Everyday I am asked by clients, “how did you get into permanent makeup and medical tattooing and why?”
I think it’s really important that people you work with understand your values, your background and motivation to help them.
Permanent makeup after chemotherapy
The reason I got into permanent makeup, areola tattooing and scar camouflage is because one of my friends was diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago and she was only a year older than me. She had chemotherapy and lost all her hair, her eyebrows and eyelashes.
So when she was feeling well enough, off we went to London to find someone who could give her some confidence with permanent makeup and redefine her features. Although these looked better than having no brows or lashes, they were quite harsh and really she needed something softer and a lot more natural.
When they had healed and we were closely analysing her dark blocked brows, my friend said to me, “Jo, why don’t you train in permanent makeup! Look, you’ve been a nurse for over 13 years, taught art and design and colour theory, so why don’t you go into it and make a difference to peoples’ confidence too?! I’m sure you can make brows look more natural than this!” I looked at her in amazement, took it in for couple of seconds and replied, “Are you mad?! Putting relatively permanent pigment on people’s faces… that’s just asking for trouble!” I just couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if something went wrong, how awful I would feel and how anxious my client would be.
Spending time finding the right Permanent Makeup and Medical Tattooing training company.
At first, the thought of it made me shudder, but I considered it for few days and proceeded to spend a full 6 months researching training companies, pigments, needles and techniques until I finally settled with one of the world’s leading training companies, Tracey Simpson of Natural Enhancement UK.
Even though I was an experienced nurse, had worked with thousands of patients and given hundreds of injections, the first 5 days of training, which was 8 years ago now, was still gruelling, terrifying and exhausting. I remember feeling I wanted to do everything perfectly, to make sure I didn’t make someone feel even worse about themselves than they already did! I wanted every one of my models and clients to feel so much more confident, so they looked in the mirror and wished they had had the treatment years before. I was so adamant that if I was going to do this as a career, then I was going to do it well and I knew that my nerves and apprehension were going to make me spend the time, care and attention that every one of my clients deserved if they chose to come to me.
My Permanent Makeup and Medical Tattooing work ethos.
I have been performing permanent makeup, scar camouflage and areola tattooing for 8 years now and I can honestly say that I still work to my original aim of perfection and ethos, which is never to rush myself or my clients, to make sure I’m fully prepared for my next client to give them the treatment and service that I would be pleased and expect to receive myself.
As a practitioner, I have to look after my eyes and back.
To prevent eye and back strain, I do not pack too many treatments in on one day so I can perform the best possible treatment for every client who comes to me, many of whom, have become good friends.
NEVER become greedy or blasé about working with Permanent Makeup on peoples faces.
I always ensure I work with the best products in the industry, update my skills and product knowledge. I concentrate only on permanent makeup and anti ageing needling treatments. I think the worse thing anyone in the profession can do is become greedy, try to train in too many different services and become blasé about working on peoples faces.
Jo Bregazzi
