When 'embrowdery' goes wrong - and how we fixed it

A few years ago I volunteered to be a guinea pig when a local salon was looking to do 'embrowdery' on some clients. Essentially, it was a course of semi-permanent brows. The results weren't great. They shaved off most of my existing brow and then tried to raise my brow up. This left me with a very high maintenance brow as I had to continuously pluck them as my own hair grew back.

The brows were also extremely unnatural to look at. Firstly, because they were no longer in a natural position on my face, and secondly, because there was no hair there at all. I eventually managed to regrow my own brows once the false brow began to fade. However, I was left with an odd double effect which you can see in the upper picture here:

When our lovely Beauty Editor Aisling Powell joined the team she couldn't believe what they had done with my brows and explained that a true brow professional would never remove your own brow; it is all about working with the shape of your face and with 'what God gave you'. When she offered to help me fix them, I jumped at the chance, although I was, of course, apprehensive. The previous results hadn't exactly filled me with confidence for the whole semi-permanent brow process!

I went along to Aisling's salon, Empower Studios, in Ballsbridge. She made me feel perfectly at ease and began by measuring out where my natural brows should be. It is effectively a form of tattooing. However, the important difference being it doesn't penetrate the deeper layers of skin, hence the temporary nature. They last from one to three years depending on the individual. This allows you to adjust their shape as your face ages. They also offer a very natural look as they mimic your real hair rather than being a solid block of pigment. The treatment itself lasted approx 90 minutes.

Was it painful? Well, it wasn't painless. You are penetrating the skin after all, and in my case, Aisling was going over old scar tissue from the original treatment. However, I found it to be very manageable, especially once the topical anaesthetic kicked in. It certainly wouldn't discourage me from getting them done again when they eventually wear away.

Overall, I think that this is a fabulous treatment. The brows truly do frame the face and having them look their best makes a big difference. Whether you have over plucked, have naturally sparse brows, have alopecia or have undergone chemo, or you just want to spend less time making up your brows in the morning, then this treatment is definitely for you.