By the nature of its name alone, permanent makeup implies beauty treatments for a female clientele. But many men are also taking steps to enhance their features and treat imperfections with natural-looking procedures for brows, lashes, scalp, and even areola. Let's explore the world of PMU for guys!
PMU Is A Man's World, Too
For years, famous men have improved their appearances and highlighted their iconic looks with cosmetic tattooing. Only recently have men of all ages and backgrounds begun to embrace methods like PMU to look and feel their best. Scalp micropigmentation is a quickly growing branch of the male hair loss industry, set to be worth well over $45 billion worldwide by 2025. Opens a new window
Simple and permanent procedures like scalp micropigmentation have provided men with an amazing alternative when suffering from partial or complete hair loss. Instead of painful and expensive transplants that often don’t take or look too thin to be natural, small dots applied to the scalp using a microneedle mimic the appearance of micro hair growth. The ink creates a thicker and fuller looking hairline, like that of a closely shaved head. It can also fill in bald spots.
“It’s almost like a five o’clock shadow,” said Perma Blend Select Team member Mandy Sauler in a recent interview with CBS Philly. “You’re kind of doing strategically drawing little microdots, and it [makes] the hair look fuller and thicker.”
Beyond Cosmetics
A micropigmentation specialist at Penn Medicine, Sauler works with male clients recovering from cancer who have lost hair, eyebrows, or lashes. But major illness or injury isn’t the only reason men seek PMU. Many men seek eyebrow microblading and other procedures for the same reasons women do—to reconstruct the shape of their brows, lips, or improve coloring using the best permanent eyebrow and permanent lip pigments. Thinning, sparse, or uneven brows can be filled in for a natural and masculine look using longer strokes that look like a denser and more even brow. PMU doesn't have to be excluisvely for women, PMU is for guys, too!
“Guyliner” is a form of eyelash enhancement specifically designed for men. It deposits a very soft blend border of color that adds subtle definition to the lashline and eyes. Lip contouring improves imperfections or receding color from aging, covers up scars, and even adds the appearance of fullness for men who want to improve their smiles. And of course, just like women, men also choose PMU to cover unsightly scars on their browline, hairline, or anywhere else on their bodies. From birthmarks, burns, transplants, small areolas, or any other skin imperfections, these procedures create natural-looking hair strokes or skin tones that help men achieve the looks they strive for.
Trust The Expert
Perma Blend Ambassador Artist, Carolina Zarate, specializes in male clientele at her Colombia-based studio. “We specialize in men’s treatments,” she explains. “Perma Blend’s blackish-brown is our star when it comes to male microblading. Its deep color looks strong enough to match the darkness and thickness of most male brows without turning blue.”
The Right Tools for the Job
If you are interested in trying some of these amazing PMU procedures for men, you might want to check out the Reclaim and Restore product lines by Stevey G. Stevey G is not only a talented micropigmentation artist, but also a pigment developer who created these sets specifically for men who want to regain some confidence when it comes to their hair.
Stevey G. has two sets for men: ReclaimOpens a new window and RestoreOpens a new window. The Reclaim set offers modified black inks that create a realistic shaved effect, while the Restore set provides natural-looking colors that mimic the appearance of longer hair growth.
The process is extremely discreet and natural looking, an important feature for men who aren’t totally sold on the idea of permanent “makeup” yet. It looks something like this:
- Use Reclaim to fill in the scalp or beard with lifelike follicle replications, giving a “freshly shaven” appearance, almost like they just left the barber and got a fresh touch-up.
- Use Restore to help bridge the gap as hair starts to grow longer. No more “awkward phase” between a shaved head and short hair.
Selling PMU for guys on a procedure like this doesn’t have to be difficult. Remember, you aren’t selling them makeup, you’re selling them discretion and the chance to look and feel confident regarding something directly tied to their self-image.