Brow Healing Day by Day

The microblading procedure itself is only about 10 percent of the true experience. The next 30-60 days after are the real deal. Anyone undergoing this procedure, should know what to expect during the healing process. Below is the real experience of the healing process for the first month – the good, the bad, and the scabbing …

Immediately After
They look textured, dense albeit a little bit red, but it’s a world of a difference, you feel like a changed person. Your brows are bold in color. If you aren’t used to filling them in a lot, they will look slightly more dramatic in appearance than normal, tender, slightly swollen, and you may even experience some slight bleeding. The day you get them done you may be in awe of your fresh set of brows.  If you’re used to filling them in and are used to bolder brows, you may be in love. If not, don’t panic. The permanent makeup has been applied to compensate for fading of 20-40%, so if they look darker than you normally wear your brows, stay calm, the color will fade over the next week.

Day 2
Your brows will be reddish, still quite tender, and may be even a little bit thicker in texture than the day before. They will also appear darker as there is excess pigment “trapped” near the surface of your skin and as the skin heals, the excess pigment sheds and reveals lighter brows. New skin cells will also form over the pigment that is embedded in the skin, which again softens the overall appearance of your brows. You may notice the difference in your brows and feel like people are looking at them, but chances are, you’re more self-conscious about it rather than people noticing them being darker than normal.

Day 3-4
By Day 3, you shouldn’t notice a huge difference from the previous two days, if anything, the pain and tenderness will start to subside and the brows will get slightly darker or thicker. At this point, you’ll probably be loving the convenience of getting up and having instant brows without the hassle of having to draw them yourself. You’ll likely find yourself daydreaming about beach days with completely waterproof brows, but don’t act on this at LEAST until day 10!

Day 5
Day 5 is when things start to change. This can be the turning point in the healing process, where your brows are getting itchy and it is advised to NOT scratch them!  A thick layer of scabbing may form, and the fine hair-strokes that were created may be hidden. You may feel like you want to start panicking. RESIST the urge to blow up your artist’s phone firing off questions and accusations alike. You have a wound on your face, therefore, your body is trying to repair itself, hence the scabbing. It’s all a part of the healing proces  and if you’ve had any other kind of tattoos in the past, it heals very similarly.Just know that this is totally normal and even if it doesn’t look pretty, you shouldn’t worry, they’re going to be #browgoals again in no time.

Day 5-7
This is the scary time period when the serious scabbing will start and begin to peel away from the skin. Don’t give in to this temptation! It could affect your healing very negatively. If you pick at your brows,  you could lose pigment that was deposited into the skin and could end up with a holey, patchy eyebrow. The scabs will slowly start to fall off when they’re ready. This phase is definitely the hardest of the process. As a client looking on social media, I haven’t seen anyone talk about or show this side of the microblading healing process. All we see is perfectly fresh strokes, but scabbing? Who knew your entire eyebrow would shed and go through this transformation? It’s so important for clients to know and truly understand the whole process, and really be assured by their artist that what they experience is perfectly normal, and necessary for their eyebrows to heal properly. At the end, you will have the brows you always wanted.

Day 7-10
Your scabs will probably be all flaked off or flaking off on their own by this point and you’ll start to see the light at the end of the healing tunnel. But because the skin has not completely mended itself back together, there may still be some cause for concern. The color during these days may seem way too light or even grey and missing in spots. You might feel like your skin didn’t take the pigment, but that’s not the case. They’ll almost look like you’ve filled them in with powder, so again,  just remain as calm as possible and begin to start enjoying the fact that your eyebrows are done for you every morning.

Day 14-21
Healing is almost complete! YAY! You’re almost there. The color and definition of the hair-strokes will return at this point. The color is beginning to even out and look more natural and brow-like. People you tell about the procedure won’t even believe that they have been microbladed. It’s truly amazing! You’ll be settling into your new shortened makeup routine – oh, and those waterproof brow beach days? AMAZING! It’s important to note that at this stage, the wounds should be closed, so if you’re feeling self-conscious about the light look of them, you are able to apply some makeup to fill in for the time being.

Day 30
Guess what? Your healing process is complete! Your skin is completely healed and the color is looking great. They should look soft and natural. This is the point where you’ll be able to tell if there is anything you want to add or change. There could be a couple of spots from loss of pigment, which is all dependent on how well your skin retained the pigment, but this is okay because your follow-up appointment should be just around the corner.

Touch-Up
Eye Love Skin and Brows recommends that a client does not come back for a follow-up microblading procedure until the skin is fully healed and suggests 1-3 months after your initial procedure as the optimal time to come back for your follow-up.