E1: PMU Panic to Perfection: "How I Overcame the Sterilization Slip-Up"

In this heartfelt confession, an anonymous Permanent Makeup (PMU) artist reveals their journey from grappling with fear and early mistakes to mastering the art of flawless transformations. This is a great space to share the passion for PMU and the dedication to creating stunning, confidence-boosting results for clients. Let's dive into the world of PMU together.

Ever had that moment of sheer panic in the middle of a session? As a PMU artist, I faced my worst nightmare but turned it into a lesson in resilience and precision. Every mistake is a step towards mastering my craft. Here's to creating beautiful, confidence-boosting brows and never forgetting to sterilize again! #PMUConfessions #BrowArtistLife #LearningFromMistakes #BeautyJourney

So, there I was, my client mapped out, ready to go, and lying in the chair. I had been a little nervous as I had other things in my life going on that made me a bit more anxious than usual.

My machine was wrapped up as it should be everything was clean, new, prepped, and ready to go. I started tattooing, ultra-focused, finally out of my head, and then BAM—a rush of intrusive thoughts hit, and that’s when I realized what I had just done.

Immediately, I panicked. My heart started pounding so loudly it was in my ears, and I was sweating. I realized I hadn’t sterilized or wiped the client with alcohol before I started. At this point, I was halfway through the outline. I thought, “I can’t wipe now because I’ll wipe the outline away. If I wipe it away and start to remap now, the client will be like, ‘What the hell is going on!?’” The intrusive thoughts grew louder: “Why would you do that? How could you forget? A good permanent makeup artist wouldn’t ever! You’re horrible, a POS, why did you even think you could do this?” The list went on.

I was now full-on yelling at myself in my head, “THINK, THINK,” and then BOOM—a light bulb moment. I took a pointed Q-tip, wrapped an alcohol pad around it, and started precisely wiping. I wiped between the lines, outside the lines, and as close to the mapping string lines as possible. I wiped everywhere except where I would wipe the lines away. Then I thought, “Wow, dummy, you’re tattooing over the lines! The lines have to be sterile!”

I took an alcohol pad and gently pressed it over all the mapping without wiping, then fanned it dry with my hand. I continued with the outline as before. Once I finished the outline, I wiped her brows with another alcohol pad, just to be sure. I was such a wreck at the end of that service, truly questioning if this was the career for me. I just wanted to go home and cry!

The good news? My client was still fully numb, so it didn’t burn when I wiped with the alcohol pad. I was so nervous and worried, but I ended up finding a solution, and all was well. The client’s brows healed fully and beautifully, and from that moment on, I vowed never to forget to sterilize clients ahead of time again. Anonymous: PMU Panic to Perfection!