How a mum’s Groupon tattoo session went horribly wrong
Microblading has become the latest craze in the beauty world, with the tattoo-procedure mimicking life like hairs to give you the appearance of fuller brows.
And while generally, people walk out quite happy with their new found eyebrows, one woman from Kansas City couldn’t have been more distraught over the final result.
Jami Ledbetter was born without eyebrows, so she was ecstatic when her daughters purchased a Groupon for her to have them microbladed in November. But that elated feeling of happiness didn’t last long as she looked into the mirror and discovered a botched job.
“I would never wish this on my worst enemy,” said the 42-year-old.
“What it’s done to my self-confidence, it’s been hard.”
The $250 voucher was for services by a woman claiming to be qualified in microblading. But that clearly wasn’t the case after Ledbetter’s traumatic experience.
“I was devastated,” said Ledbetter.
“I was even dating a guy, and he stopped dating me at that point.”
The mother-of-three’s self esteem took such a hit that she only left the house for work and grocery shopping. She attempted to cover her new brows with makeup, but her attempts at masking the tattoo failed miserably.
She then went to another woman who told her she could “camouflage” her eyebrows, but after six weeks, the situation seemed to be getting worse.
“It was pretty painful,” said Ledbetter.
“I tried to have a good attitude, but it burned a lot. It kind of felt bruised.”
It was only when she visited Kara Gutierrez, a licenced and insured tattoo artist who specialises in permanent cosmetics that Jami found relief.
“It took everything in me to hold back tears because this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Gutierrez.
“Within 24 hours of a botched job, I can remove the bad brow.”
Ledbetter is currently undergoing a treatment known as Li-ft – a pigment lightening solution that is tattooed into the bad ink, slowly removing the colour in eight-week intervals.
“It’s very unpredictable to how much you can remove, but it works,” said Gutierrez.
The cosmetic artist has growing concerns over the industry, as she claims more and more women are falling into the trap of dodgy tattoo artists.
“Nobody’s governing this,” she said.
“No one is saying, ‘This is the right way. This is the wrong way’.”
She has advised those wanting to go through with the procedure to do plenty of research.