Welcome to Haiku Ink!

Permanent Makeup in Columbia, MD

Howdy! This is a little “getting to know you page” so you can find out what the heck this is all about.

First of all, let’s get the scary stuff out of the way : Permanent Makeup. Cosmetic Tattoos. Permanent Cosmetics. Semi-Permanent Makeup. It’s all the same stuff, no matter what it is called.

It can be the tiny nudge that helps get your morning up and out the door.

It can be the helpful balance and frame for eyebrows that you always wanted.

It can be the extra self-care item that you splurge on to help you feel like yourself when you look in the mirror.

Permanent Eyebrows are not as scary and far out there as you may have imagined.

They are not the botched jobs you THINK you’ve seen.

Like well done plastic surgery, you don’t notice it when it is healed because that’s the whole point. You’ve probably met dozens of people with well done permanent makeup and never noticed it because it blended in with their natural color and balanced with their facial features.

I can tell you from personal experience that people who meet me are literally blown away that my own brows are TATTOOS. And I love showing them off (because I did them myself too).

These are all photos of HEALED Brows by Haiku Ink

When Permanent Makeup is done properly, by professionals with years of experience, it is designed to enhance real features instead of looking fake or noticeably trendy. A well designed eyebrow shape stands the test of time, regardless of trends and fads on social media. We want you to be happy with the design even if it lasted on your faces for the next 30 years. That’s our goal, is to keep it subtle but polished looking.

You’ve probably heard of Microblading for eyebrows, right?

Maybe your friend got it and can’t stop talking about it.
Maybe you are curious about what the heck it actually means.
Maybe you just want to look like your polished self, but you don’t know if it’s right for you.

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Microblading is cutting the skin in a “hairstroke” pattern - Yes it is actual cuts that reach the Dermal layer of the skin. Then ink is pushed into those cuts to force the skin to create a tattoo out of the trauma of the cut.

It’s been touted as “semi-permanent” tattooing, or “semi-permanent makeup” by some artists, which gives the impression that it fades away completely like semi-permanent hair dye.

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It turns out that Microblading isn’t as “semi-permanent” or as natural looking as we were lead to believe years ago. See the images below.

Every single photo in this gallery above is Microblading *after it has healed*

Some of these are only a year old. Some are 3+ years old. All of them started out as beautiful brows with neat, thin, crispy looking “hairstroke” lines, but none of them stayed that way once healed.
This is not botched work. This is NORMAL expectancy for Microblading once it has healed and settled after at least a year. More touchups don’t bring back the individual “hairstroke” look. It only becomes more and more blurry and distorted and blocky over time.
Please consider zooming in on the photo on your phone or your computer so you can see up close how this method really looks over time.
These are all my real clients, not random Google search photos. I have helped every single person here with a set of Powder Brows to help them achieve a soft, polished look.

What is going on here?
Why is Microblading so dang popular then?

It is popular because Microblading Artists only show the FRESH photos, and rarely share the healed photos.

And those fresh photos are really, REALLY pretty to look at.

When Microblade artists do share healed photos, notice it is only once in a while, rarely past the 1 year mark, and usually on what it referred to as “unicorn skin” : fair to medium tone, mostly dry, no wrinkles or sun damage, no acne, no pores, bouncy and young.

But you won’t be seeing what that brow looks like healed after 2-5 years worth of annual Microblading touchups because it turns into a blocky, blurry mess - something no one wants in their portfolio.

So the portfolio is kept fresh with brand new sets of eyebrows constantly and the public doesn’t see the healed Microblading ever.

But I do see them. I am sent photos DAILY of potential clients who want me to fix microblading done by other local (and distant) artists because these clients were not educated on how Microblading would look on them over time.

FYI : Haiku Ink hasn't offered Microblading as a service since 2019.

““So what is the alternative then? I don’t want scary, dark, Sharpie looking TATTOO eyebrows!””

— Everyone, ever, in the history of the world

These are Powder Brows - the Microblading Alternative

As you can see, the consistency is maintained over the years despite oily skin. The shape and color is maintained and has only softened over the years. No one asks about the brow tattoos, because all they notice are soft, nicely shaped brows (PS these are my eyebrows and I did do them myself - no filters or editing).

Powder Brows are tattoos. Microblade Brows are tattoos. The method of applying the tattoo is the main difference.

Microbladed Brows are tattoos applied via cuts in the skin, and then ink is pushed or rubbed into those cuts.
Powder Brows are pixelated tattoos applied in translucent layers with a specially calibrated tattoo machine.

Powder brows fade softly and predictable over several years. Microblading fades patchy, splotchy and blurry sometimes after less than 1 year.

No matter which method is used, the tattoo will always be present. It made fade or change colors, but it is always there.