Permanent Makeup Before Chemotherapy: Understanding the Short Window
When you’re told you need chemotherapy, it can feel like everything changes at once. There’s a lot of information to take in, and your focus is naturally on your health and treatment. One side effect that often comes as a shock is the impact chemotherapy has on hair — not just on the scalp, but also on eyebrows and eyelashes.
For some women, having permanent makeup can help them feel more like themselves throughout treatment. What many don’t realise, however, is that there is only a very short window to have these treatments before chemotherapy begins.
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Why does chemotherapy cause hair loss?
Chemotherapy works by targeting cells that divide quickly. Cancer cells fall into this category, but so do the cells responsible for hair growth. Because of this, hair loss can happen across the whole body, usually starting with the scalp but often affecting brows and lashes too.
Hair typically begins to shed 2–3 weeks after the first round of chemotherapy. For some, the loss is gradual; for others, it happens more suddenly.
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Why timing matters for permanent makeup
Permanent makeup (tattooing brows or eyeliner) is sometimes chosen before treatment to help maintain facial features and confidence during hair loss. However, these treatments can only be carried out before chemotherapy starts.
Once chemotherapy is underway, the immune system is suppressed and the skin becomes more sensitive. This usually makes it unsafe to have tattooing done, as the risk of infection or poor healing is too high.
Importantly, the skin also needs time to heal after tattooing. That means treatment should ideally be done at least a week or more before the first chemo session. Because oncology teams often begin treatment quickly, this leaves a very narrow timeframe between diagnosis and the start of chemotherapy.
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What this means in practice
• If permanent makeup is something you want to consider, it’s important to act as soon as possible after being told chemotherapy will be part of your treatment.
• Treatments cannot be carried out once chemotherapy has begun, and will need to wait until after treatment has finished and your medical team confirms it is safe.
• Brows and eyeliner done beforehand will usually last throughout treatment and recovery, providing a natural frame to the face during the period of hair loss.
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In summary
The window to have permanent brows or eyeliner before chemotherapy is very short — sometimes just a few days. This is because the treatment needs to be completed, and the skin healed, before chemotherapy begins.
For anyone facing chemotherapy, knowing this timing can help you make an informed decision about whether or not to have permanent makeup beforehand.
