Today I'm coming at y'all with something quite different from the usual because it's completely unrelated to photography! I did a poll on my Instagram stories recently, asking whether or not I should blog about my microblading experience, and the results were that 100% of people polled said YES....! So I thought I would share with you my experience with it, in case anyone is considering having theirs done too.
Click HERE for the Wikipedia definition of microblading.
Before I had finally booked my appointment with Jen from Designer Brows, I had spent hours researching and reading up on people's experiences with having their eyebrows microbladed and found that most people had a great experience and recommended it. I only had one of my friends at the time who had this done, so I asked her ALL the questions, but I wanted to know more about the actual process that I was about to invest in. If I was going to live with these new brows for 1-2 YEARS, it needed to be well thought out and I wanted to be informed!
What I really was looking for at the time when I was researching was a step by step process of what exactly was going to go down, which I couldn't find much of online, but maybe that's changed since. So I'm happy to share with you my experience, and would definitely highly recommend Jen any day! When I showed up to my appointment, she explained every step before we started and she continued to explain the procedure as she went along.
I'm now exactly one year into having my eyebrows microbladed, and I am definitely very happy with my decision! I very rarely wear makeup (like maaaaybe once or twice a month at most!). Having nicely groomed eyebrows without having to put in any work (other than tweezing of course) was something that was (and still is) really appealing to me. Also, both of my eyebrows naturally have these awkward little patches in the middle where barely any hair grows!? So unless I pencilled them in daily, let's just say they never really looked too hot! Being the non-morning person that I am, I rarely took the time to do my makeup anyway, so I decided that a more permanent solution was the way to go. Eyebrows frame the face after all, so eyebrows are important!
Full disclaimer, there are some really HORRIBLY unflattering photos of me coming up, but, meh whatever! I'll embrace it, and just know that I warned you! Let's go!
First step was to apply a numbing cream to the brows. Oh, the unflattering-ness begins!
Once the numbing cream started to take effect, Jen started tracing out my new eyebrow shape. She whipped out this tiny measuring tool and measured my forehead and brow area a bunch to make sure that the custom eyebrow shape made sense with my face. She showed me in the mirror and asked if I liked the shape, to which I said "Let's do this thing!".
Eep! About to begin microblading! I look thrilled lol.
Soooooo... About those unflattering photos........ lol.
Halfway through the appointment, I had to use the washroom and when I saw myself in the mirror I couldn't help myself from laughing and I just had to snap a few photos to send to my friends and to Stefan. This was after Jen was done the first round of pigment application, and as you can see, the pigment needs to be applied generously! The extra pigment is to make sure it really settles into the teeny tiny cuts in my skin. We're about halfway done the first appointment here.
For those wondering, the pain level was mild-ish. I mean, it didn't feel great, but it was on the same level as waxing I'd say.
The weirdest part of the appointment honestly was the sound as the blades cut into my skin! She warned me ahead of time so I knew what to expect. The best way to describe it was that it sounded like someone was unsticking velcro repeatedly, on my face! Ahh! So bizarre, but again, normal!
After a second application, a serious pass of the tweezer, and voila! My new eyebrows were born!
NOTE: The pigment is intentionally applied darker, because once it heals and scabs and some of the pigment has fallen out during the healing process, you are left with nicely healed, perfectly coloured brows!
Ok.... So the funny thing about the healing process is that they actually get DARKER before they get lighter! This is when most people freak out and second guess their decision (from what I read online), but this is part of the healing process and is 100% NORMAL! (I had a few stares for a couple days but I knew it was temporary lol).
A nice before and after from my first appointment!
Finally, a couple of weeks after applying coconut oil and watching the pigment flake off (again totally NORMAL!) we have some nice looking, symmetrical brows!!!!!
Don't mind my super flaky gross skin. You can't get your face wet for like 2 weeks and so at this point I was in desperate need of a proper face wash and exfoliation, but I had to be careful as to not undo Jen's hard work!
Overall, I'm super happy with the results and I would definitely recommend Designer Brows to anyone who wants their eyebrow game to be on point!
Thanks Jen!
xo Val
A summary via text message the day of my appointment lol.
