How Permanent is Permanent Makeup?

When people say "permanent" makeup, do they really mean 100% permanent, as in "it will never go away"? It can be hard to tell. After all, “perms” aren’t actually permanent – those curls fall out eventually! So how permanent is a cosmetic tattoo? “Permanent” is technically the right term, since the color will never leave your skin, but in terms of appearance, cosmetic tattoos aren’t permanent in the way you think they are – they fade and can also be removed with laser tattoo removal. Read on for more about the permanency of cosmetic tattoos.

At first, the permanent makeup will look extra dark, but it won’t stay that way. During the first several days, your cosmetic tattoo will appear darker than you expected because your skin is still healing. As the skin heals, you’ll notice that the permanent makeup lightens and softens. As your skin goes through the healing process, small scabs will form, giving the makeup a deeper appearance. Eventually, these scabs will slough off. However, don’t pick at them – if you do, you may permanently scar your skin or remove the implanted pigment, which could affect the tattoo.

Like other tattoos, cosmetic tattoos will eventually fade. The good news is that permanent makeup fades gradually, so there won’t be any huge, noticeable difference all of a sudden. The more elements your face is exposed to (like if you spend your afternoons hanging on the beach and swimming in the ocean), the faster the permanent makeup will fade. The reason permanent cosmetics are called “permanent” is because the pigment is tattooed into the skin and can’t be removed by washing. Ultimately, when you get permanent makeup, color is injected into your body’s molecules and those molecules are permanently in your body, which means the color is as well.
The actual permanency of cosmetic tattoos will vary from person to person – an individual’s body chemistry can cause a tattoo to fade quicker than the same tattoo on somebody else. Your age, how thick your skin is, how your skin scars, and other personal factors affect how dark your makeup will appear and how much it will fade over time, as well as how quickly it will fade.

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