Aftercare, in plain English
What to do, what to avoid, and what is normal even though it does not look it. Keep this page open for a fortnight.
The same aftercare, whichever brows you have
Powder, ombré and combination brows all heal the same way and all need exactly the same aftercare. Alison hands out one brow sheet for all three, so there is nothing extra to remember depending on which technique you chose.
Lip blush follows the same six points, with a few practical extras that only apply to a mouth — those are further down this page.
The first ten days
Most of aftercare is leaving it alone. That is genuinely harder than it sounds.
What to do
- Keep the area clean — gently clean it with a mild soap and water a few times a day, and pat it dry
- Keep it moisturised with the ointment you are given, applied thinly
- Sleep on your back if you can manage it
- Keep your hair off your brows and your hands off your face
What to avoid
- Picking or scratching — it can cause infection and pulls the pigment out unevenly
- Direct sun or sunbeds for at least two weeks — it fades and discolours the pigment
- Sweating, exercise and hot showers for the first few days
- Make-up on the treated area for the first few days. If you must, use a gentle, oil-free formula and do not rub the area
- Swimming, saunas and steam rooms for 14 days
These are Alison’s own aftercare instructions, and you are given them in writing on the day. Following them is what decides how well the colour heals.
What is normal
Days 1–2: much darker and sharper than the final result. Lips swell, sometimes a lot. Normal.
Days 3–5: dry, tight, flaking. Brows shed in small flakes, lips peel like sunburn. Normal.
Days 5–8: the colour appears to disappear almost completely. This is the day people message in a panic. Normal, and it comes back.
Weeks 2–4: colour returns as the skin settles, reaching about 80–90% of the finished result.
Weeks 4–6: the perfecting session. Now it is fair to judge it.
When to get in touch
Straight away if you have spreading redness, heat, swelling that is getting worse after 48 hours rather than better, any discharge that is not clear, or a fever. These are signs of infection and they are rare, but they need seeing — contact the studio and your GP.
Also get in touch if a cold sore appears after lip work, so it can be managed before it pulls pigment out.
Why aftercare decides half the result
The work Alison does in the chair is one half of your result. What happens over the next ten days is the other, and that half is entirely yours.
Freshly worked skin is an open wound, microscopically speaking. Pigment sits in it and the skin heals around and over that pigment. Anything that interferes with that healing — water, sweat, make-up, sun, or picking — takes pigment with it, and where pigment is lost you get a patch that has to be corrected at the perfecting session rather than refined.
None of it is difficult. It is ten days of being slightly careful.
The awkward days, and how to plan around them
Days four to seven are the flaking days, and they are the ones worth arranging your diary around. The area lifts and peels like a healing graze, unevenly, and it looks patchy before it looks finished.
Do not book photographs, a wedding, a night out or a holiday inside that window. If you work face to face and you are self-conscious, a Thursday or Friday appointment buys you the weekend at the worst of it.
Sleeping, showering and washing your face
- Sleep on your back for the first few nights if you can, or at least away from the treated side. A pillowcase dragging across fresh brows overnight does real damage.
- Shower with your back to the water and keep your face out of the spray. Steam is as much of a problem as water — keep showers short and cool for the first week.
- Wash around the area, not over it. A cloth on the rest of your face is fine.
- No swimming, sauna or steam room for a fortnight. Chlorine and heat both pull pigment out of skin that has only just closed.
Lips need a little more
Lip blush is drier and more uncomfortable than brows for the first two or three days, and lips move constantly, so they crack if you let them dry out.
Keep a thin barrier balm on them — thin, because a thick layer suffocates the skin and slows healing. Drink through a straw for the first day or two. Eat bland food: no chilli, no citrus, nothing salty, nothing that needs a big bite.
If you have ever had a cold sore, take the antiviral you agreed at the consultation. A cold sore over fresh lip work is the one thing that reliably spoils a lip blush.
For the whole life of the treatment
Once it has healed, one habit does more than everything else put together: sun protection. Ultraviolet breaks pigment down faster than anything else, and an SPF on your brows and lips will add months to how long the work looks its best.
Keep acids, retinol and exfoliating scrubs off the area permanently. They are designed to speed up skin turnover, which is exactly the process that removes your pigment.
Before you go
Day six is when people panic.
Around day six the colour looks as though it has vanished completely. It has not — but nobody warns you, and it is horrible if you are not expecting it. Get the day-by-day healing guide so you know exactly what is coming.