Lips Are a process
Unlike other parts of the face lips are a muscle without hair follicles. They also have a very large blood supply. Lip liner will have a much higher uptake of color. The meat of the lips will be far less. Pigments are translucent and need to be layered. This means a full lip will take 1 to 3 sessions, depending on the desired results. This applies to all forms of tattooing. Coil, rotary, digital or manual method.
Also it is imperative that the clients receiving these treatments have healthy lip tissue. This can be from sun damage, trauma, injections or long history of fever blisters. Yes, can also be from previous tattoo work.
It is common for clients to lose up to 60 or 70 percent of initial lip application in many cases. They will get much greater uptake of color on the second session and third if warranted. This is the reality of lip tattooing. Not all clients are good candidates for instance if the client is prone to hyper-pigmentation, that will be determined during the complimentary consultation. After Care is crucial. Clients need to be educated on how to care for fresh lip tattoo and also understand long term care. Lips heal in three stages. The older a client give an extra week for them to heal and restore natural collagen to the lip tissue. Remember initial color will look dark and extreme. After sloughing the lip will become light, after 30 to 45 days the color will resolve to its state.
Lips will appear pale after the first week. The reason why this occurs is that the extra pigment trapped in the epidermis needs to be exfoliated. Then the actual healing takes place. As the skin encapsulates the tattooed area it may appear opaque. This is normal and to be expected. As the natural healing is in process dead skin cells will slough of in about 28 days or more. The older the client this may take a little longer. Then you will see a nice healed color through the skin.
It is not realistic for a client to expect a true lipstick look. Lipstick is worn on the skin. Lip tattoo is viewed through the skin. The nice thing is that it looks as though you were born with it. Clients need to understand that the color goes in as a liquid but heals as a powder creating fullness. Lips could vary in color on a daily bases this has to do with blood flow. The more blood flow the more the color shows through. Staying hydrated and not smoking are good ways to keep your color vibrant.