PMU Needles- A Comprehensive Buying Guide

When purchasing PMU cartridges, the variety of needle types can be overwhelming. Therefore, we provide you with a comprehensive buying guide to help you easily understand how to choose the right needles for eyebrows, eyeliners, lip liners, and lip shading.

Membrane:

Ensuring the health and safety of customers is paramount, so when choosing PMU cartridge needles, it is essential to prioritize those with membranes. The presence of a thin membrane can effectively prevent ink and blood from flowing back into the handle of the PMU machine, avoiding the risk of cross-contamination. Never skimp on investment in safety. Membrane-equipped PMU needles not only ensure safe and hygienic procedures but also minimize the potential risks to customers and PMU machines.

Sterilization:

When purchasing PMU needles, be aware that some cheap products on the market may be of inferior quality, often produced by small workshops. If you don't want to buy such inferior needles, it is strongly recommended to inquire about EO sterilization reports from customer service before purchasing. EO sterilization is an efficient sterilization method that ensures the hygiene and safety of the product, avoiding the health risks associated with using low-quality needles.

Compatibility:

Before purchasing needles, make sure they are compatible with your machine. Not all needles are suitable for every machine. Popular machine models on the market such as Bellar V1 and V2, Flux S Max, Bellar Air, Mast, Cheyenne, Brow Daddy, Dragonhwak, POPU, and EZ typically use standard universal needles. This is also the trend in the development of PMU needles. Therefore, it is highly recommended to purchase standard universal needles to avoid compatibility issues between the machine and needles, ensuring smooth workflow.

You need to understand the configuration of PMU needles:

Needle Configuration:

The needle configuration refers to the position of the needle inside the cartridge, which determines the precision and effect of the permanent makeup process. Currently, there are two common structures of PMU needles.

 The first is the centralized soldering structure, which is one of the most common structures. In this structure, the needle protrudes vertically from the middle of the cartridge. The second structure is the wall-mounted soldering structure, an improved version of the first structure. In this structure, the needle is close to the wall of the cartridge, making it more flexible. After the machine starts, the wall-mounted structure can reduce the vibration of the needle, thereby improving work accuracy.

 The design of the needle close to the wall of the cartridge allows the pigment to seep out along the needle, greatly increasing the utilization of the pigment and avoiding the situation where there is no pigment when the needle punctures, thus improving the efficiency and effect of permanent makeup. The POPU Clover series adopts this wall-mounted design.

Diameter:

The needle diameter, also known as needle size, is another important consideration when choosing PMU needles. The diameter directly affects your technique and results. Generally, larger diameter needles are more suitable for shading and coloring work because the pigment flows more freely. Therefore, when doing blush or full lip color, you may need to use wider PMU needles.

The most commonly used needle diameters in the PMU industry are 0.18mm, 0.20mm, and 0.25mm. These sizes are very fine and flexible, suitable for experienced artists to achieve fine details.

Needle diameters exceeding 0.25mm, 0.30mm, and 0.35mm are suitable for all skin types and are considered universal sizes for various PMU techniques. These larger diameter needles help reduce skin trauma, making them more suitable for novice artists.

Here are some common PMU needle sizes and their corresponding numbers:

Size #06 - 0.20mm Size #08 - 0.25mm Size #10 - 0.30mm Size #12 - 0.35mm Size #14 - 0.40mm

 

Needles Taper:

The taper of the needle is an important characteristic of PMU needles, which affects how the pigment is deposited in the skin and the effect. Although not all needles are marked with needle taper, it is still a key factor in choosing the right PMU needle for your needs.

 Here are three common PMU needle tapers:

Short Taper: Short taper needles deposit pigment faster but leave larger punctures on the skin. This may cause greater trauma to the customer's skin, so it is mainly recommended for experienced artists.

Medium Taper: Medium taper is suitable for most PMU techniques because it can hold a moderate amount of color and create medium-sized punctures on the skin. It provides moderate lining and shading, allowing ink to flow controlled and evenly. Compared to short taper, medium taper requires slightly longer pigment deposition time but causes less trauma to the customer's skin.

Long Taper: Long taper needles cause the least trauma to the customer's skin and retain less pigment, allowing colors to develop slowly. During shading, long taper produces minimal pixelation, which is helpful in creating smooth transitions.

Types:

Common PMU (permanent makeup) needle configurations include:

Round Shader (RS): Used for filling and shading work, its round needle deposits pigment evenly. Round Liner (RL): Used for outlining and detailing work, its round needle is suitable for drawing fine lines and contours. Flat (F): Needles with a flat shape, suitable for filling and shading in large areas, providing even coverage. Magnum (M): Used for filling and shading larger areas, its multiple needles arranged form a rectangular or circular area. Curved Magnum (CM): Needles with a curved rectangular shape, used for drawing curved or arched lines, suitable for some special design needs.

 

For different permanent makeup techniques and areas, commonly used PMU (permanent makeup) needle types are recommended as follows:

 

Nano Stroke Most commonly used PMU needle types:

RL needles are used for hairline outlining techniques to create natural fine lines, mimicking the natural anatomical structure of hair. Here are some common RL needle types:

0601RL/0.20
0801RL/0.25
1001RL/0.30
1201RL/0.35

Lips Commonly used PMU needle types:

For lip contouring, it is recommended to use fine-diameter round eyeliner needle types. Here are some common types:
0601RL/0.20
0801RL/0.25
For lip shading, it is recommended to use shading needle types, such as:
0803RS/0.25
0805CM/0.25
Some artists prefer to use round eyeliner needle types to cover lips, here are some common types:
0803RL/0.25
0805RL/0.25

Eyeliners Commonly used PMU needles types:

Most artists will recommend using 0.25mm or 0.30mm single needles for work, here are some common types:
0801RL
1001RL