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Add an Extra Flick
Katie Jane Hughes
Some of us have brow hairs and some of us don't, which is why this tutorial is so great for anyone who wants to have the look of full brows but might have not been born with them, or over-plucked them through the years. Hughes recommends using an eyebrow pen that helps to create lines that mimic the look of natural brow hair. She recommends Glossier's Brow Flick Pen, $18, (she's using shade brown here) to fill in any noticeable gaps with the quick flick of the pen. Light strokes in an upward motion to the pattern of where your natural hair would grow quickly helps to create your brow shape. This step is key when wanting to have the look of filled and fluffy eyebrows since you have control over each stroke and the precision of the tip makes it easy.
If you're unsure about creating these hairs, you can start very light with the pen and then go back over your strokes again once you've gained some confidence. Practicing this every day will quickly turn you into an eyebrow master in no time.
Not sure which color to choose? Look at the roots of your natural hair and choose a shade that is slightly lighter than that for your brows. Since hair comes in all different shades, you want to get as close to the color as you can but don't feel pressure to match it exactly. Mimicking the color of your natural hair to the best of your ability will help your brows not look too obvious. If you have darker hair tones, you can go slightly lighter with brows and the same applies to if you have very light hair, you can experiment with one to two shades darker that compliments your hair correctly. You will know what works and what doesn't, and it might take a few tries to get the right color.
The biggest advantage of having your eyebrows tattooed is that you always wake up with eyebrows on in the morning. A huge plus for me. But it is something you have to think about carefully before you do it; sadly, I didn’t do that the first time. That’s how someone convinced me that eyebrows ‘aren’t twins but sister’, as they said there (barf) and so you should never tattoo them exactly the same way. It didn’t feel right at the time, but I thought to myself ‘they probably know best’. This resulted in me never being truly happy with the result. I do like symmetry. Looking back, I should have at least asked them to show me what they would look like so I could think about it at ease when I was at home. I would also never go for really thick eyebrows again, because making them thicker is a lot easier than concealing them (which I ended up doing almost every day). In the end I was so done with those eyebrows that I’m having most of it removed with laser treatments. Expensive, excruciating and such a waste. Moral of the story: don’t be afraid to say what you like, go for a subtle, timeless shape and look for an experienced professional. And even then, tattooing and microblading (this is a semi-permanent solution) are a long shot for people with Alopecia. Alopecia skin reacts to ink differently than normal skin, which means you can never really anticipate what the color will look like. But if it goes well, that’s one less thing to worry about.