Pigments for permanent makeup: how to determine the quality?

In our country, the market for pigments for permanent makeup is very broad: pigments for eyebrows, eyelids, lips, camouflage pigments, areola pigments. Almost all of the world's leading manufacturers are actively exploring our rapidly growing market, as permanent make-up and art tattoo procedures are now very popular.

Almost every month we learn about the emergence of new manufacturers, including Ukrainian ones. The lack of regulatory state documents for this type of product in our country makes it almost impossible to test pigments for quality and safety for the consumer.

Unfortunately, some pigments present unpleasant surprises to specialists: difficulty in application, unstable color during healing, strong and unpredictable color changes after skin restoration, allergic reactions.

How to determine the quality of pigments? Knowing the composition of pigments and their production processes will help the master make the right choice and avoid many problems. Let's try to identify the main points in this matter.

According to the DCMA, the International Pigment Manufacturers Association, a pigment is a solid substance, colored or black and white, of organic or inorganic origin. It has physical characteristics and does not dissolve in the environments that surround it. The pigment consists of a dry dye and a liquid medium (pigment conductor into the skin).

The quality and intensity of the coating that the pigment provides directly depends on the quality of the base material - the purer and better the dry pigment, the better the finished paint will be.

What pigments can be considered high-quality

Pigments must be safe. Namely: do not contain prohibited substances (aromatic amines, other carcinogens and mutagens, prohibited pigments), the content of toxic metals and PAHs must not exceed established standards, pigments must be sterile, pass preclinical and clinical trials, tests for mutagenicity and photostability.

Pigments should be biocompatible with the skin and have a pH close to the implantation medium.

It is very important that the pigments "enter" the skin quickly and give a high percentage of residue. As a result, the procedure time is reduced, traumatization is reduced, and fast and high-quality healing occurs.

Quality pigments should provide color predictability in the healed work and photostability of the pigments during wear.

Uniform fading of tauries without sharp changes in the original color range is also the main requirement for the quality of pigments.

Predictability of laser removal results. In parallel with the creation and testing of pigments, laser removal should be carried out before the pigment is put into mass production.

We consider it right in permanent make-up schools to combine the teaching of author's techniques with color studies, where the color chart of pigments from various manufacturers will be considered in detail, ways to create new combinations in the process of work, combination with different skin phototypes and much more.

Security Options

Since in Ukraine the production of pigments for tattooing is just beginning to gain momentum and such products have not been produced before, there are no GOSTs or regulations for this type of product in the database of regulatory documents.
We hope that the regulatory documents will soon be developed and updated in accordance with the world practice of assessing the safety of such products. In particular, with the main European law in this area - Resolution Res AP (2008)1 "On safety requirements for tattoos and permanent makeup", the main idea of which is to ensure an increase in the level of consumer protection.

The document has appendices in the form of tables listing banned aromatic amines and other compounds, as well as pigments with proven toxicity and mutagenic hazard to human health. In addition, the permissible amounts of impurities of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are normalized, as well as laboratory testing methods for these criteria are proposed. All of them are performed by methods of ultra-high-performance gas-liquid chromatography and other latest sensitive techniques.
The leading European laboratory specializing in the evaluation of tattoo pigments is CTL GmbH Chemical-Technological Laboratory Bielefeld Germany . Many leading manufacturers of pigments in the development of a new line and before the start of mass production test samples in this laboratory.
All information is open and in the public domain, there are test reports, you can get information about which substances are being tested.

All pigments that fight for the right to be called high-quality and safe must pass:
- organoleptic tests (color and texture);
- tests on physical and chemical indicators (this is the pH level and safety indicators according to the previously listed criteria, the absence of prohibited substances, the rate of impurities and PAHs, etc.);
- toxicological and clinical laboratory tests;
- research of microbiological sterility.

From the foregoing, it becomes clear that a product such as pigments for tattooing and permanent makeup in particular is very complex and is subject to thorough research for compliance with consumer health safety standards. Manufacturers should keep this in mind and not only work on creating a high-quality product, but also take part in the development of a base for regulatory and technical documentation and methods for product analysis.