Local business owner to represent Jackson at international makeup competition
When Trang Lu moved to Jackson from her small hometown in Long-My, Vietnam six years ago she never thought she would one day be representing the United States in the largest permanent makeup competition in the world.
Lu will be one of five U.S. contestants competing against nearly 50 other countries at the World Universal League of Permanent Make Up (WULOP) in Antalya, Turkey from Nov. 9-13.
As she prepares for the opportunity of a lifetime, she reflects on the journey it's been to get to where she's headed and how she plans to make Jacksonians proud.
The journey to Turkey
The 31-year-old took a permanent makeup course in Vietnam, dubbed the "sexy brow technique" in her country, just before moving to the United States and has been perfecting her craft since introducing it to Tennessee.
Her husband Mike Tong is her biggest supporter. Tong is a nearly 30-year resident of Jackson with a long history in the beauty industry offering hair and nails services, opening Jackson's second-ever nail salon. His guidance was instrumental in showing Lu the ropes on business ownership and cosmetology.
Tong shared that just a few years before Lu made her move to the U.S., she was selling bread in Vietnam and making about one dollar per day.
"She's a very hard worker," Tong said, commending his wife's journey in the permanent makeup (PMU) industry. "She was studying English, raising two young kids, and we have our own business."
On Oct. 5, Lu, along with 24 others, received her U.S. citizenship at the United States District Court of the Western District of Tennessee.
Lu noted that Jackson reminds her of her comparatively smaller hometown of Long-My, a sentiment reflective of her conscious decision to maintain a small-town feel in moving to the U.S.
"I didn't want New York or California, I like it here because it looks like my country," she said.
Today, the couple owns MT Salon in North Jackson, a high-end salon they've operated for the past six years. Here, Lu offers her PMU services for customers and passes her technique along to students by hosting training classes.
About the competition
Permanent makeup ranges from specific services like lip blushing (permanent lipstick), permanent eye shadow and permanent eyebrows.
Advancing her to the international competition, Lu received third place in the "Hair Stroke with Device" category for eyebrows at Miami's WULOP semi-final in October.
The competition is divided into two parts (semi-finals in Miami and finals in Antanya), where contestants can compete in one of the five categories:
Hair stroke technique with device
Microblading hair stroke technique
Lipstick with device technique
Shadowed eyeliner with device
Powdered eyebrow with device
Patenting her own technique
Lu's technique is not only safer, but she started the first classes in the state that teach the Vietnamese technique she uses. Tong translated the Vietnam versions of her manuals into English for use in the training courses she now holds at the salon.
The technique she offers, and the designated category she competes in at PMU competitions, is the use of creating hair strokes with a device — in this case, a tattoo pen.
Other permanent eyebrow techniques, such as micro-blading, use a thin blade to make hair-like strokes, and according to Tong, have a greater potential to cause long-term trauma and damage to the skin.
"Instead of a blade, we use the tattoo pen," he said. "The cuts are a lot less deep and it doesn't cause scarring. Microblading, when you first get it done, it will look like hair strokes, but when it heals, the strokes expand will touch, so that it ends up looking like shading."
Confident in her unique method and with years of experience, Lu says being nervous about the big competition in Turkey has seldom crossed her mind.
"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to just be there and compete with all the other [permanent makeup] masters," Lu said. "I can learn so much from the other master artists."
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: A Jackson salon owner is heading to an international competition.
