As the permanent makeup industry grew, different permanent brow techniques emerged which responded to the needs of different skin types. While microblading is still the most popular and widely known treatment, nano brows are picking up speed and more and more clients are seeking this alternative.
One of the reasons for this is the fact that nano brows for oily skin work better than microblading.
How come? Keep reading to find out how nano brows are done, why they’re a better option than microblading in some cases, and what benefits you can expect regardless of skin type.
What Are Nano Brows?
Nano brows are a form of brow tattoo which gives a hair-stroke brow look that looks just like microblading, but are done with a PMU machine rather than a manual blade.
The brows are filled in with additional hair strokes, which are fitted in between the natural brow hairs for clients with relatively full brows, or they can recreate the whole arches for clients with little to no brows.
The strokes are created with a pen-shaped electric device that features a very thin needle (or several of them). The needles go in and out of the skin, depositing pigments into it in tiny dots. These dots are placed close together in the formation of a stroke.
The strokes of nano brows can be very thin and delicate, even more so than those of microblading, so they create fluffy brows that look hyper-realistic.
Learn more about Nano Brows here.
Image source: Instagram @laurentaylor_ink
Are Nano Brows for Oily Skin More Suitable than Microblading?
Yes. Nano brows are suitable even for clients who aren’t great candidates for microblading:
- Clients with oily skin
- Clients with large pores (large pores and oily skin usually go hand in hand)
- Clients with particularly thick skin
- Clients with particularly thin skin
- Clients with sensitive skin
- Clients with mature skin (mature skin is often quite thin)
Pigments deposited into punctures of nano brows rather than the incisions of microblading tend to migrate less, so the strokes stay defined and crisp over time, plus they can last a bit longer.
Nano brows tucks pigments into the skin nicely, and the marks are more resilient to sebum overproduction. With microblading, the nature of the implementation (making elongated incisions) makes the pigments very susceptible to migration, so the strokes can spread out and end up looking thick and undefined.
Microblading strokes on oily skin tend to heal softer to begin with, and they can lose definition further over time, so oily-skinned clients can end up with a powdery look that looks more like powder brows, which can still look good, but it wasn’t what they initially wanted.
An additional benefit of nano brows is the fact that machine implementation is generally gentler on the skin than microblading, so there’s less risk of skin damage. Tiny punctures afflict less trauma to the skin than dragging a blade through it, no matter how thin it may be.
Can Nano Brows for Oily Skin Still Blur?
It is possible for nano brows for oily skin to blur, but it’s less likely than microblading. If blurring does happen, it’s much less intense than with microblading and it happens at a much slower rate.
With microblading, if you keep refreshing the strokes whenever they start looking blurred, they inevitably thicken and merge. This may happen after 3 touch ups, or it may happen after 6, but it’s more or less inevitable at some point.
With nano brows, oversaturation will still probably happen, but not as soon. As machine strokes tend to last longer than manual ones, you’ll need touch ups less often, so pigment oversaturation is delayed.
Consider a More Dramatic Alternative – Nano Combo Brows
Nano brows on their own give extremely natural-looking brows. But for clients who like their brows looking a bit extra, there is also the option of getting nano combo brows – a combination of nano hair strokes, and shading.
Just like with traditional combo brows, which are a combination of microblading and shading, the head of the brows is fluffed up and modified with hair strokes, and a powdery shadow is added along the body and tails.
The shading is also done with a PMU machine, so all the benefits of machine strokes we’ve explained above apply to this, too.
Adding a shade to nano strokes makes the brows look like they’re naturally full, but you fill them in a bit further with makeup. It’s a great style for clients who wear makeup on the rest of their face on a daily basis.
Image source: Instagram @lashedsf
All This Sounds Great, But I Can’t Find a Nano Brows Artist! Can’t I Just Get Microblading?
Despite all the benefits, the number of artists offering machine stroke brows is growing slowly, so you may not be able to find a certified, licensed and experienced nano brows artist in your area. If you have oily skin and traveling out is not an option, it’s not like you absolutely can’t get microblading.
If nano brows for oily skin are not available, you can still get your brows microbladed, just find an artist who knows how to work on oily skin and prepare for more frequent touch ups. Learn more about how microblading is done on oily skin here.
Cover image source: Freepik
