My Experience With Microshading
Raise your hand if you fell victim to over-plucking your eyebrows during your college years…
ME!!!!
Y’all.. I can’t even explain to you how badly over-plucked my brows were during that time in my life! I wish I had known the irreversible damage I was causing! I was unaware that eyebrow hair is very sensitive and is often hard to grow back especially after repeated “abuse.” Not only did I pluck them, I spent years waxing and causing even more damage. Ever since then, I have been drawing them on and doing my best to make them as even and natural-looking as possible. Let me just tell you, I spend way too much time doing this and with 5 kids, the last thing I need to be doing is coloring brows on my face. For this reason, I started looking into microblading.
Microblading is a manual method of implanting pigment in hair-like strokes in the epidermis to create the look of fuller brows. This form of tattooing is the newest trend in Semi-Permanent Makeup. The natural-looking results are achieved with a sharp, hand-held blade made up of 7+ microneedles. Instead of outlining and completely filling in the outline of your brows with color, microblading actually allows for the placement of hair like strokes into the skin. Whereas traditional tattooing uses needles on a rotary/coil machine to push ink 7 layers deep into the skin, microblading uses a manual blade and only targets 3 layers of skin. Because the pigment sits so superficially in the skin the strokes are sharp, crisp, and they mimic the look of real hair! Once finished your new brows will last anywhere between 1-3 years predicated on the environmental exposure it receives.
I did tons of research about microblading and finally found a reputable artist in my area, her name is Shay Stewart. She has an awesome Instagram account (@ibrowdeluxeshaynicole) where I could see a ton of before and after photos and read reviews from her former clients. I made an appointment and went in for my consultation. It was there that I discovered that my psoriasis condition would be an issue and she would have to take a different approach. I ended up having a procedure called “micro-shading” where they penetrated deeper into the skin to be sure the psoriasis wouldn’t cause my skin to flake and lose the color.
The procedure began with Shay numbing my brows with a special cream and then she began the process. It took about an hour and a half to complete and was relatively painless. She applied a vegan ink that is totally safe.
The day after the procedure my brows were slightly scabby so I had to keep them moisturized. In the first few days the color was extra dark while it was setting. In just a few days, it was the perfect color. I do have a touch up appointment with Shay booked to go over them again to help with any fading. She gets booked really quickly so make yours ASAP before the time slot fills. She has an office in Florence and her second location in Fayetteville will be open within the next month. What I love the most about the microshading is the time it’s saved me in doing my makeup. It’s one of the few luxuries I’ve allowed myself since becoming a mom and it may be my all-time favorite! Worth every penny! You can get $50 off your appointment when you book through her website with code: SOUTHERN. Make sure to tag me after you get your brows done, I would love to see!
