What is Micro Blading:
At risk of boring you and myself, micro blading is a series of tiny little hairlike cuts/scrapes made in your eyebrows with an incredibly fine needle to look like actual hairs. They are then filled with a semi-permanant ink. It is semi permenant makeup. It lasts for 18 months – 2 years depending on how oily your skin is and how well you care for your brows. Mine lasted about 14 months before I needed a touch up, I have oily skin and use a lot of retinol so I think they faded faster.
Who is this right for:
Anyone who over plucked in the 90’s, has sparse eyebrows or has experienced hair loss with age. It really does look like your natural eye brows.
Why do it?
Filling in my brows is tedious and time consuming every day and honestly I’m not all that good at it. I over plucked in the 90’s and they grew in a weird way and I am all about saving myself some time. This is a huge time saver.
When should you have this done?
WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHNG TO DO FOR A FULL MONTH!
How much does it cost?
I believe $500 for the first time and $150 for the touch ups
Does it hurt:
The provider I have gone to numbs as she goes. So no waiting for two hours for her to numb you up. The first time I had it done it did not hurt much at all. I would say on a scale of 1-10 it was a 2 . My touch up 6 weeks later did not hurt at all. The last time I had it done my eyes watered profusely but that could be because it was allergy season and I have bad allergies and where she is working is right on top of a very sensitive area for allergy sufferers. It was a 3 on a pain scale of 1-10 this time.
Who did my brows:
Olivia Weir at Live Skin Nashville. She is really amazing at her job. I follow her Instagram @oliviaweirsthings and everyone she does has brows that look beautiful and perfectly natural. I HIGHLY recommend doing a LOT of research on your provider and finding someone you trust. There are horror stories and this can go VERY wrong if you don’t get someone AWESOME. You don’t wanna use a Groupon for this. Find someone who charges full price and you have to book a month or two out with. This means they are sought after and their clients are referring them to friends. Find someone you feel like has a LOT of experience. You will look like you have two caterpillars sitting on top of your eyeballs if you don’t. Ya’ll, this is semi permanent pigment. It will NOT wipe off. It WILL lighten over a period of 4 weeks (up to 50%) but then your brows are pretty set for a while. SO make sure you discuss what you want when it comes to shape, color, and be very specific with your provider before you begin so you don’t have a coronary after word.
And also…. you may still have a coronary afterward… as you will see below why.
How long does it take?
Olivia is fast. Maybe 45 min? Touch ups… 25 min? Can take much longer from what I understand though. I couldn’t lay there for hours and do this.
MICROBLADING JOURNAL
MY BROWS (on a good day) TYPICALLY LOOK LIKE THIS.
THIS WAS RIGHT AFTER THE PROCEDURE, DAY 1
I was happy when I left. Until I got in the car and saw in the light of day. Holy heavens they are so dark. Oh my Lord. My husband is never gonna let me live this down. Maybe I can was them off with a washcloth. Maybe I can shower. Maybe my vanity has finally gotten the best of me. My anxiety is riding so high I spend the evening googling “microblading” . Don’t do this. Do this BEFORE you have it done. There are some horror stories. Why did I do this again? I don’t remember them being so dark when I had them done a year ago! Looks through phone pics from a year ago….. they were absolutely this dark. Maybe darker the first time. I try to wash them off. Nothing. I shower. Nothing. I message Olivia, she says “Don’t get them wet for 24 hours”. CRAP. Now they are gonna be dark and look INSANE! I will be wearing a baseball hat every single day until I die! Kevin comes in and says “What did you do to your eyebrows”. I am dead. Bury me.
DAY 2
Heavenly Father they are even darker today. Texts Olivia (provider) to make sure they will fade. She assures me that they will. I am doubting her seriously. She says Day 3 they will fade a bit, just hold on. Wine seems to help a little bit. Time is not. They are red, they are sore, they are swollen a bit. I can see them out of the top of my eyes. It’s weird.
Day 3
My kids are touching my brows at this point asking me what is on my face. I think they have actually gotten darker. My oldest has asked me multiple times when they are going to go away and why have I done this to my face. I have cried. I have drank. I think I might throw up. Messages Olivia again on Instagram. She assures me it will get better and what I am feeling is normal. What I am feeling is stupid for having this done. I feel like a clown. I wear a baseball hat every single day. I am coveting every one on instagram’s eyebrows that look normal. Even my own Childrens.
Day 4
Fading a bit. And by a bit I mean a BIT. But enough that I can take my hat off as long as I wear mascara and lipstick to balance the color out. Beginning to think this may be more traumatizing for blondes than brunettes. We aren’t used to seeing our brows this dark. You also have to go way darker in color, to get a dark blonde brow. Makes sense in theory. Traumatizing in Reality.
Day 5
Brows are def fading. Starting to look less angry. I know this cause I keep taking selfies to make sure. Selfies in the car. Selfies in the bed. Selfies with the kids. They are flaking a little bit. This is normal.
Day 6
Feeling hope. They are still dramatic but not dark. They look very full. Wondering if that’s the swelling and the pigment not fading yet? Hoping I am right.
Day 7
The anxiety has faded, as have my brows. Probably about 30%. I can now leave the house. Don’t feel the need to explain them to every one I see. Kevin says he’s getting used to them. Feel panicked again.
Day 8-14
Brows continue to fade each day. Probably 50% since I had them done. The fullness has thinned out. I haven’t done anything special to care for them and literally followed ZERO instructions including don’t get them wet for 24 hours (I don’t recommend this approach, but I just wanna be honest). My children have finally stopped commenting on them. That makes me happy. They are starting to look like I just had them groomed and they are actually MY eyebrows, I feel relief. I feel the need to warn others of the two week rollercoaster they are going to go on when something is attached to your face and you can’t fix it.
Day 15-30
I am a month out. My eyebrows look normal again. I no longer have to fill them in or comb them up or pluck them or use brow gel. They just look REALLY GOOD all the time. Olivia was right. They did fade. It just took some time. Happy to have one less thing to have to deal with when it comes to getting dressed. Can throw my brow pencil away.
WOULD I DO IT AGAIN?
The outcome was awesome. They look very natural and it saves me time every single morning putting on makeup. I’m not sure my anxiety can handle the healing process again. I really think it’s probably emotionally harder for blondes or people with light eyebrows because, well… we are blonde. If you have dark hair you don’t look that different with an even darker eyebrow but to get the blonde brow a dark blonde which is my natural brow color, you have to go pretty dark (brown) for it to fade to the right color. And it’s just so shocking to see that on your face every single day when you are used to having pretty light brows. My hair is also very light so the juxtaposition of that makes it more dramatic as well. That being said, my provider Olivia is incredible at what she does, the best in Nashville hands down and if you are going to do Micro Blading find someone awesome that you trust!!!
I hope this was helpful!! Share your micro blading experiences below in the comments! I wanna know how it was for you!! It’s so helpful for other people to be able to read and share with one another when making an expensive and semi-permenent decision like this!
XO
Brandon
