The key to successful microblading is treating your eyebrows with love and care as well as keeping them dry post-session. No sweat – means no workouts or jogs. No water – means no splashy face washes. The worst part – no hair wash or shower for at least 8-10 days post-procedure.
You probably can afford to stick to the routine involving these limitations for a few days, but what you – and others around you – can’t ultimately tolerate is not washing your hair for ten days. We can’t see you having a hatred-filled gaze on your hair.
This is why we’ve just dived into the web and brought the answer to the query ‘How to wash hair after microblading.’ We’ll help you safeguard your beautiful eyebrows while you’re still enjoying your showers as you would typically do.
So stick with us a little and find out:
What happens if you get your eyebrows wet after microblading? How can you wash your face and hair after microblading without hurting yourself and your brows? Plus, the dos and don’ts of microblading as a bonus at the end of the article.
What Happens If You Get Eyebrows Wet After Microblading?
Getting your eyebrows wet after microblading can remove or fade freshly microblade eyebrows. The healing process delayed, and there’s an improper scabbing of the skin. You may experience pain and burning sensations on your eyebrows. Moreover, the worst thing is that you experience patchy pigmentation and shapeless eyebrows.
Microblading aftercare serves two purposes: Healing and pigment retention. And to achieve these goals, any excess moisture around the brows should be avoided.
The rule of thumb is to give your microblade eyebrows approximately two weeks before fully exposing them to moisture. This is how long the skin takes to heal. After this time, you can get back to cleansing your face and washing your hair with as many splashes as you want to make!
Since microblading only deposits pigment on the skin surface, it’s highly susceptible to peeling and washing off during the first few days. After that, it needs to stay dry and some time to settle down in your skin. Water and sweat can wash out the color and lighten the pigment, causing several miss-out spots in your eyebrows.
That’s not to say you won’t be able to wash your hair for the next two weeks. So now, you might be asking:
When Can I Wash My Hair Normally After Microblading?
You can go to the usual showers as soon as the scabs fall off. A 10-day period is when it’s okay to wash your hair normally after a microblading session. For the first two days, don’t wash it in a traditional manner (showering). Instead, salon showers and dry shampooing are great alternatives. During 3-10, you can get under the shower with the essential tips and tools mentioned below.
How Can I Wash My Face After Microblading?
First, you aren’t supposed to make hard splashes as you would usually when washing your face. Instead, gently wash it out using a damp sponge or washcloth. Here’s how to do that.
- Wet the sponge or washcloth with warm water, ensuring it’s slightly damp and not so wet that the water is dripping down.
- Rub a small amount of mild soap, ensuring it doesn’t touch your brows.
- Gently dab the sponge/washcloth around your face; again, avoid touching the brows.
- Carefully dry the face with a cloth towel while not touching the brows.
Pro Tip: You can wear a shower eye shield to cover your eyes while washing your face. The entire look will be exposed to water and soap except for your eyes and brows. This product is what we’ll get into detail about when explaining the methods for washing hair after microblading later in the article.
How to Wash Hair After Microblading?
Until this point, you’ve got a bit of know-how about how much time you need before you wash your hair and what the consequences are if your micro-bladed eyebrows get wet. Let’s now dive into how you can wash your hair as effectively as you would typically do post-microblading.
No Water Involved
Method No. 1: Use Dry Shampoo
Though you’ve got a hint about the purpose of dry shampooing, it’s, in fact, the most reasonable step toward microblading aftercare success. To get the maximum out of the dry shampooing, you need to wash your hair before the treatment and use the shampoo for as long as you can afterward to prolong the time between wet-washing sessions. Also, we can’t go into details about properly dry-shampooing your hair, but this YouTube video can help you figure that out.
At this point, dry shampooing seems convenient to spray your way to cleaner-looking hair. Right? But remember that too much of it can lead to hair breakage, clogged follicles, or hair loss.
So how much is too much? Mona Gohara, M.D., a dermatologist at the Yale School of Medicine, and celebrity stylist Sunnie Brook Jones recommend using dry shampoo no more than two days in a row.
“My general rule of thumb is two times a week max for any leave-in product that doesn’t involve washing the hair unless it’s a hydrating oil,” Gohara says.
Also read: How to Keep Hair Dry When Swimming? Choose the Best Option!
Time for Getting Under-Shower Methods
Ideally, you must give your eyebrows at least five days without water touching them. We think it’s not something you can’t afford for the greater good. Now, you’re ready for your first shower, but you still need to be cautious until the first 15 days have passed. Now, the next:
Method No. 2: Apply Some Vaseline to Your Eyebrows
Do you know that water and oil don’t mix? If yes, you’ve probably got the point of using Vaseline on your brows.
Vaseline or any oily substance (though it should be sensitive and skin-friendly) creates a barrier against water, making your brows dry during the shower. Once you’ve taken a shower, cleanse your brows with antibacterial soap and water and tap with a tissue to dry them. No rubbing – gentle motions only.
Method No. 3: Use Warm Water
Use cold water, and you’ll get a patchy hair cleansing. Go hotter; even a few drops touching your brows will make your skin pores open up, impacting the healing process. Plus, the steam from the hot water lessens or slows down the pigment retention process.
What is perfect is the in-between – warm water.
Method No. 4: Make It As Quick As Possible
Warm showers are amazing, especially on a cold winter day. But the prolonged enjoyment can come with the cost of your newly bladed eyebrows.
Even small amounts of warm water can cause your brows to get moist enough to disturb the healing and color retention process.
Method No. 5: Don’t Face the Showerhead
Simply wash your hair with your back to the showerhead. In this position, you’ll need to ensure your head is not leaning backward, giving the droplets any chance to reach your brows.
Washing your hair this way can become more manageable if you use the waterfall setting on the showerhead. This setting makes water come out in a stream with minimal splashes.
If you don’t have a waterfall setting on the shower, here’s another way to wash your hair while keeping your brows dry.
You need to ‘lean your head forward and to the side.’ Gather all your showering supplies and put them onto your side to reduce the chance of your brows getting wet when you need to see or pick anything from there. Next, lean forward and flip your hair upside down. Make sure your head is turned sideways through the water falling onto your hair. This way, the water won’t drip onto your face. Finally, wash your hair slowly and carefully, and don’t shampoo too much to prevent the further chance of dripping water onto your face.
Method No. 6: Try A Basin Instead
If the positions mentioned above don’t seem comfortable, a basin can help you do the job well.
You can either use a regular sink (a water seal trap to block the water into the sink) or an inflatable shampoo basin. Washing your hair in each of both is pretty identical. The only difference is that the inflatable basin needs to be filled with air and deflated after use.
It’s so simple to do that. First, keep a clean and dry paper towel on your shoulders. This will serve two purposes. First, wash water droplets if they fall onto your brows or face during washout, and second, it’ll help immediately dry your hair once you’re done washing it out. Then fill the sink/basin with water. We recommend mixing the shampoo into the water instead of applying it to your hair. Next, lean downwards and gently pour your hair into the water while resting your forehead on the edge of the sink/basin. Go slowly and gently so the water doesn’t splash onto your brows.
When washing, put your head outside the water while leaning downwards. Wrap the towel around your hair which you’ve put onto your shoulders. Save your brows from water as much as you can.
Caution: Inflatable basins can come with cancer warnings due to the material used. You always need to make sure that you’ve read the listing on the label or contact the company to ensure it’s cancer-warning-free.
Tips for Additional Safety from Water
The more careful and mindful you stay during the shower, the more you’ll save your brows from getting wet. But if you still think some additional safety should be handy to zero the chance of water touching your brows, you can try any of the following methods:
Method No. 7: Wear A Shower Eye Shield
As the name suggests, this product protects the eyes when taking a shower. A shower eye shield covers your eyes and eyebrows, preventing water from touching them, and is commonly used as aftercare for procedures like permanent makeup, microblading, eyelash extensions, etc.
You first need to clean your forehead, peel off the tape, place it just above the eyebrows, and remove it when you finish showering.
Method No. 8: Use A Plastic Sun Visor Hat
Maybe this reminds you of the horrible coronavirus pandemic when these visors were the protective coverings. A Plastic Sun Visor is a lifesaver when you want to protect your eyes from getting wet during a shampooing session.
If you already have one, you’re the lucky one. If not, you can get your own at a very affordable price online or from your local Walmart.
The only issue with using a plastic visor is that you’ll still have to face away from the showerhead and make showering as quick as possible. Also, unlike the shower eye shield, the brim isn’t very protective against water – there can be a slight chance of water reaching your face or eyes.
Method No. 9: Use Safety Goggles
Yep, you heard that right. It’s precisely what you might have been wearing while hunting, shooting, or performing other DIY projects when your eyes needed protection.
Using the one while showering may seem funny, but no one laughs at you when they’re not watching you!
We recommend YunTuo 2-pack Safety Goggles that offer 100% eye protection. The goggles contain four vents, allowing maximum airflow and shampoo splash. Plus, it’s made with a clear polycarbonate lens, impact, and scratch-resistant.
Method No. 10: Visit A Hairdresser
If you think these methods won’t work, you can pay a professional hairdresser to wash your hair. You’ll just tilt your hair backward, and they’ll clean it in a basin without you worrying water will come to your face or eyebrows.
Also read: 10 Tips on How to Stop Hair from Tangling at Nape of Neck
Do’s and Don’ts When Microblading Eyebrows
You always want to get the maximum out of each microblading session and prolong its timespan. So along with the topic ‘how to wash hair after microblading,’ we spent some extra time finding ‘before, during, and after care’ dos and don’ts of microblading, just for you!
Pre-Session Preps
- Do your research about whether the technician is well-established, experienced, and has all the requirements and proper licenses and certificates required for the job. Plus, make sure you check on the technician’s previous work so that you take action based on your satisfaction levels.
- Before visiting the technician’s office, ensure you refrain from waxing or plucking your eyebrows. This will help the technician take accurate measurements of the current eyebrow and create new eyebrows per your desire.
- Don’t use exfoliators for at least 72 hours before the procedure. This enables the skin to be as insensitive to the procedure as possible to limit bleeding.
- Pregnant, nursing, and diabetic clients should avoid the procedure altogether.
- Talk to the technician and tell them if you’re in a specific medical condition. For example, certain medical issues, such as certain medications, can complicate the healing process of microblading.
Communication is the Key
As with other professional-based treatments, microblading requires you to maintain effective communication with the technician to get your eyebrows done with the desired fullness.
- Communicate your goals with the technician, but still, you need to remember that the technician will use precise measurements to determine the most aesthetically pleasing eyebrow shape.
- Be open to the technician if you are feeling discomfort or have any specific concerns during the procedure so they can proceed accordingly.
Microblading Aftercare
- Don’t use any makeup or skincare products as they can cause scratching, peeling, or picking of the surface area.
- Don’t expose the area to direct sunlight or go tanning at least for the first ten days.
- Only use wipes to touch them.
- Keep them as dry as possible. If you need to wash your face or hair, consider the methods mentioned above/products.
- Sleep on your back if possible.
- Avoid picking, itching, or rubbing your brows.
- Avoid taking anti-inflammatory medicines like Advil, Aleve, Motrin, aspirin, or Excedrin.
Wrapping Up
Wanting to make the eyebrows look as desired may take you multiple visits. And often, it’s not to blame the technician; instead, it’s your hair that causes your brows to get wet and pushes you to touch the brows harshly. But if you know what you’re doing, it becomes a lot easier to prevent those kinds of accidents and get the results of your dream even in a single session!