Microblading on Black and brown skin, and why I don't offer it

Microblading became the everyday word for semi-permanent brows, but it's actually one specific technique, and on deeper skin it's often the wrong one. I trained in it. I chose not to offer it. Here's why, and what I do instead.

What microblading actually is

Microblading uses a hand tool with a row of tiny blades to cut fine, hair-like strokes into the skin and fill them with pigment. On the right skin, on day one, it looks beautiful.

Why the strokes often blur on deeper skin

Black, mixed and South Asian skin tends to be oilier, and it heals differently. As it heals, those fine strokes can spread, so the crisp hair lines you paid for soften into a blur. They also tend to fade unevenly, so one brow can go before the other.

Not everyone's skin does this. But it happens often enough that many artists who specialise in deeper skin steer clients away from microblading altogether. I'm one of them.

The other thing that goes wrong: the colour

This one has nothing to do with blades. A cool or neutral brown can look perfect in the bottle and still heal grey or ashy on warmer, deeper skin. I choose warm, golden and red-based browns for your undertone, which is why they still read as brown a year later.

It sounds like a small decision. It's one most beginner training never covers.

What I do instead: ombré and combination brows

Ombré brows are worked with a machine rather than blades. Instead of cut lines, the colour goes in as tiny dots that build up a soft, powdered finish: the look of a filled-in brow, without you filling it in. With no fine lines to blur, it holds far better on oilier and deeper skin.

Combination brows add a few fine hair strokes at the front, worked with the machine, with that soft powdered finish through the rest of the brow. If it was the natural look of microblading you wanted, this is usually what you're really after.

See ombré and combination brows

How it works

• Send me a photo of your bare brows and a couple of looks you like. I can make a digital mock-up, so you see the shape on your own face before you book.
• You'll have a patch test first. I post it to you, or drop it through your letterbox if you're close by.
• On the day, you approve the shape before any colour goes in.
• Around week two they can look like they've almost disappeared. That's normal, and they come back.
• A top-up at four to eight weeks perfects the shape and colour if you need one. Not everyone does.
• They soften gradually over one to two years, and then you decide again.

Already had your brows done somewhere else?