BB Glow Serums

BB Glow is a popular beauty trend that originated from Korea, in which BB serums (not a cream) are placed into the epidermis using a tattoo pen or micro-needle device with 9 to 12 pins to help give skin a slight covering of imperfections and enhance the penetration of anti-aging ingredients to give a greater effect. The results can be built upon with multiple treatments that are given on a once weekly schedule. The results however, are not permanent and even with multiple treatments, will not (and shouldn't) last longer than 5-6 months.

We're going to tackle the mis-conceptions but, first, I'll just state that I have extensive experience with treating skin and a vast knowledge of skincare ingredients (I even hold a Diploma from Formula Botanica in Natural Skincare Formulation) so, I have a really good understanding of what I believe is safe to use for skin, both on the very surface and when micro-needled in...

So, what's the problem?

When it comes to topical products, I think it''s safe to say that most of us have had to deal with a client that's experiencing an adverse reaction to one of the products we've used during and facial or similar service. It happens. People are all so unique with their own, individual skin needs and sensitivities. And while natural (especially organic) extracts are amazing, people do tend to have a higher rate of irritation from these extracts. Yeah, some people will hate on me for that but it's the truth. Not to say that all man made ingredients are safer, those can be equally scary.

What I want to convey here is that simplicity in a formula is key. You want the bare minimum to get the job done and really nothing more than that. If your client has an allergic reaction and /or develops a nasty rash, how in the heck are you supposed to know what caused it or offer your client any kind of explanation when the serum has a gigantic list of ingredients with every peptide and botanical extract known to man?

Fakers

When something becomes popular, such as the Stayve brand BB Glow serums, there's bound to be imposters. Please, for the love of all things holy, don't cut corners and buy knock-off Stayve (or similar) products from China. Not to say it's all bad news bears, but that's like playing Russian Roulette with your business because you have no idea what's really lurking in those serum bottles.

Horse Fat??

Ummm...okay. Not really sure who decided that was a good idea, but yeah, no thanks. Not on MY skin! Even the well known and highly popular BB Glow serums contain some rather interesting and quite unnecessary ingredients. Some even contain parabens or paraben derivatives such as "Methyl Parahydroxybenzoate" . My advice here; always check the ingredients list of anything you plan to inject or needle into a client's skin, and never use anything you wouldn't feel comfortable using on your own skin!

Titanium Dioxide and colorants...

Yes, if you are going to use a BB Glow serum, there will be titanium dioxide in the ingredients. This is a whitening agent and is what create base of a bb glow serum to which skin colorants are added to. There are companies out there who are literally LYING to you. They will tell you whatever they think you want to hear in order to buy their products. They'll tell you "oh, we use all natural plant extracts to color our serums" I'm sorry, but THIS is laughable. As a permanent makeup artist, I know damn well you need a combinations of safe, non-toxic pigment such iron oxides (inorganic) and Lakes (organic colorants), but they NEVER come from some botanical extracts like flower petals or some nonsense. If dyes or pigments from fruits or vegetables were used, there would be high rates of allergic reactions. Some of which could be potentially life threatening (anaphylactic shock). So then what's the big deal surrounding this issue? There have been many reports of tattoo artists preying upon people's insecurities and tattooing (badly) skin colored pigment, which contains titanium dioxide, into the skin to camouflage the imperfections. Well, over time, the result doesn't always look pretty and can be rather difficult to remove. This is why PROPER BB Glow training is important. The idea is to create TEMPORARY brightening which resides only in the Epidermis of the skin but using very shallow needle depth. When done properly, the results are beautiful, glowing skin with results that last for weeks, not months or years because it is meant to be a facial treatment, not a tattoo!!

OK. Hopefully that has cleared some things up and you've found this article useful :-)

I'm off to go investigate another "interesting" beauty concept and will be reporting back soon. Hope you're all having a busy fourth quarter! Until next time,

Bianca.