As the demand for tattooed brows continues to rise around the country so too does the number of bad brow jobs – and the demand for their removal.
Professional Beauty spoke to Suzie Mcintosh, the owner of Suzie Mcintosh Brows in Sydney and Melbourne and international masterclass trainer, about the growth in her brow tattoo removal and correction services.
When did you start offering cosmetic tattoo removal services in your salon?
“It actually happened from a lot of clients coming to me wanting to have their brows re-done after having them done elsewhere. Unfortunately I cannot just go and tattoo over someone else’s work so I was turning away so many clients that I couldn’t help. Therefore in 2016, I went to LA and undertook further training to learn the best techniques in cosmetic tattoo removal.”
How do you remove the tattoos?
“We use a gentle saline removal method which includes implanting ‘Li-ft’ removal solution into the skin using the tattoo needle. As this heals, it gently draws the exiting unwanted pigment out, which results in some scabs that fall off. The tattoo in turn then becomes lighter and lighter with each session. I chose the saline removal method as it doesn’t require laser and avoids damage to hair growth.”
Has the demand grown since you introduced the service?
“Definitely. It is now a major part of our service. We require all new clients who have had their brows cosmetically tattooed at another salon, to have their existing tattooing removed before we will re-do them.”
What are the main reasons your clients want their brow tattoos removed?
“The two mains reasons are discolouration where the dye in the tattoo turns into blue, green, or they are unhappy with the job as they have uneven brows that have been poorly done.”
Do you re-tattoo most of your clients’ brows or do many just choose to leave them natural after their ‘bad brow’ experience?
“Some clients will want to have their tattooing removed and just leave them in a more natural state, how more often than not they opt to have one of our brow artists re-do their tattooing once their brows have healed from the removal procedure.”
Where are some of the worst examples of bad brow tattoos you had to remove?”
I cannot begin to tell you about some of the most horrific jobs I have seen on girls that have had their brows tattooed by untrained artists. The majority of these are done overseas where they are using different dyes that tend not be A-Grade and lead to discolouration. We see a lot of blue, green and orange coloured brows come through our salon!”
Suzie, who has trained with some of the most recognised brow artists in the world including Kelley Baker, opened her current Toorak salon in 2017 after outgrowing three locations in three years.
She has recently opened a salon in Sydney’s Rosebery and hosts her own masterclasses in Australia and Canada, New Zealand and Los Angeles.
For more news and updates, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.