So this happened: I Got My Eyebrows Microbladed Part 1

I do not have nice eyebrows, they are thin sparse and patchy. The only thing I daydream about more than winning the lottery, being the next Oprah Winfrey, a closet full of Jimmy Choos or perfect 6 pack abs, is waking up with perfect eyebrows. I am obsessed with perfectly groomed eyebrows. When I was a little girl, I remember using a black marker to draw eyebrows on myself in an attempt to look like Brooke Sheilds inBlue Lagoon. I ended up looking more like a muppet. While that experiment didn’t go well, it began my long journey of eyebrow envy madness.

Eyebrows change everything about a person’s face. And t make my face look the way I like, I’ve spent countless money on pencils, creams gels.I have bought every variety of eyebrow potion to give myself that groomed look I so desired, some have been wins and some have been fails. But nothing allows me to skip makeup altogether and run out with feel self-conscious about my lack of brows.

So I’ve been secretly obsessively watching the trend of microblade brows. However, I had some reservations. Mostly I noticed that a lot of women with who get microblading done seem to have the exact same brows. And they are all REALLY thick. And while I still envy Brook’s thick brows I know now that they don’t fit my face at all.

After perusing every local eyebrow artist on Pinterest and Instagram, I came across Pretty Dope Brows. Her work seemed to have a variety of brow styles and shapes instead of the one size fits all shape I had been seeing elsewhere. After messaging back and forth awhile we sent an appointment. Before the appointment, I received an email with all the do’s and don’ts for my procedure. I did feel a little nervous at this extensive list. It included things like:

No Botox- Ha! No Problem

No Workout 24 hours before procedure-Yes a legitimate excuse!

No Coffee 24 hours before- Wait whatttttt??

So I did my best to follow instructions and I showed up to me Dione at the Pretty Dope Brows Studio in Sunrise, FL. Dione was pretty and her eyes were ON POINT! After some preliminary paperwork, Dione explained that “Microblading is a form of semi-permanent makeup that allows individuals to camouflage missing eyebrow hair by strategically depositing ink into the upper layer of skin in a fashion that creates thin, crisp strokes which simulate the appearance of natural looking hair.” I was just eager to get started. All I could think of was Instagram Photos with the caption ” I woke up like this”

Dione numbed be for about 20 min with a topical novocaine. Now here’s where things get tricky. At the dentist, Novocain doesn’t work on me. Never has. It lasts about ten minutes, my dentist always either numbs me repeatedly during a process or gasses me.

Now you’d think I’d make the correlation that this might be the same. I didn’t. I never even thought about it.

Next, Dione looked at pictures I saved to show her my how my favorite perfect dreams brows looked. I showed my favorite professionally done makeup looks with brows that I thought looked most natural on me. And she took a pencil and recreated the brows on my face. After a few adjustments, we came up with the perfect shape for me.

Dione pulled out her sterile blade/needle tool as I lay down in my surgical shower cap thingy soothed by the sounds of neo-soul playing in the background.

 

During the first pass, I felt discomfort. Not pain, but discomfort. We talked and I tried to think of other things. The discomfort grew.

Here’s where I need to give a disclaimer. I don’t like pain. I am pain punk.  Yes, I have tattoos, Yes I have big tattoos. I cried through almost all of them. I held my husband’s hand and did the full snot cry with the last tattoo. All of that to say. I do not do well with pain.

During the second pass, my discomfort turned to major discomfort. Like major. Dione was sweet and stopped to give me a break. After 10 mins I was shaking and some tears were sneaking out of the side of my eyes. And at this moment is when I realized that if numbing agents don’t last long in the dentist, it may not work well here either.

Dione felt so bad for me she moved from outlining passes to start shading.

Shading was a different kind of feeling but at this point, I wasn’t NUMB at all. So after about 2-3 passes, Dione ended our first session. To her credit, she put up with my squirming and crying like a pro.I know she wanted to do a few more passes but my trembling was screaming for mercy. She cleaned me up and handed me a mirror. And OH MY GOD!!!!!

I had Eyebrows! Not greatly drawn brows, not brows that my leave during a pool day or an intense workout, but real brows! More tears this time, but that’s because I was amazed at how great they looked. t that moment I was almost ready to lay back down and have her do a few more passes! Almost. I got my aftercare instructions and made an appointment for the second session in two weeks times.

Aftercare instructions included things like not wetting my brows using witch hazel to clean them and grapeseed oil to heal them, all given to me in a cute little aftercare package. I was told my brows would scab, fade and then reappear and then I would be back for a followup that would last about 12-8 months.

Here’s my before and after.

 

I know right???!!!?? I spent the next three day walking up to everyone I knew saying, look at my eyebrows!

No, remember when I mentioned the flaking, scabbing and falling off? Yeah, that’s real. On my fifth day, I texted Dione in a panic.

Where are my eyebrows? I can’t go back, I’ve had four eyebrow pencil, gel and Anastasia pomade free days and I don’t wanna go back.

She assured me this was all part of the process they would come back slowly and then my follow up would make them semi-permanent, she also planned to double my numbing time and strength to make it less of an ordeal for me.

Right now I just want my pretty brows back. If you wanna see what happens next, stay tuned for part 2 coming soon! If you are local to South Florida and have been thinking about getting microbladingPretty Dope Brows is currently running a microblade special for $249. Regularly450.00!! Tell her Shevvy Malibu sent you.