Welcome to the first instalment of our Extreme Glamour Tries Franchise, where Bandi Manzini, Partnerships Director for GLAMOUR UK, lends her eyebrows to Suman Jalaf, founder of Brows By Suman for a treatment that has proven to be more and more popular in recent times: microblading.
The Procedure: Microblading. What is microblading?
In layman terms, it’s tattooing of the brows, but it involves a more fine and specialised manual hand tool with several tiny needles that add pigment to the skin. Thus, creating the illusion of a fuller, more prominent and neater brow, rather than a block colour.
The technique behind microblading itself is not new, as implanting pigment into fine incisions in the skin goes back thousands of years, but it was popularised by Asian-Beauty and evolved into one of the trendiest procedures right now.
Although considered semi-permanent, regular top-ups and appropriate aftercare can increase its durability long term. This makes this simple procedure which can take anywhere between an hour and a half to three to do, great for people suffering from alopecia, those who’ve gone through chemotherapy and anyone who is just generally looking for a low maintenance solution to a strong 24H brow game.
What are the steps?
- Preparations – marking and scanning for detecting veins, deciding on the tattooing technique and threading out of place hair
- Applying the numbing cream – to take away sensation
- After which the filler is injected into the target areas
Upon consultation Suman decided to opt in for the microshading technique in the arch of the brow for a lighter powdered effect. “I am aiming to do a ombre look for you with a couple of hair strokes. On the arch I want them filled in with microshading, which will suit your skin tone better as it will last longer. If I were to do hair strokes all the way through, they wouldn’t show as much and they’d fade quicker. ”
Prices?
Pricing can vary from £500 upwards. Treatments at Brows by Suman start at £600-£650 depending if there is shading added to the brows or the Diamond Brow technique.
The Verdict:
“I’ve always felt that looks have been a secondary currency to me, if that. It’s probably influenced by my father, as he always encouraged me to be clever, funny, and interesting. That’s not to say that there aren’t things I don’t like about my appearance, so I was very excited to give this a try.
My biggest concerns with this treatment were scarring, since dark skin tends to scar more severely than other skin tones, unevenness (since it’s semi-permanent so I would have to deal with it for a while) and potential pain.
Overall, I am so pleased with the result, they look pretty incredible and would definitely recommend it to a friend if I knew they were a bit of a beauty junkie like me. I got the boldness and the definition that I wanted and it healed really well. I would say that you should be prepared for a little discomfort, it was a little bit painful but definitely worth the hype. I feel like when your eyebrows are done you can get away with less make-up, so looking forward to a less maintenance morning routine overall.
I’ve been obsessed with symmetrical brows for a really long time, and my brows naturally don’t look identical and this is something that has always bothered me, and this has given me that illusion that they’re now ‘obedient twin sisters’.
Just really pleased! ”
The Aftercare:
When you first have the procedure done, the ink oxidises so it looks darker for the first few days. You will find your final results after 10 days, where it will all be healed and the final colour and shape are revealed.
Once you leave the salon or clinic it is important to keep up with the care of your newly microbladed brows:
- Apply coconut oil or Bepanthen to your brows at least twice a day until healed.
- Avoid cleansing the area for a week, or using any harsh skincare products.
- Don’t apply any brow products or makeup to the area for a week.
- And avoid sweating as much as possible for two weeks, in particular going to the gym or sauna.
Safety need-to-know checklist:
Procedures that involve needles are only worthwhile if you put safety first as a botched job will leave you worse off than how you came in and can lead to serious health complications.
- Check credentials – make sure that the practitioner that is carrying out your procedure is a trained and qualified professional, if you can, also check online reviews and ask a friend of a friend
- Keep things clean – make sure that your clinic/salon setting is clean to avoid risk of infection. Also don’t forget to keep up with the cleanliness of your brow area after the procedure to ease healing process and avoid risk of infection
- Know what is going on your brows – make sure that the products/ink being injected are FDA approved or CE marked and that you don’t have any intolerances before jumping into the procedure
