3 differences between body art tattoos and cosmetic tattoos

  1. Cosmetic tattoos do not pierce the skin as deeply.

    You may be surprised to find out that “permanent make-up” (PMU) isn’t actually permanent. A traditional body art tattoo needle can pierce up to 3 millimeters deep into the layer of the skin called the dermis. This is so that the ink completely saturates the skin and produces bold and permanent colors. On the other hand, a cosmetic tattoo will pierce the skin only up to 1 millimeter in depth. This allows the pigment to fall out during the skin’s natural healing process.

  2. The tools used in cosmetic tattoos tend to be more gentle on the skin.

    Traditional body art tattoos are done with a powerful machine that can produce high color saturation. Cosmetic tattoo machines are much gentler on the skin and make fewer punctures. In addition, some cosmetic tattooing doesn’t involve a tattoo machine at all. Microblading, for instance, uses a thin blade that is dragged through the skin by hand and creates areas where the ink can settle into the skin.

  3. With cosmetic tattoos, the inks and pigments are not as bold and will eventually fade.

    Cosmetic tattoos are not supposed to stand out. The inks used are meant to blend into the skin and eventually fade. The primary factor that allows this is the fact that PMU molecules are very small. Once these substances are injected into the skin, the body’s immune system immediately starts attacking them because they are perceived as foreign matter. Gradually, it will extract a portion of the pigments causing the results to fade into invisibility. Why would you want your PMU to fade? Trends and styles change. Your own preferences may also change. Fading allows you to get new PMU that fits your new style.

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What is microblading and is it different from cosmetic tattooing?