There is more to tattooing than hearts and flowers. The incredible convenience of permanent makeup can make the difference between feeling bad and having the self confidence of a normal appearance. "Makeup" is really not the right word, it should be called permanent aesthetic enhancement.
According to my 79 year old mother permanent makeup means waking up in the morning looking about 20 years younger with color in her face and not having to worry about sneaking a lipstick out when she’s having lunch. It means not having to worry about messy lipstick lines or a shaky hand with the eyebrow pencil, or not being able to see to put on eyeliner or having the embarrassment of putting on too much makeup because it is hard to see how bright it really is.
Technically speaking, permanent makeup is ‘microdermal pigment implantation with a single or multiple tip sterile probe.’ In other words, it IS tattooing;-- a special type, usually done in a salon setting by technicians, or in a medical setting associated with plastic surgery, or sometimes by tattooists with special training in addition to their years of experience applying decorative tattoos, such as in our case. Prices, experience (and quality) are all over the map. One could pay from $200-$1000 for a single procedure which usually needs recoloring after a few years.
To find a competent technician, visit their salon or studio and look at photographs of their work. Don’t just go with either the lowest price (or the highest for that matter!). Trust your instincts and get comfortable with the person first, see if they can provide contacts with satisfied customers. Ask if they use an autoclave sterilizer and universal precautions for disease prevention.
Eyebrow hair simulation is the single most effective enhancement for many people of any age from 18 to 80 or more. Tiny brow hairs in at least 3 shades are tattooed on to look just like natural brows that won’t wipe off or smear. Scars or unbalanced or faded brows can be corrected.
Eyeliner is the next most popular, actually "lash enhancement", which can benefit men or women. For those who don’t want a made up look, a very subtle series of tiny dots are inserted into the lash line. This can work wonders even for people who have lost all their body hair due to illness. A more typical "eyeliner" look can be achieved with a thicker continuous line.
Lipliner with light shading is wonderful even for those who don’t want a lipstick look. It can subtly change the lipline, making it fuller, more balanced, more pleasing in shape, correct a scar, or simply to give a little color when one awakens in the morning.
We have also done camouflage between hair on the scalp to hide scars from surgery, accident, or war injuries. Also, for the post-mastectomy patient, the appearance of natural nipples and aureolas can be done. Corrective pigment camouflage helps burn survivors and cancer patients or those with birthmarks, injury or pale spots. Something to keep in mind is that melanin in the skin darkens in the sun, whereas the camouflage pigment will not. Sunblock should be used.
Some technicians say you will experience only "mild discomfort" (when a doctor says that-- watch out!). Topical anesethetics do minimize pain. The uncomfortable part of these typical procedures should last no more than about 20 minutes. The benefit to be gained is worth it!
Eyebrows are least painful, followed by eyeliner, which can be applied with the eyes closed by the way. For a lipliner or full lip color you can get a dentist to give you a shot of novacaine, but most people do without it. Lips and eyes can be quite puffy after a procedure. Ice helps reduce swelling which can go down in a matter of hours, or may remain for a few days.
There are all kinds of questions you should ask, such as how a permanent makeup procedure might work for you, or whether your skin would bruise too much if you are taking blood thinners, or whether you can have an MRI (yes you can) or what the pigments are made of, or can you get touch-ups for free within a certain period of time. It's a lot to think about! But DO think about it.... permanent cosmetics could give you a new lease on life!
Suzanne Shepherd
co-owner
Primeval Ink Tattoo (Olympia)
360-867-4925
The image of a rose has appeared since time out of mind, as an emblem of the Mother Goddess and the Virgin Mary, from heraldic device of the Wars of the Roses and the Rosecrucians to businesses, banks and bands; all use the rose as a part of their identity. Songs, movies, fairy tales all have adopted the rose, "My Love is Like a Red Red Rose," "American Beauty," "Snow White and Rose Red."
The first tattoo I ever got was a small red rose on the inside of my wrist, blooming towards my right hand. Over time it grew a longer stem and more roses until its starting point was near my elbow. I imagined my rose growing from within the center of my being and out into the world. At times I’d be asked if I knew what it "meant" - as though everybody else was in on some secret. I’d been an artist all my life but never actually thought much about how some things, like a rose, can signify more than just themselves and that such symbols permeate our lives.
You could spend a lifetime studying all the different layers of meaning. The Tarot for example, is filled with imagery; moon, sun, stars, wheels, water, flowers, fish, dogs and lobsters. I have barely dipped my toe into that stream. Jungian psychology talks about archetypes, universal themes, which are understood on a subconscious level by most cultures.
What could be more fascinating than a great river of collective unconscious where messages leak out into our dreaming and waking lives?
That in mind, I decided to go to graduate school to become a therapist. But alas, the glass slipper did not fit me very well. The world of traditional therapists encourages self realization on the part of its clients perhaps, but invisibility on the part of its members, which is never something I’ve been good at. I lasted about a year before I saw a chance and grabbed it, to become a tattoo artist, which felt a little like joining a circus. Surprisingly though I found tattooing was actually a better way for me to help people with their self esteem issues without getting a bad headache. Oh, but those therapy skills weren’t wasted! They have come in very handy over the last ten years.
You might be surprised to know that when a person is going through a great transition in their life, they might see not only a counselor or a minister or perhaps a lawyer, - but also a tattoo artist. There are always those names to cover up, a mistake to be made better, a new found allegiance or freedom from one. And, the bad choices to be talked out of....
"What is the most popular tattoo?" My clients have so often chosen red roses that clearly something is at work. The rose tattoo is as classical as Greek statuary or Beethoven’s Ninth. It never goes out of style. As appropriate to a college professor as it is to a belly dancer, soldier or grandmother.
Humans have feelings they can’t put into words and so they pick a beautiful image like a rose. And, even if they don’t "know what it means" it doesn’t matter. Their unconscious mind knows.
I don’t know why certain images have particular meanings. There is no cosmic kindergarten teacher assigning them to roses, butterflies, a leaping stag, an apple, the moon, stars and sun. They have all grown organically by themselves from the ground up.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That is why Art exists, instead of being just a bunch of words. Poetry or beautiful prose can also evoke a picture. The picture and its associations are what contain the emotion and take one where words can’t go.
People also have a need for their symbols to be secret. After all, magic cannot exist without hiddenness. Why do you think a person would want a Chinese symbol for "Peace" or "Tranquility" or "Warrior" instead of a word in English? It has to be obscure in order to have magic for the person wearing it.
That also applies to people who get tattoos of animals. They are manifesting their inner wild creature, bringing the protection of that animal’s guardian spirit into their souls, even if they don’t know it. It just would not work as well to tattoo "Inner Tiger at Work" on a man’s bicep.
"Everybody knows a rose means I love you," said a man getting a memorial tattoo for his dead child. Crossed roses, one red and one purple. The rose also has thorns causing pain and bloodshed. The heart of the rose is seldom seen, revealing only twists and whorls and never its inner being until the petals are all ready to fall and you’re left holding an empty rose hip.
Love, life and death, passion, fidelity, and most especially the ineffable unknown, the mystery component that words can’t express. Is it the color, red as blood, or the shape, so like a human heart? The mysterious layers or the hidden pain of thorns unseen? All of the above? If you do find out all of the hidden meaning you might not want to tell everybody, that is,... not if you believe in magic.
Suzanne Shepherd
Primeval Ink Tattoo