On Me: Animal Print Top //Gallery Wall Frames
I’m just going to cut to the chase. I want to wake up, roll out of bed and look semi-put together. Anything that aids in that goal is something I’m willing to explore, which is why when I heard about microblading, it was something I had to explore. Microblading is a tattooing technique in which a small handheld tool composed of several tiny needles are used to add semi-permanent pigment to the skin in hairlike strokes mimicking the hair on your eyebrows. It’s also important to understand what microblading is not – that old school technique where they would just tattoo a drawn line and call it eyebrows, no. Microblading gives your brows a natural look and is my solution to doing one less thing in the morning.
Brow Microblading
There’s only one person I would trust on giving me my #Iwokeuplikethis brows and that’s my talented friend, Chelsea Heidenberger – a Medical Esthetician and microblading technician at the West Institute. I sat down with Chelsea to chat about who should do microblading, things you should know and sharing my experience below:
Pre Microbladed Brows
Before You Get Microbladed:
- Do your research! Just like when you are getting your hair done, you will want to share pictures and desired looks with your technician. For example, I love a bold brow and asked Chelsea to go bolder and dark.
What you should know beforehand:
- This is semipermanent and requires touch-ups. In fact, after the first session, you have to come back 6-8 weeks after to help ‘lock’ in the look.
- Depending on how your body metabolizes the pigment, it may be need to be touched up in 9 months and ideally once a year to keep the boldness.
- The days before, you aren’t going to want to do anything that will thin out your blood, so sorry ladies that glass of wine is going to have to be skipped . Why is this important? The more you bleed, the less the pigment will take so you’ll also want to skip out on that Advil too.
My Experience
After chatting through the look I wanted to achieve, Chelsea got me nice and numbed up before we started. So what you really want to know is if it hurt, right? I was pretty numb, so for me it was either painless or bearable {think of a burning sensation like a tattoo}. The part that caught me off-guard was the sound. The sound is kind of gross, because *sorry to be so graphic but* it’s cutting into flesh. *Pauses for gagging* but beauty is pain, right?
Let’s move on – it’s worth it and you’ve been warned. The whole process took about 2 – 2.5 hours as you want your technician to take their time. After eight weeks, I returned for my touch-up which was for whatever reason a little more painful. Chelsea says it’s because your skin is still healing and it was just a bit more sensitive.
On Me: Twisted Back Sweater // Distressed Jeans // Silver Pumps
The Aftercare
This part is C R I T I C A L. You have to keep Aquafor on those bad boys like it’s your literal job. Yes they will look shiny, but who cares and do it anyways. They will peel while they heal, so the more lubricated the less pigment you should loose. Mine hardly peeled, because I was OCD about applying and reapplying that gel.
The Verdict
I am OBSESSED with my brows. All I have to do in the morning is put my lipstick on and go. And for a busy Mama of twins, that’s about all the time I’ve got.
So have I convinced you? Want to learn more from Chelsea? Reach out to her here or contact the West Institute for more details.
What other questions do you want to know?
P
xo
