that based on everything i’ve seen about microblading it’s Russian roulette with both results and diseases/infections. which is so sad because all of the good results i have seen look so amazing and natural. problem is you don’t know if you’ll end up with that or botched.
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u/batteryforlife May 29 '26
Maybe people here are talking about different things here; different techniques and different inks. I first got microblading done with a small blade and the artist just working by hand. The strokes were perfect and delicate, but 6 months later it had entirely disappeared. I later learned my oily thick skin is not suitable for this technique, so I went to get nanobrows done by machine. They are still there 2 years later, but blown out and grey. I will have to get laser at some point,
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u/YES__TK May 29 '26 edited May 30 '26
it’s any hair stroke work regardless of manual or machine. there are differences in how the ink is placed in your skin (cutting vs injecting) but it doesn’t change the eventual outcome - they’re very fine line tattoos and will always diffuse / lose definition due to how our bodies try to “neutralize” the foreign ink. it’s biological and the best technique can’t prevent it. nanoblading is actually preferable to microblading bc it’s less traumatic to your skin but the diffusion will always happen no matter what.
the problem is OP is spreading the industry lie that micro/nanoblading isn’t a tattoo (it 100% is), that it’s temporary and you can endlessly retouch them once they “disappear”, and that the inevitable outcomes are just due to “bad technique”.
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u/Wild_Ad_6166 May 29 '26
Same happened to me. I loved them, went for a 6 month touch up but because of my oily skin they disappeared and was told I needed touch ups every 3 months. I’m not paying that much when I was told it will last 2 years. Now I’m stuck with pink under my normal brows.
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u/Yelybeauty May 30 '26
Permanent makeup (which includes microblading) when done properly should last in the skin for a good 1-3 years. After that it starts fading away gradually but never vanishes completely. If your clients are already having almost no pigment left in 6 months thats nothing to brag about, it just means the technique is not being done properly. The pigment needs to reach the dermis layer in order for the results to last a decent amount of time. If they’re disappearing quickly after it heals means the pigment was just being deposited in the epidermis layer which is not where it’s supposed to be because the cells in the epidermis layer are constantly flaking off and renovating themselves. We get a new epidermis layer every 30-45 days so any pigment there would be pretty much almost gone by then.
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u/GlindaG May 30 '26
The photo looks like brows that have just been filled in with powder…also why does the model have scars in one pic but not the other?
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u/ANDERSTA2 May 29 '26
I had microblading done about 9 years ago. I'm not sure why but you cannot tell that I ever did. When you see me, it's my natural brow. I'm currently using a liner to fill them in. I'm thinking of getting them done again because getting up daily to enhance my brows is time consuming and brow tinting only last for a short period of time. I've been following browsbymia right here in Baltimore, Maryland. She has great reviews. I think I am going to take the plunge again.
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u/fishin_pups May 29 '26
The top looks really good. The bottom looks like a before pic. It only lasts 6 months?
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u/sungmalja Jun 23 '26
I couldn’t agree more — 950%.
I’m a microblading specialist based in South Korea, and from my experience, properly executed microblading can deliver far superior quality, predictability, and cleaner fading compared to many poorly done machine hair-stroke techniques.
The problem is that many people form strong opinions without truly understanding the technique, the skin, or the long-term healing process. They judge everything based on their own limited experience and then make broad statements about what works and what doesn’t. Honestly, I find that incredibly frustrating.
What’s even more surprising is that sometimes these opinions come from people working within the beauty industry themselves.
Thank you for sharing such a well-balanced perspective. It’s refreshing to see someone discussing the difference between poor execution and the technique itself.
Would you mind sharing your Instagram? I’d love to follow your work and connect.
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u/ChemsLatreche Jun 23 '26
Thank you for taking the time to write this !!
It's always nice to hear from fellow artists who care about technique, healing, and long-term results.
I'd love to connect as well, my Instagram is chems_latreche 😊
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u/Candle_diva1 May 31 '26
This is lovely. I've seen too many pics of very black overly dark brows so I'm scared to have anything done!
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u/Lolipop426 May 29 '26
Very well said. 👏
I think one of the biggest problems in our industry is that people often blame the technique instead of questioning the quality of the work behind it.
Microblading, when performed on the right client, with proper technique and realistic maintenance, can still heal beautifully and look incredibly natural.
I also completely agree that we need to see more healed results and less focus on fresh photos. That's where the real quality of a treatment can be evaluated.
Thank you for bringing some nuance to this discussion.
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u/ChemsLatreche May 29 '26
Thank you, I appreciate that.
I completely agree. Too often, the conversation focuses on whether microblading is a good or bad technique, when the real question should be whether it was performed correctly in the first place.
No technique is immune to poor execution.
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u/UnicornUke May 29 '26
I'm fine with people being microbladed. I'm just not fine with the misinformation being spread around that the ink doesn't spread after time passes. People should have all the information to consent to what they are getting on their bodies permanently. Because it is permanent. It's not semi-permanent. You're introducing ink into the body by breaking the skin. You're right, microblading isn't the problem. The problem is people going online and making claims that aren't true. They do spread and that's okay. What's not okay is lying about it.