Microblading My Brows - Yes. Technician - No - Calgary, AB

Here is a small glimpse of my brows and the healing progress. Warning: the camera quality is atrocious because I had been using a front camera phone for a while before realizing that my tablet was better.
Notice that when she made my brows, she took the after photo at an angle (possibly to hide any imperfections that she may have made.) She had made one side higher than the other. She had also decided to ignore her stencil of the shape that we had agreed on and make her own style of brows freehand. As a result, my brows were too angled and thin for my facial features. I looked (and felt) so angry, especially since she had praised me for having nice brows before.

Interesting. Other clients have started to post less than positive reviews on her Facebook page. They are confirming what I had dealt with as well. Cass is now saying that she is charging $100 for the touch-ups. Odd that she had not mentioned it before (see previous photo evidence).

I am infuriated that she chose to never mention this to me by email, text, nor phone. In fact, when I had asked if I needed to bring anything, she said..."Nope." Did not even try to see if I was willing to pay extra - and just left me waiting at the front of her home for 20 minutes while not responding to my one text (to let her know that I was 8 minutes early) and my one call that went straight to voicemail (to see what was going on.)

Will see what happens next.

I had kept a photographic daily log of my microbladed brows. To me, it was something to refer back to and see the transformation of my brows as they healed. I am ever so thankful for the RealSelf community because the trials and tips that they shared - and would like to do the same for others as well.

First 3 days: I was informed that my eyebrows will appear very dark and feel tender as they were healing. They were nearly black (She used a mixture of dark brown and black pigment to create my colour) with a halo of pink skin around them. Nothing was applied to them, and they were kept as dry as possible. Used cleanser on my face, but took great care to avoid touching my brows. They stayed about the same colour with no scabbing in sight. Every time I had passed by a mirror, all I could see were my brows...and then the rest of my face. Distressed, I hid them from everyone during that period of time using hats or turned my head away when speaking.

End of 4th day: No change. One small scab on my right inner brow. Did not "love" them, as she had assured me. Decided to see my family. (I had not even told them what I had done.) They all gave me the strangest look throughout. One of them finally told me that she had missed my old brows. That night, I took a saline solution and carefully dabbed the wet q-tip over my brows. This removed some pigment from the skin. I kept going until they were the colour of my brow hairs. Once done, I added a scar gel by Derma-E to allow them to heal. (Using petroleum jelly-based products or almond / coconut oil may cause them to look greasy - and me to break out, as I was very prone to this.) The strange angry looking, asymmetrical, sharply angular brows that she gave me were now in the shape that I wanted all along. The after-care sheet that she gave me made a vague mention that an isotonic saline solution can be used 2 to 3 times a day (during? after?) the 5 day healing process (5 was a number that she had not mentioned. Why did she keep on mentioning 3?).

Rest of Week 1: Scabbing was induced. Skin was red in and around the brow. Colour was good. The "hairs" that she had drawn to fill in the inside corner of my brows mostly did not stay - but that was fine, as they were made too close to the nose to begin with. Continued applying scar gel 2x a day and keeping it dry otherwise.

Week 2: Skin started to flake. Still remained red. Brows started to fade and look patchy. Certain areas of pigment started to hang off of my face, but I had left it be in hopes that the colour would stay. Continued applying scar gel 2x a day and keeping it dry otherwise.

Week 3: Skin still flaky in certain areas. Fading had mostly stopped. Some of the areas that had pigment hanging off did not come back - some colour had remained, but the "hairs" did not. Looking much more like my brows, but better. Stopped using scar gel, but continued to keep it dry and avoid having any cleansers (or anything else) touch them.

Week 4: Aside from a couple of small bald spots where there was no hair (mine or microbladed), my brows looked great and natural. Still continued to keep them dry and away from cleansers and other liquids. Thought that I was due for a touch-up, so I contacted her by email, text, and finally by calling. Getting a hold of her was nearly impossible. Once I was able to book an appointment and arrive on site, she did not respond to anything that I had sent her (one text, one call). I had talked to other unhappy clients beforehand, so I came there knowing that there was that possibility that she would flake out on me.

Overall, I have enjoyed the fact that I no longer have to fill them in with a pencil or powder. They look like my brows, but better. I would have loved that touch-up to make them more permanent...but they have been mostly fine without them. Plus, my happiness with them was more due to my due diligence, rather than hers - so perhaps it was for the best. Mind you, I have some brow hair before this, so I only needed some "hairs" to make them look less sparse. Those who had barely any probably would not have fared out so well.

I feel kind of weird posting photos on a public site - but can do so if it helps others.