Last year was life changing for me. Yes, I gave birth to a baby but that’s actually not what I’m referring to. After four years of deliberating and endless research, I finally mustered up the guts to finally go through with eyebrow microblading. I can completely understand if most of you are thinking that I am being dramatic saying that microblading was a life changing experience, but those of you judging me are also probably those who have yet to do it. That being said, I know there were so many of you out there that were curious and want all the ‘tea’ from my experience based on the hundreds of DM’s I have received since having them done.

The reason why people have so much apprehension about the procedure is because it’s semi permanent. I asked myself a thousand times, “What if shit goes wrong and I don’t like it?” because I will have to look at myself everyday and cringe. On the flip side, I also asked myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have the confidence to walk out of the house without make-up on?”  I was on the fence until I had Maxwell and right after I gave birth I felt like I needed a little pick-me-up. Plastic surgery, botox and fillers aren’t my thing, so microblading was the next best thing!

I put my trust in Nicole from BrowsxBianca. When we chatted over the phone, she explained the process and most importantly informed me that she only creates a shape that is in line with the natural flow of her client’s brows. Well, this put me a bit at ease knowing that I wouldn’t end up with eyebrows that are an entire inch higher than they should be. Also, Nicole had bladed a friend of mine last year and her brows turned out great, so that also built up my confidence. However, this particular friend of mine does not have dark skin like I do. I know all the black women out there are thinking the exact same thing right now. Yes, I thought about whether Nicole could handle working with black skin tones since she is in fact not black. We spent a considerable amount of time discussing the ink colour she would use during my consultation to make sure I was completely comfortable. I also should note, this girl knows a thing or two about lines with a background in architecture and takes the design of brows as serious as she took design work when she was working for a Toronto architecture firm.

Once we were good to go, a numbing cream was applied to my brows for about twenty minutes. This is a very crucial part to the entire process as you can imagine because this is far from painless folks. As the numbing agent did it’s thing on my face, she took that time to use a stencil to create the shape for my new brow. I can’t lie, this was a bit jarring because it’s a dramatization of what the final product would look like. Nicole reassured me she was only going to be filling in within the stencilled lines but when it’s your first time, it’s super hard to envision the end result.

Once you get into it, an actual blade is being used to make micro incisions into your brow line so ink can be placed on top. Hence the name microblading. Nicole bladed each brow three times and the numbing cream was applied before each pass. By the time the third pass came around, I literally felt nothing, thank GOD! Asking me to rate the pain just after having a baby probably isn’t fair because NOTHING trumps the pain of pushing a human out of your body, but if I had to, I would say it is a 6 out of 10. I think the sound of blade against my skin was more irritating than the actual blade itself.

After an hour and a half of not breathing much due to anxiety and impatience, I was finished and was given the mirror to see the final result. Mind f*cking blown. My brows looked effing amazing and immediately transformed my face.  When I was shown the before and after I actually almost passed out. How the hell could I have been walking around Toronto with my brows looking the way they did? (I mean, did you see the dramatic before and after pic above – yikes!) And where were my “so-called” friends pre-microblading to tell me to do something about my sad excuse for eyebrows? The funniest thing is, all this time I was going through life just thinking everyone had better brows than I did but as soon as I posted on IG stories I was having them done, more women than I could count messaged to say they had done it too and it was the best thing they have ever done. Like thaaaaaanks tips! Better late than never I guess, right?!

Photos by Nathalia Allen

The healing process takes about 7-10 days in which my brows started to dry out and get a bit crusty. Seriously, it wasn’t a big deal at all and if that was the only side effect to getting the best brows of my life, I will take it any day. While you heal you have to stay away from facials, exfoliating, tanning and most importantly excessive sweating. The latter is a hard thing for people who work out frequently and this is why I chose to do it shortly after I had Maxie because I was not working out yet. During this time they also appear much darker than they will be in the end. I know a few of you tried to call me out saying the colour looked too aggressive at first but now that the ink has settled, the colour is no different than my natural hair colour and it truly just looks like I was blessed with naturally good brows.  I was given a balm from Nicole to rub over them a couple times a day until they healed, which worked wonders and six weeks later I went in for my touch-up. Everyone MUST have a touch-up within 4-6 weeks after the initial appointment and it’s included in her price. This is just so anything missed during the first appointment can be sorted and cleaned up. I am so thrilled with the result and the best part is, I can say bye to drawing in my brows every morning and don’t have to worry about these bad boys for TWO whole years until it’s time for another touch-up.

Thank you Nicole for helping me get my whole entire life with my new brows. I am super psyched to be able to leave my house make-up free and with confidence may I add, without scaring people on the street. Good brows are a game changer people. For more information or to book an appointment, check out BrowsByBianca.com and if you have any specific questions for me, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comment section below!