When I was offered a free microblading session from Urban Beauty Lounge, I jumped at the opportunity!
And yes, this sounds like the beginning of an episode of ‘Botched’, but indeed it was not. A friend of mine was looking for a model to take part in the filming of the online training videos for the microblading and I already knew the brand behind Urban Beauty Lounge and they are stellar.
Microblading is still pretty new to South Africa. Put basically, it is a semi-permanent tattoo of ink transferred onto the eyebrow skin using a very sharp and short blade. NOT that different from a scalpel. The scalpel is then dragged across your eyebrows in little strokes which are called funny things like “tree stroke”, “tail stroke”, “cat stroke”. You can actually hear the scalpel across your skin which is much less frightening than it sounds. It is the sound of perfect brows!
My friend gave me some color retention tips for microblading before I had them done so hopefully they’ll last me a while.
My procedure took much longer than a normal appointment would as we were filming it for the training videos. It took around four hours when usually it would be just less than two hours. This includes tweezing and shaping the brows (and I mean properly, with rulers and everything), numbing the skin, filling in the brows, numbing the brows again, and cleaning the brows up. My friend told me that they had a similar procedure done through a practice similar to thebrowstudiobycc.com and she told me it took her about a similar time two hours.
And now for the question you have probably been scrolling down for… How painful is it? The salon ladies likened it to the feeling of getting a tattoo. I have never been tatted up before so I don’t know how true that is. Also, put it this way, a numbing cream is applied to your brows in between applications (your brows are filled in twice), and mine wore off more than anyone else’s would as we had bigger gaps between applications and it was totally bearable. Weirdly enough, the hardest part was that my sinuses were triggered and I totally wanted to sneeze nonstop for the first ten minutes! However, Charlie (possibly the most fabulous woman I have ever met AND the microblader who did my brows) assured me that this is normal.
Before I strolled out with fabulous brows, Charlie gave me a little tub of cream which needs to be applied to your brows for five days twice a day after having your microblading done. You also must not get your brows wet for the next five days (time to get a granny shower cap) but this is much easier than you think. You also need to go for a fill-in after a few weeks but I have not yet popped in for mine and my brows are EXACTLY the same!
Your brow color will soften up after the first few days and you shouldn’t be worried if your brows itch and peel. I don’t have sensitive skin at all but the skin above my brows was extremely flaky and dry for the first week after the session. The top part of my face was also quite sore on the day and next day – every time I laughed, my eyebrows and forehead ached like crazy but two Panados will easily help that.
As I am writing this post, it has been exactly three week since I had my microblading session and I am STILL getting compliments. I knew everyone would be really interested in my experience but I had no idea just how many women had heard about microblading and how many women were seriously contemplating having it done. Obviously because the brows are on my face, I am used to it, but people who have seen the results on me have literally said “okay, I am SOLD!” (which kind of makes me wonder what a terrible state my brows were in originally) but I am stoked that we have such an amazing new concept available to us!
At the end of the day, I totally would have gone thicker and darker with my brows, but, because I was a bit unsure of the results, I went with more natural looking brows. Microblading is most definitely a Godsend for anyone with fine brows or anyone who grew up in the era where you plucked your brows into non-existence and are now dealing with the consequences.
I would recommend the Urban Beauty Lounge one hundred percent if you are contemplating having microblading done – and by the end of this post, I should hope you are contemplating it!
You can have your microblading done at the Urban Beauty Lounge located in Wembley Square on Solan Street in Gardens. You can also visit their site here or call them on 0763864793. The session will cost you R2500. Again, a huuuge thank you to Falon, Tania and Charlie from Urban Beauty Lounge and Vogue Lashes for the experience!
Rayne XX
They look beautiful ? Honestly would love to do this one day ??
Totally considering doing this! Would love to see what it looks like as it fades though.
Looks amazing! So tempted to get this done on my two misfits :/
How often do you have to redo it?
Every 3 to 5 years depending on how old you are. Aka how old your skin is 😉