Hey Guys,
I know its been a long time coming but today I'm going to share my microblading experience. I wanted my my brows to fully heal from both appointment before sharing my honest review and thoughts on the procedure. I mainly wanted to share my experience to help other people trying to decide if this is the right decision for them. It's something that I have thought about doing for quite a while. I had waited mainly because of price and the fact that you are basically tattooing your brows onto your face. For those of you unfamiliar with microblading, its a tattooing technique in which a small handheld tool made of several tiny needles (or a small scalpel) is used to add semi-permanent pigment to the skin. The process could take anywhere from an hour to several hours. Every person is different and depends on the look you are going for and how much eyebrows you already have. The microblading can last anywhere from 6 months to a year plus depending on the person and after care. Prices can range anywhere from $350-$800+ depending on the artist. I have a ton of info to share and tons of pictures of my brows through the process. Keep reading to hear about my experience.
Before Appointment
As you can see I already had plenty of brows before my appointment. Many people get their eyebrows microbladed because they have no eyebrow hair at all. I chose to do it not because I didn't have eyebrows but because I could not get my brow hair to grow in certain areas such as the tail ends of my brows. I have tried for years and they just wouldn't fully grow in. I would spend a good 10-15 minutes filling in my my brows each time I did my makeup and I honestly just got sick of it. I did a little research, chose my microblading artist, and booked the appointment.
Right After First Appointment
My microblading artist Treya was local so luckily I didn't have to drive to far to my appointments. Once I got there she gave a bunch of forms to fill out, some informational documents, and allowed me to ask any questions that I had. I'm not sure if all microblading artists do this but she also put numbing cream on my brows which sat for about 20 minutes before she began the process. Before making any cuts she mapped out my brows to the desired shape and let me see them to make sure I was happy with them. Next, she mixed up a few different shades of brown and we chose which one that we thought would look the best. I also want to note that Treya likes to start out conservative with the microblading. If you want to go darker, more hairs, etc she does so on the follow up appointment. She also prefers to stay close to your natural brow shape (if you have one). Treya decided to do the nanoblading technique on me. This technique just uses a smaller scalpel and creates thinner brow strokes for a more hair like look. In terms of pain, the numbing cream helped ALOT. I felt the outline the most. It didn't feel great but very tolerable. The sound of the cutting of the skin honestly was worse than the pain of the process. It sounded like constant scratching. Once the outline was done and she put more numbing cream on my brows. After that, I could barley feel the hair strokes being made. For the first appointment, pain wise overall it was not bad. Getting a lip wax or actual tattoo hurts way more.
I was told that your eyebrows get really dark the next couple days in the process. This was true but not AS bad as I was imagining in my head (think sharpie marker lol). You aren't supposed to wash or touch your brows for 2 days. I did get a headache during my visit which could just be because I am prone to getting them in general. You can ONLY take Tylenol (Acetaminophen) for the next 24/48 hours so make sure you have some on hand in case you need some. All I buy is Excedrine and Naproxen so I made sure to get the higher strength Acetaminophen since normal Tylenol does absolutely nothing for my headaches.
After those first 2 days you are to lightly wash your brows with a cleanser (like Cetaphil), pat dry, and then apply a thin layer of A& D Ointment. You have to avoid working out, tanning, sweating, being out in the sun, taking hot showers for about a week. Every artist is different with what they suggest. This part was pretty hard for me since I workout regularly, take hot showers, and was tanning at the time.
About A Week Or So Later
During the healing process your brows can get scabby and itchy. Mine didn't scab up too bad but they did itch. The pigment disappears/scabs fall away in some areas leaving them lighter than the rest of your brows. This is normal and the pigment is supposed to darken up over the next couple of weeks.
Before Appointment
A Day After Appointment
A Week After Appointment
2 Weeks After Appointment
A Month + After Appointment
During my first appointment I booked my follow up appointment which was 6 weeks after the initial. This is to fix any areas that may have lightened, darken the brows, or add/make changes to your brows. After the first 6 weeks I did notice my brows lighten quite a bit. I found myself filling them in again just not spending as much time doing so.
After Appointment
During my follow up appointment with Treya we decided to go with a darker ink to make my brows stand out more. I also added a few more hair strokes to the front, filled in some faded spots, and went darker and a little bit thicker on the tails. I was pretty happy with the outcome and liked that they were a bit more bold which is the look that i prefer. In terms of pain, I will say the second appointment did hurt more than the first. She still used the same amount of numbing cream as before. Maybe because your brows are now scar tissue? Or maybe it was that she dug a little deeper? I really don't know why they hurt more but the pain was still tolerable and not unbearable.
My eyebrows were DEFINITELY thicker and bolder the next day. I felt that this was more noticeable than the first time however we also went with a darker color this time around. The after care process was the same as before.
I was in the process of tanning for my trip to Greece in the middle of this whole microblading process. I still went tanning but for the first 2 weeks I covered my brows with an eye mask. It didn't leave tan lines thankfully. I was really happy with how my brows looked after about a week or so.
I didn't feel the need to fill in my brows like before and not filling in my eyebrows every morning was great. I don't think the microblading was super dramatic on me because I already had brows. I think the microblading actually made my brows looked less heavy and more natural since I wasn't filling them them in a ton like I was before.
It's been almost 2 months since my last appointment and almost 3 1/2 since my first appointment. My brows look great on their own but I am back to lightly filling them in in areas on days that I have a full face of makeup on. I feel a lot more confident in how they look not filled in on the days I chose not to. All 3 pics above I have my eyebrows filled in lightly using a brow pencil and then brushed into place with brow gel. The main areas I add a little pencil to are my tails which I feel are still not dark enough and then to the bottom edge of my brows to crisp of the line. There are some spots throughout my brow that have faded as well that I may add a little color to but nothing serious. My brows now take about 1-2 minutes to do vs 10-15 minutes.
Here is a pic of my brows without any product in them:
Here is a comparison of before and after microblading:
The pic on the left is before microblading and the pic on the right is after microblading. Not a super dramatic difference but you can see my brows don't look as heavy or as thick from over filling.
In terms of my microblading artist, I was extremely happy with her. Treya (BrowsByTreya) has an Instagram account for her business where you can check out all of her work. Her office is located in Raynham, MA right off of Route 44. Her pricing is very reasonable. She is professional but will also be honest and give her opinion on things which I appreciate it. She made me feel very comfortable and explained the whole process at my appointments. Treya stopped several times during the process to show me my brows and make sure that I was happy with them. She also responded to all of my texts during the after care process (I had a LOT of questions lol). If you live in MA or RI I highly suggest checking out her work. She books up fast so make sure that you don't wait!
In terms of my microblading experience, overall it was positive. There were some negatives though. The aftercare process does suck but I was happy with how my brows turned out. While I do wish that they continued to look like they did after the first week, its hard for any artist to tell you how long your brows are going to last. One of my tails is slightly lighter and not as pronounced as the other as the skin didn't take the color quite as well. You can't notice it unless I point it out. That combined with some gaps in color are what make feel compelled to fill them in.
There were some things that I wish I knew beforehand...tanning, working out, using skincare products with retinol do fade them quicker. I can easily cut out retinol but I do not plan to stop working out or taking hot showers. Wearing sunblock on your brows helps prevent fading in the sun just like with normal tattoos.
Will I get my eyebrows microbladed again?
I will wait and see how quickly that they fade over the next 9 months. If they last about a year then yes I would get them done again. (I will have to get them done before I am actually pregnant though because you can't get them done during this time!) I might go a tiny bit bolder and darker. I also might want to try regular microblading instead of the nanoblading to see if that makes the hairs stay a little bolder. If they only last closer to 6 months, then no probably not.
Would I go back to Treya?
Yes, definitely. I trust her and her work speaks for itself. Check out her Instagram HERE.
Do I recommend microblading in general?
Yes, absolutely. Especially for people that do not have any eyebrows at all or can't grow them back after years of plucking/waxing. I think that microblading makes the WORLD of a difference for those people. I still think its worth trying out for people like myself that already have brows and want to do it for convenience or to improve the shape. If its in your budget of course.
I hope that this post helped you learn more about microblading and the whole process. If you are thinking about getting your eyebrows microbladed I hope that this helped you come some sort of decision. If you have any other questions not covered in this post feel free to reach out to me on Instagram!
What do you think about the whole microblading process? Let me know below!
No comments:
Post a Comment