Skin Types & How to Work with Them
As a brow artist, you will come across all types of skin. It is important to be familiar with the different types of skin in order to be prepared on how to properly handle each case. Your client’s skin type and skin health have a major impact on how it will react during the procedure and how the healed results will turn out. Skin type is determined by the amount of oil on your face. Skin can be categorized into 7 basic categories: normal, dry, oily, combination, sensitive/acne-prone, and mature.
Normal
How to tell: Your client’s skin is well-balanced – not too dry and not too oily. She doesn’t experience many break outs or flakiness. She doesn’t tend to react negatively to weather changes or new skincare products. She has a balanced t-zone.
What to expect/How to handle: Clients with normal skin take pigments very well and their healed results are usually exceptional.
Dry
How to tell: Your client’s skin generally looks and feels dry and dehydrated. Dryness is caused by the lack of oil in the skin. Her skin may sometimes feel flaky, rough, scaly, itchy or irritated. Her skin may also feel tight at times and it may show small, fine lines when the skin is pinched together.
What to expect/How to handle: Clients with dry skin usually take pigments very well and have the best retention. However, if your client has exceptionally dry skin and experiences dry patches and flakiness, you may notice that during the procedure the brows may look unblended since pigment may take more on those dry patches.
Oily
How to tell: Your client’s skin has an excess of oil, most commonly on her t-zone (forehead, nose, and chin) and her skin may always seem to be glowing. She may feel as though make up and skincare don’t stick throughout the day. Oily skin often has large pore, look shiny and feel greasy. Your client may be prone to breakouts and blemishes.
What to expect/How to handle: Clients with oily skin tend to have poor retention with lighter and patchier healed results. With oily skinned clients, you may want to use a darker color or shade more for better healed results. Going for a bold style will allow for the brows to last longer. You may notice that during the procedure the brows may take longer to complete. Excessive skin oil tends to promote fading so you may advise that healed results may be light and patchy. A touch up appointment will be essential for good healed results and the client’s brows may need more maintenance.
Combination
How to tell: Your client’s skin may have both dry and oily areas. For example, she may experience oiliness on her t-zone and dryness on her cheeks. Many clients with combination skin tend to have trouble figuring out what type of skin they have since they experience both dryness and oiliness.
What to expect/How to handle: Clients with combination skin may have mixed results. This depends on whether the brow area is oily or dry. If the brow and forehead area show signs of oiliness, please refer to the oily skin type section and if the area is usually dry, please refer to the dry skin type section.
Sensitive/Acne-Prone
How to tell: Symptoms of sensitive skin may vary from person to person; however, common symptoms include redness, dry patches, flakiness, irritated skin, frequent rashes/bumps, and often reacts negatively to new skincare products or products with fragrances. Sensitive skin may not always show visible signs, rather displaying feelings of discomfort in response to new skincare products or products with fragrance.
What to expect/How to handle: When you work on clients with this skin type, be sure to work slowly and don’t go too deep. The goal is to gradually build the color and not overwork the skin with too much depth. Clients with sensitive/acne-prone skin tend to bleed more and the brows tend to get red and swell. Applying a light layer of Tag45 (or any numbing with epinephrine) will usually help with excessive bleeding and redness. Extremely sensitive skin tends to also make the color of the brows warmer and redder immediately after the procedure. Bleeding tends to push the pigment out during the procedure therefore you should advise your client that excessive bleeding may cause uneven and light healed results.
Mature
How to tell: Your client’s skin may have wrinkles, deep lines, and dullness. She may also have sagging, dark spots, and dehydrated skin.
What to expect/How to handle: Clients with mature skin is usually more difficult to work with compared to the other skin types. When working on clients with this skin type, treat it like sensitive/acne-prone skin. The key is to slowly build color and layer on the pigments slowly. You want to keep your needle depth superficial and stretch the skin well. Mature skin will have wrinkles and fine lines, and without proper stretching, you may get unevenness (especially in the fronts where there are frown lines).
Mature skin has a higher chance of uneven healing due to inconsistency and unevenness in skin texture and skin elasticity. A touch up appointment will be essential for good healed results and the client’s brows may need more maintenance. A tip for clients with mature skin is to use lighter color pigments and to go for thinner style brows. Shaping the tail of the brows to be higher can give your client a more youthful and younger appearance.