Microblading While Pregnant: Is It Safe?

If you’re a salon regular, you’ll probably know about the semi-permanent beauty treatment known as eyebrow microblading — and how fast it’s shot up in popularity.

So microblading while pregnant might seem like the perfect beauty treatment for you right now.

But is it safe?

The desire to look your best and take care of yourself doesn’t go away just because you’re pregnant.

In fact, it often gets stronger as you look for ways to do something special when a lot of your regular treats might be off the table.

But is microblading while pregnant really a safe option?

In this article: 📝

What does microblading involve?

Microblading uses medical-grade pigment to replicate the hairs of your eyebrows. [1,2]

Your technician uses tiny needles to make fine cuts on the surface of the skin and deposits the pigment into the cuts.

The color then lasts for around 18 months.

This is not the same as tattooing, which injects inks permanently into the deeper layers of the skin.

Is microblading while pregnant safe?

We wish we could say for sure.

But, like so many things, there hasn’t been much research into whether microblading while pregnant carries any risks to you or your babe.

Embryologist Navya Muralidhar digs deeper: “the unknown is how much pigment, or if any, is going into the skin, and whether these have the potential to cross the placenta and affect the baby.”.

So can you get your eyebrows done while pregnant? Yes, if you’re after traditional shaping.

But if you’re interested in microblading eyebrows while pregnant, there are some extra things to consider.

Can I have a touch-up appointment for microblading while pregnant?

It might be best to hold off on re-touching your microblading treatment for now, mama-to-be.

"It’s better off not taking touch up appointments for microblading either as they carry the same risks as the treatment itself.", according to Navya.

What are the risks of microblading?

While it’s definitely less invasive than tattooing, you should still think of microblading as a treatment that’s making cuts and depositing chemicals into your skin.

It does come with some risks — whether you’re pregnant or not.

So let's take a peek.

Infection

Whenever you break your skin, there’s a risk that you could get an infection. [3]

Navya explains, "Microblading uses tiny needles, which if not completely sterilized, can lead to a higher risk of health issues such as staph infection, infections such as hepatitis or skin inflammation.".

Even small infections can be more serious when you’re pregnant because your immune system is a little bit weaker.

Pain

There’s enough pain involved in microblading that your technician will usually apply a topical numbing cream to your skin before they begin.

When pregnant, your skin can be more sensitive, so you might find that your pain threshold is lower than it was before.

As well as your skin, the changes to your hormones during pregnancy can affect your other bodily systems, including how much blood you have and how thin it is.

As Navya says, "Microblading creates small cuts in the skin for the pigment to go in. For instance, higher estrogen levels can lead to more blood flow before and after the treatment, which is not an ideal outcome.".

The results of your microblading treatment might be affected if you bleed more than your technician expects.

Does microblading pigment affect your baby?

This is the big unknown.

Like so many areas of research, scientists consider it unethical to test pigment chemicals on mamas-to-be, which means we genuinely don’t know how the chemicals used in microblading pigment affect your babe.

Do pigments used in microblading enter your bloodstream?

Early research into tattooing suggests that a small amount of tattoo ink does enter systems of the body, like the lymphatic system. [4]

But tattooing deposits pigments at a deeper level than microblading, so it’s not clear yet whether microblading pigments can migrate through your body in the same way.

Do pigments used in microblading cross the placenta?

Again, we don’t know, but if the chemicals did cross the placenta, it would probably be in very small quantities.

Is there any risk to your baby with microblading during pregnancy?

Frustratingly, we just don’t know, and we don’t know how the effect might change at different stages of pregnancy when your growing babe is busy building the different systems that they’ll need on the outside.

Is microblading safe while breastfeeding?

Just as we don’t have a definitive answer on the question of can you get permanent makeup while pregnant?, we don’t know whether microblading while breastfeeding is safe.

Again, it would come down to the question of whether the pigments enter the bloodstream.

If they do enter your bloodstream and cross the placenta, they can probably also find their way into your breastmilk in small amounts.

Because of this uncertainty, a lot of mamas-to-be choose to wait until after pregnancy and breastfeeding before going for semi-permanent treatments like microblading.

And most doctors and medical practitioners would probably agree — avoid the unknowns, and look forward to a treat after your babe is here.