a lovely living

Tatoos on my face? That’s not something I ever would have fathomed having done. Yet, here I am, over the moon thrilled with my microbladed eyebrows and wondering why in the world I waited so long to take the plunge! For anyone that’s considering microblading or who is simply curious as to what all it entails, I’m going to share my experience with you.

As you can see from the image above, just before I walked into my appointment, my eyebrows were lacking to say the least. They were almost non-existent (a result of over plucking them in the 90’s with little re-growth) and they did not frame my face well. Filling them in daily was an extensive process that I was never able to master. When it came down to it, I didn’t have much to lose. What I was warned by others as well as my makeup artist was that ‘it is a process, please be patient’! And a process it was.

The whole appointment took less than two hours. Close to half of the time was spent mapping out the lines and angles on my face. It’s such a mix of science and art. I was able to tweak and approve the final shape and immediately knew it was how I always wished they looked. A numbing cream was used and very helpful for the microblading process. The scraping sound was unnerving to say the least and at times I could feel some of the tattooing process, but overall it was manageable. You’re able to select a color custom to your preference, so I went with the color that looked closest to my natural brows, maybe a touch lighter as I was nervous of them appearing too dark. Apparently this is common for all first time clients! The next time I have them done, I’ll likely go one shade darker. The image above was taken the night after I had them done.

Following my appointment, the first couple of days my eyebrows appeared very dark, red and swollen, and then between days 3-4 they began to scab over. As the scabs fell off naturally they became itchy for a day or two…for me, that was the worst part as you’re unable to touch them for fear of ruining them. I was required to keep them dry during this time which was somewhat of a challenge. I didn’t take part in any workouts that were high intensity in order to eliminate excess sweat and I was very cautious in the shower and washing around my face. This comic depiction basically sums everything up and now that I’m on the other side I’m able to laugh about it!

When the scabs began to fall off, what was left were very light brows. As promised they did begin to darken up, but it wasn’t until my touch-up appointment around 6 weeks that they seemed to fully appear complete. It turned out that the ‘touch-up’ appointment was essentially a second microblading appointment, albeit, it was much faster. The healing process the second time around seemed to happen more rapidly as well, but hats became my best friend during both healing processes!

Here’s a comparison of my brows before and after the first round of healing.

And here is what they look like fully healed (below). The only maintenance required is to keep them safe from too much sunlight (I have an SPF in my daily moisturizer that I apply) and I pluck any new hairs that grow outside of the microbladed shape. The longevity is based on your skin-type and they can last anywhere from 1-3 years before requiring another touch-up.

Prices vary, but based on what I’ve seen, however the average seems to fall around $500. For me, that price was worth every penny. I no longer need to touch my brows and the re-shaping has dramatically changed the look of my eyes and face overall. I always felt that I needed bangs before, but I now realize that was just to cover the part of my face that I never felt confident in.

For those that are local, I saw Mallory at Microblading with Mallory. I would certainly recommend her and her Instagram page is full of inspiration for anyone that may be looking for more examples of before/afters.

If you have any further questions that I may not have covered, feel free to reach out in the comments and I’ll be sure to check back!