Washing your hands can literally save lives. The Coronavirus pandemic is reminding us all of the importance of proper handwashing, avoiding touching our faces, and keeping a social distance. Proper handwashing technique requires more than a twenty-second scrub of soap on wet hands under running water. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends using cool or warm water since hot water will strip the skin of essential oils, especially if you are handwashing frequently. Next, you should lather enough soap between your palms, the backs of both hands, between your fingers and thumbs, and under your fingernails to remove any visible soil. Turning the water back on, careful not to contaminate your clean hands, rinse the soap away without splashing dirty water around the sink. Use a disposable paper towel to dry your hands and turn the water off, and be sure to dispose of it immediately to prevent the spread of germs on clean surfaces. Handwashing should occur before and after eating...

Selecting the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) depends on the procedure being performed. Permanent makeup procedures require the appropriate use of gloves and a mask to protect the permanent makeup artist and their clients. Non-sterile gloves are single-use items that are made of latex, nitrile or vinyl. If you are using latex gloves, verify the client does not have an allergy, and always keep another type of glove handy. Ensure gloves fit snugly and are made of good quality material that will last for procedures that may take a few hours (CDC, 2004). Always wash your hands before and after applying gloves, and limit touching surfaces at your stations as to not contaminate the client, the surface or yourself. Change your gloves when they are torn or become heavily soiled, even if you are still working on the same client. Never wash or reuse your gloves or apply hand sanitizer to them as it makes them more prone to tears. When removing your gloves, pinch the cuff and turn...

Skin is the largest organ of the human body, and covers approximately 20 square feet. The skin protects against exposure to bacteria, temperature extremes, toxins, trauma, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Skin controls the loss of insensible body fluids, acts as surveillance for the immune system, and aids in sensory perception and thermoregulation. Your skin is comprised of two layers, the epidermis and the dermis. In order to understand how to safely tattoo different types of skin, let’s begin by discussing the first layer of skin.

The surface layer of the skin, the epidermis, is responsible for your skin color through the presence of melanocytes. Sweat glands, sebaceous glands, and hair follicles originate in the epidermis and travel down into the dermis. While we are born with our skin, it continually changes as we age and are exposed to different environmental factors. The epidermal layer completely sheds old skin cells every 14-28 days and gets replaced by new cells. Skin...

The secret to building perfect brows is selecting the best shape for your face. If you have the “ideal” oval face shape, any brow style will work, especially if you stick to your natural shape with a soft arch. Round faces require a higher arch to lengthen the face. Long faces need a flatter arch to shorten the face. Those with square-shaped faces can soften their jawline by creating a higher, more defined arch. If you have a diamond-shaped face, you should round the brows to make your face appear less wide. Meanwhile, those with heart-shaped faces should add more arch because they do not tend have a very prominent forehead so this can lengthen their face. If your forehead is very prominent however, a lower, curved arch will balance a pointy chin.

Now that you know the best brow shape for your face, it is time to learn the Golden Ratio of eyebrows. The head of the brow to the arch should be 2/3 the length of the total brow. The last 1/3 of the brow length is measured...