In the beauty world, the debate of Microblading vs. Nanoblading / Nano Brows is at the forefront of semi-permanent eyebrow enhancements. If you’ve spent years filling in sparse areas with pencils, you’ve likely encountered these two popular techniques. While they both aim to give you the perfect arch, understanding the technical differences is key to achieving your desired look.
1. What is Microblading?
After tattooing, Microblading is the old school traditional method of the permanent make up brow world. It involves a manual handheld tool with a series of tiny needles that form a blade or some technicians also utilize old school tattoo guns to apply microblading on brows as well. The technician uses this blade or the gun to create small, paper-cut-like incisions in the deeper layers of the skin(similar to a tattoo), depositing pigment that mimics the look of natural hair strokes.
2. What is Nanoblading (Nano Brows)?
Nanoblading is often referred to as the “evolution” of microblading. It is done 100% only by free-hand, so absolutely no machine usage. While it also aims to create hair-like strokes, it uses thinnest available needles in the market that come together to form the blade. Because the nanoblading blade is thinner than microblading, it helps boost the natural look as the artist can do thinner strokes, allowing for extreme precision and less trauma to the skin.
Also, while microblading is done at a way deeper layer into the skin similar to a tattoo, nanoblading is done at a much higher layer, thereby boosting the natural look.
And finally, in nanoblading, the motto is always go light and always in a single pass over the stroke. In the first session, we don’t do anything dramatic. We build a base and then wait for it to settle till the touch up. When you come in for your touch up, that’s when we give the brows its final shape, again in a single pass. Whereas in traditional microblading method, it’s almost like all-or-nothing method where pigment is heavily deposited into the skin in several strokes to make sure they will stay there for years. As good as this sounds, unfortunately in microblading, after a while, pigment starts bleeding into the veins, creating a blocky, migrated, funny look in different colors i.e. red, orange, yellow or blue.
Nanoblading Best for: Almost all skin types, including oily, sensitive, or thick skin.
Nanoblading Appearance: Even finer, more detailed strokes that can look more three-dimensional illusion-effect than microblading.
Movement in Strokes: Because nanoblading is done truly by free-hand only, I am able to add movement to the strokes that enhances the mimicking of your own brow hairs and thereby boosts the naturalness of the look whereas with a machine, adding of movement is many times not possible.
One of the main differences of Nanoblading versus microblading is the more defined but ultra-natural looking strokes that it creates which never change shape or color(opposite to microblading).
So what does this mean? Let me try to explain:
With old school microblading technique, at first, there are natural looking strokes created as well that give you that more defined look. However, since microblading is done at a way deeper layer in the skin(like an old school tattoo) and often with thicker needles versus nanoblading, many times, the look in microblading turns into blocky, migrated brows within time, accompanied by changes in the color of the strokes as well into blue, orange, gray, even sometimes yellow.
You sometimes come across these painted like funny looking brows on the street that make you say I am never getting my brows touched by anyone. However with true nanoblading, which is an advanced evolution of microblading, this long-standing problem of changing looks and color in microblading goes away. The strokes done through true nanoblading technique never turn into blocky or migrated looks, never change shape or color within time, reason being they are not done at such a deep level into the skin as microblading and often we use thinner blades.
In fact, within about a year or so, the strokes in nanoblading disappear naturally to a very good extent, so never leaving you with blocky or migrated brows with funny colors that you possibly want to get removed later on.
If you liked the way your brows looked with true nanoblading, you simply book an annual refresher touch up and we bring them back to how they were back when they were initially done a year ago. And say you didn’t like the way they looked, which doesn’t happen often by the way but still, then you simply let them fade out by themselves and that’s it. No more, painful and expensive removal procedures later on with laser or acid. And this is the true beauty of nanoblading.
This way, you always have the super natural looking, more defined brows that even your bestie or partner won’t be able to recognize but more than that, you will never have to worry about them changing color and shape into something else!
3. Microblading vs. Nanoblading: So what are some of the key differences between each?
| Nanoblading | Microblading |
| No migration of pigment after a while,no blocky looking brows | Migration of pigment, blocky looking(thickened) brows many times after a while |
| More Natural and Realistic Look | Darker, many times make-up look |
| Naturally fades out in about a year, no change in color | Lasts for years if not decades, however look changes to a migrated, blocky look(thickened) many times with color change as well(gray, blue, red or orange brows) |
| Minimal discomfort, accelerated healing and enhanced skin health during and after the session | Potential scabbing and skin flaking after the session |
But why does Nanoblading not change color or shape, change to a blocky look within time whereas Microblading looks darker, less natural and often changes to a blocky look with many times change in color as well?
Well, the answer lies in the differences between the two techniques
Nanoblading vs Microblading Differences in The Technique
| Nanoblading | Microblading |
| Done in a single pass⇒each hair-like stroke done in a single movement of the hand | Often done in multiple passes⇒to make the pigment last longer, multiple passes on the same hair-like strokes that may also cause them to look darker than necessary |
| Done at the upper layers of the skin, enhancing the natural look | Done at deeper layers of the skin(almost tattoo level deep) to make the pigment last longer(several years if not decades) |
| Uses a thinner blade, enhancing the natural look | Uses a thicker blade |
So in essence, microblading is done at deeper layers of the skin, often in multiple passes and with thicker blades, resulting in looks that last longer but often changing shape and color, turning into a blocky, migrated look, losing that naturalness whereas nanoblading does not result in any of these issues because it’s done in a single pass for each stroke, on the upper layer of the skin and with thinner blades.
And because of these same reasons, microblading is likely cause more trauma and more damage to the skin like scabbing and flaking whereas we typically don’t observe these in nanoblading.
Take a look at some of my nanoblading work and other microblading brows to see the difference on my nano brows(nanoblading) page here
- Downtime
This is one of the key considerations. Since nanoblading is done at a much higher level in the skin and with much less pressure and with thinner blades, there is almost zero-to-none downtime after the session. Usually clients just walk out and continue with their life as usual. Whereas since microblading is done almost in a tattoo logic, many times there is significant downtime after a microblading session. - The Healing Process and Longevity
Due to the same reasons explained above, microblading requires a “scabbing” phase after the session(part of healing) where nanoblading causes almost zero-to-none but even if it does, its intensity versus microblading is much smaller again thanks to lighter pressure technique, thinner blades used and being applied at a higher level of the skin. Microblading incisions are deeper, almost tattoo level deep, which can lead to more noticeable peeling. Nanoblading usually results in minimal redness because the skin’s integrity is better preserved. - Pain Level: What to Expect?
“Does it hurt?” is one of most frequently asked questions asked regarding Microblading vs. Nanoblading.
Again due to the same reasons explained above, in microblading, just like tattoo’ing, there may be significant pain and due to this many technicians apply a numbing cream before the treatment whereas in nanoblading, many of my clients even fall asleep during the session.When I ask my clients to rate how much pain they feel during the session, usually the answer is a 2 or 3 out of 10 whereas in microblading, due to multiple passes over the same strokes and going deep with thicker blades, it’s very likely pain will be higher without a numbing cream.
7. Skin Type Compatibility
This is often the deciding factor in the Microblading vs. Nanoblading choice:
- Sensitive Skin: Nanoblading causes less trauma to the skin, making it ideal for those with delicate or thin skin.
- Oily Skin: Microblading pigment can sometimes “blur” on oily skin. Oily skin usually requires more stable pigment placement, which is why Nanoblading is usually the winner here.
8. Aftercare: Protecting Your Investment
Regardless of the technique you choose in the Microblading vs. Nanoblading debate, your brows’ longevity depends 50% on the artist and 50% on your aftercare.
- Keep them dry: No heavy sweating for 3 days and no swimming or excessive sun(meaning beach or pool) for at least 7 days.
- Hands off: Avoid picking at any flakes or scabs to prevent pigment loss.
- Sun protection: Once healed, always apply SPF over your brows to prevent the pigment from fading or changing color.
So Which One Should You Choose? Microblading or Nanoblading?
The world of permanent make up has come a long way since its first inception with tattoos centuries ago. But of course since then has made quite a lot of strides especially in the last few decades.
And Microblading has become initially an important milestone in these strides, and also with many unknown side effects at first, such as brows turning into blocky and migrated, colorful looks a few years after the application, opening up the way to better evolutionized techniques later on like nanoblading.
As good as it sounds at first, “you do microblading once and it stays there for years”, unfortunately many people have experienced first hand that this comes with a price, and that is blocky and colorful looking brows for which you have to wait for years if not decades to fade by themselves or get them removed through painful procedures so you can again have “clean” looking brows.
And this is where Nanoblading comes in handy. The beauty of nanoblading is that it’s throwing away all these now-known side effects of microblading while also creating a more natural look, the 3-D Illusion effect.
And that’s why, all in all, regardless of your skin type or color, Nanoblading becomes the ultimate winner in this game, being the modern age’s go-to semi-permanent brow make up method.
Final Tip: The most important factor isn’t just the technique—it’s the artist. Always look at “healed” photos in an artist’s portfolio before booking your session.
