The Truth About Dark Lips and How Professionals Neutralize Them

Dark Lips Demystified: Causes and Contributing Factors
What is Lip Neutralization? Brightening Dark Lips: A Science-Based Approach Dark Lip Correction: The Step-by-Step Treatment Process
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Dark Lips Demystified: Causes and Contributing Factors
Many permanent makeup clients about lips opt for surgery because their lips become dull and black. Dark lips can be caused by many factors, including genetics, smoking, sun exposure, and so on. So why do lips go dark so easily?
Why The Lips Are So Sensitive and Easily Irritated?
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Before we discuss the causes of dark lips, let’s first consider why our lips are a sensitive area prone to irritation.
First of all, the skin on our lips is much thinner than on the rest of our body, especially the outer layer called the stratum corneum. Plus, our lips have fewer ceramides, which makes them more likely to lose moisture and become dry compared to the rest of our faces.
The lips lack hair follicles and oil glands, which diminishes their protection and makes them more susceptible to dryness and irritation. Additionally, the skin on the lips has a higher turnover rate, primarily as a protective mechanism. Since we use our lips to eat and chew, they endure significant wear and tear. This high rate of turnover helps produce a new protective layer to withstand the daily stress from eating and drinking.
Due to their high turnover rate, thinner skin, and absence of oil glands and hair follicles, our lips are more susceptible to dryness. They struggle to retain moisture and are, therefore, more prone to irritation and sensitivity compared to the rest of our face.
How Minor Irritation and Habits Lead to Lip Discoloration
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First and foremost, dark lips can be a normal characteristic, similar to dark armpits or dark inner thighs in individuals with darker skin tones. However, over time, minor and subtle inflammation can contribute to the darkening of the lips, particularly in those with darker skin. Certain lifestyle habits can also lead to darker lips. For example, smoking and lip licking can cause dryness. Some people have a tendency to lick their lips more frequently, but saliva contains digestive enzymes that can irritate the mucosal surface of the lips. The repeated cycle of wetting and drying leads to moisture loss, which can result in increased dryness and, eventually, damage to the mucosal surface.
Wiping your mouth too forcefully and frequently with napkins after you eat can be irritating to your skin. For people with darker skin tones, this irritation might cause some pigment to build up over time, which can make your lips look darker.
Medical Causes of Lip Irritation and Discoloration
Now, let’s discuss some medical causes of lip irritation that lead to darkening.
The first type is contact dermatitis, which can be categorized as either allergic or irritant. Allergic contact dermatitis occurs when your body reacts to a specific ingredient it is allergic to. It can be challenging to identify the allergen just by examining your lips, so proper testing is essential. The most reliable way to confirm an allergy is by consulting a dermatologist for patch testing, which evaluates products that come into contact with your skin. Allergic reactions can range from mild symptoms, such as chronically chapped lips, to more severe symptoms, including red, flaky, cracked, and persistently irritated lips.
Dark lips are fairly common, but some individuals prefer to eliminate the dark patches, particularly if they are caused by trauma, smoking, or other reasons. While it's simple to conceal them with lipstick, some people prefer not to have them and feel self-conscious when going without makeup.
If you’re feeling a bit self-conscious about your dark lips and want an easy way to hide them, you’ve probably heard of Lip Neutralization. Let’s check out what it’s all about and how it works.
What is Lip Neutralization?
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Lip neutralization is a specialized treatment designed for individuals with cool or dark-toned lips. This procedure is often performed on clients with darker skin tones or those whose lips have darkened over time due to factors like weather conditions, hyperpigmentation, or underlying medical issues.
During the treatment, neutralizing ink pigments are injected into the lip area to balance darker tones and enhance the lips' natural color, shape, and symmetry. The goal is to create a subtle, rather than saturated, effect, ensuring that the results look natural.
While lip fillers are ideal for adding permanent volume to the lips, lip neutralization is perfect for enhancing definition and fullness.
Dark Lips Color Correction can completely change the lives of people struggling with dark, hyper-pigmented lips. Those with darker lips usually want them to look more even and lighter, while people with pale lips often want to define their lip shape and add some color.
Every client requires a tailored approach to achieve the best results, as each person's lips are unique. Dark lip color correction has been a topic of debate in the permanent makeup industry for many years; however, it continues to gain popularity among clients seeking to correct or lighten their lips.
However, not everyone is a good fit for dark lip color correction. A lot of permanent makeup artists won’t receive clients who have darker lips. Dealing with melanin-rich skin can be tricky, and correcting dark lips is a complex job that requires a solid grasp of color theory and the right color choices.
Lip correction cannot be achieved in just one session. The use of a gentle technique and the appropriate color match is essential. Melanin-rich lips come in a variety of hues, including greyish, bluish, purplish, and brownish tones. It is crucial not to overwork these lips, as the trauma from the procedure can lead to darker pigmentation in already melanin-rich skin, in addition to the semi-permanent makeup pigment used.
Brightening Dark Lips: A Science-Based Approach
The color of the skin is influenced by cells known as melanocytes. These melanocytes reside in the epidermis and produce a substance called melanin. Melanin serves mainly as a protective barrier against damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. Additionally, it contributes to the coloration of the skin and lips.
In the treatment for dark lip correction, artificial pigments of various shades are injected or tattooed onto the lips. These pigments penetrate the body and directly interact with melanin. The final lip color achieved depends on the types of pigments used and their response to melanin, making it impossible to guarantee a specific shade from this process.
Nonetheless, the procedure ensures that darker lips appear much lighter, brighter, and more evenly toned. It can also transform lighter lips into fuller peachy-hued lips. This method has garnered significant interest over the years and has gained popularity among both men and women. However, practitioners must be cautious about performing this treatment. Permanent makeup for dark lips is a specialized technique that demands expertise and knowledge.
Dark Lip Correction: The Step-by-Step Treatment Process
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Step 1. Consultation: Who can get dark lip color correction?
The Dark Lip Correction treatment is specifically designed for cases of hyperpigmentation and melanin-rich lips. Not everyone is suitable for this procedure. The first step is a consultation with interested clients.
During this consultation, clients will be asked about their skin conditions, any previous trauma, hormonal disorders, and other factors to better understand the causes of their pigmented lips. Only after a thorough evaluation can clients schedule their first appointment for lip blushing.
This initial discussion is also crucial for selecting the appropriate pigments and understanding how the skin may respond to the treatment. Individual recovery varies based on each person’s unique dermal layers.
Additionally, the consultation will inform clients about potential after-effects of permanent makeup for dark lips.
Step 2. First Session of Dark Lip Correction Treatment
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Lip correction is a detailed process that necessitates a solid understanding and expertise in color theory and color mixing. During the initial session of dark lip correction, the primary objective is to counteract the cool tones, particularly for ethnic skin tones. This session aims to diminish the darkness of the lips by applying warm-based pigments. The deeper the original skin color, the warmer and more vibrant the pigments must be chosen. Typically, shades of red, orange, and yellow are favored to enhance the base color and neutralize the lips. Subtle hues of gold to yellow are advisable for lips that possess deep blue and darker purple undertones in their pigmentation. Warmer pigments, which range from orange to brighter pinks, serve as correctors for subtle blue undertones.
After the first session of the neutralization process, the healing period can last anywhere from six to eight weeks or even longer, depending on the individual. During this time, the injected pigment color will begin to fade. Immediately after the procedure, the lips may appear bright pink to red. This vivid color will remain for about five days to a week.
Around two weeks post-procedure, the brightness from the first neutralization session will start to diminish as the pigment interacts with the body's melanin. The intensity of the color will decrease to approximately 60% of its initial brightness.
The approach for the second session depends on the final color achieved after the first procedure and how it heals. If you achieve an even-toned, light canvas following the initial round of neutralization, you can proceed with targeted pigments. However, generally, eliminating darkness or neutralizing the skin color typically takes about two to three sessions.
Step 3. Second Session Dark Lip Correction Treatment
Once the artist feels happy with the results and sees that the skin has lightened and evened out, they can start the coloring process with targeted pigments.
The targeted pigment colors will include warmer and brighter shades. During the coloring phase of the treatment, it is common to use pinks and reds. When working with darker skin tones, the artist avoids using pigments such as blue, violet, or carbon black.
It's good to keep in mind that this treatment doesn’t promise a specific lip color. The only guarantee is that the lips will appear lighter and brighter, but the exact shade can’t be predicted ahead of time. The final look really depends on how well the skin heals and how the body responds to the pigments used in the micro-injections.
Also, the Dark Lip Color Correction Treatment not only brightens the lips but also enhances their natural shape, giving them a slight lift and a more balanced look.
Step 4 Healing Process:
After the procedure, you may notice that your lips are swollen and the color appears darker than anticipated. This is completely normal. Over the next several days, as your lips heal, the color will lighten and settle. The full healing process typically takes about 4 to 6 weeks.
Step 5: Touch-up
A touch-up is usually needed about 6-8 weeks after your first treatment. This helps make sure the color looks good and lets you tweak anything that might need adjustment.
In the lip color and must always pay attention to the different lip color reactions of the guests, so as to timely and accurate adjustment of the customer's lip color, even if this is a complex and professional process, only in this way can bring the perfect lip color to the guests.
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