Every woman wants to look their best all the time. We are always looking for ways to get flawless skin –or appear to have flawless skin, and makeup is one of those things that help us improve our appearance.
Makeup lets us enhance our best features and conceal our worse. However, there is one face feature that naturally complements our look. We are talking about your eyebrows. They are an essential part of our face´s physiognomy, framing it, strengthening our expressions, and defining our eyes and forehead. That is why it is one of the most important aspects we need to take into consideration when doing our makeup. One technique that has been on a steady rise since 2015 is microblading. This technique can take this one feature out of our makeup checklist. When done right, the results are fantastic, providing a very natural look. And if you are anything like me, this will tick one out of three essential makeup steps off of your list. What else can a girl ask for?
However, as simple and harmless as this technique is, it is still a form of tattooing, and as such, every precaution should be taken if you decided to have it done. If you are pregnant and you are considering having your eyebrows microbladed, read on to learn if you should do it or wait until after your baby is born.
Opinions on whether it is safe for pregnant women to have their eyebrows microbladed vary greatly. However, the most prestigious and sought-after specialists and salons will not do it. Here is why.
Higher risk of infection
There is an increased risk of infection when doing this kind of procedure while being pregnant due to the changes the body is going through. The body is highly vascularized and healing can take longer. Of course this is true for any other procedure, but doctors and permanent makeup experts consider that an unnecessary cosmetic procedure is not worth risking the life of a mother and a baby.
Hormones are altered when you are pregnant
Hormones levels alter the way the entire body works as they regulate many of the bodily functions and pregnant women experience drastic hormonal changes during this stage of their lives.
According to experts, women should not get microblading done during pregnancy because they tend to bleed more. This is due to the improved vascularization caused by the high estrogen levels. Bleeding can affect the final result because excessive bleeding can dilute the pigment, the more you bleed, the less the pigment will be absorbed. Chances are you will have to have the process done again because of that. Considering that it is not a cheap procedure, you might want to wait until after the pregnancy ends, to minimize the chances of it not working.
Hormones also affect the way the body heals, and if your blood circulation has been affected by your pregnancy, healing might take longer than normal.
Another way hormone alterations can affect the procedure is that they cause the skin color to change. Some pregnant women experience discoloration or hyperpigmentation during pregnancy along with flushing and blushing. This can alter the choice of colors to be applied during the microblading process and thus the final result. Once the baby is born and the hormone levels back to normal, the color used during the process may not be adequate for the woman´s normal skin tone.
Finally, one of the worst possible outcome of a microblading procedure is having the shape done wrong. This can happen if you have it done during pregnancy, because of the bloating that fluid retention causes. Once the swelling goes down and your face goes back to its normal size, the permanent makeup applied during pregnancy could change its shape.
Some chemicals might not be safe for the baby
Some aestheticians use a topical anesthetic that contains epinephrine. This substance should not be used on pregnant women unless the risks associated with it surpass the possible harmful effects on the fetus. Some effects of epinephrine are fetal tachycardia, cardiac anomalies, extra systoles, and increased heart sounds; however, there aren´t any controlled studies in human pregnancy, most of the date comes from studies in non-human animals.
Another concern is the lack of study of the effects of certain substances present in the pigments that are used for the procedure. Even though they are natural pigments, they still contain chemicals such as iron oxide and nickel, which in trace amounts are harmless for adults, since their fully developed body can process them, this might not be the case for a human body in early stages of development.Such substances could be harmful for the fetus.
As you can see, there are several important reasons why a respectable microblading specialist will refuse treatment to pregnant women. These consequences are all probabilities and you might be just fine and get awesome results even if you do it during pregnancy, but why take the chance? If you waited two or three decades to have the perfect eyebrows, what´s the harm in waiting a few months more?