Permanent make-up is a cosmetic service that breaks the skin barrier. That places it closer to a tattoo studio than a beauty salon in terms of what your hygiene protocol has to achieve. These are the standards that should never be negotiable, whatever the local rules require.
Zone your workspace
Divide the room into a clean zone and a contaminated zone, and never let items cross back. Everything you will touch during the procedure gets set out and covered before you glove up. If you have to reach for something mid-procedure, your setup was incomplete.
Barrier everything
Machine, cable, clip cord, lamp handle, work surface, and your phone if it is anywhere near the room. Barrier film is cheap; a cross-contamination incident is not. Change every barrier between clients — not between sessions, between clients.
Single-use means single-use
Cartridges, pigment rings, gauze, gloves, mapping thread and applicators are used once and disposed of. Cartridges go into a rigid sharps container, never a bin bag. Re-using anything that has touched broken skin or pigment is the fastest route to losing your licence and hurting someone.
Screen before you book
A proper consultation form flags the contraindications that matter: blood thinners, uncontrolled diabetes, keloid scarring history, active skin conditions in the area, pregnancy and breastfeeding, recent isotretinoin use, and chemotherapy. Some are absolute; others need a doctor’s clearance. Both answers are better than a complication.
Patch test where indicated
Pigment allergies are rare but real. For clients with a history of reactions to cosmetics, metals or hair dye, a patch test 48 hours ahead costs one appointment slot and prevents a genuine emergency.
Document everything
Signed consent, recorded pigment batch numbers, photographs and aftercare acknowledgement. If a client ever raises a complaint, your notes are your defence. Hygiene protocol is the first module in every one of our courses, and there is a reason it comes before technique.
