Why I Got My Eyebrows Tattooed on Permanently

​There are a few events that I would say changed my entire life, some of which probably sound familiar to you too: meeting my best friend, deciding where to go to college, getting my dream job — and getting permanent eyebrow makeup.

I've been filling in my eyebrows since before Cara Delevingne made it cool. Thanks to hair loss from alopecia, over the last eight years, my eyebrows have ranged from regular to nonexistent, with stops in between at stages like "thin but whole left eyebrow and half a right eyebrow." I became a pro at drawing them on freehand with pencil and made them look even more natural with powder once I discovered Carly Severn's amazing tutorial. But I still had to spend five minutes — longer if I messed up — drawing them on every morning. And that was the minimum: if I went to the beach, I had to bring a pencil and fix them every time I reapplied sunscreen or went in the water; if I took a spin class, they'd be completely gone by the end and I'd have to choose between spending 10 minutes trying to get the pencil to stick to my sweaty skin or walking home without any eyebrows at all.

I had toyed with the idea of permanent makeup, but I had visions in my head of old ladies with giant black slashes across their foreheads, and was scared of having it go wrong and being on my face F O R E V E R. But then my friend Kelly got her totally-there-but-thin brows filled in, and she looked incredible. Kelly does not do something unless she's researched and found the best way to do it, so I asked where she went, checked out the website, and booked an appointment with Amy Kernahan the next day.

The first thing Amy explained to me is that permanent makeup isn't actually permanent. Rather than using ink like in regular tattoos, permanent makeup uses thicker, less concentrated pigments. This pigment fades over time, so if you commit to permanent makeup, you need to go back every one to two years for a touchup. If you decide you don't want permanent makeup anymore, it will just keep fading, eventually becoming barely visible.

At my consultation, Amy drew eyebrows on my face with regular makeup until we agreed on a shape. She drew something much more arched than I normally drew on myself, explaining that an arch is a better shape to have as you age, since it keeps your eyes looking big and open. The shape I had been drawing was fairly flat; not because I liked it, but because it was easier to draw. We went back and forth on just how arched the new one should be for a while, but she never pressured me into anything; when I told her I needed it less arched, she redid it, and both of us were even happier with the results. If you're filling in thin eyebrows, she'll help you work with your existing shape.

There are two main methods of permanent eyebrow makeup: micropigmentation (typically done with a machine) and microblading (applied with a hand tool and ideal for creating light, wispy hair strokes). Both result in eyebrows that look like eyebrows, because it's not a big slash of color; your artist will draw on individual hairs.

The procedures cost about the same; price differences will just vary depending on where you live and what your artist charges. Amy, who uses both methods, charges $850, or $650 if you choose one of her associates, for eyebrow makeup in NYC, but a friend of mine in Washington, D.C., paid $400 for her artist there.

While you don't need to do anything to prepare for the procedure, I came armed with one of my best friends, both to reaffirm that the shape was good and to hold my hand if necessary (a photographer also joined us). If you have a regular tattoo, it feels pretty similar: It's not the most painful thing in the world, but it certainly doesn't feel like it was licked on by kittens, to quote Rachel Green. It feels like what it is: Someone dragging a needle across your skin. However, unlike a regular tattoo, your artist will likely use a numbing cream. It doesn't make the area completely numb, but it does help. (Amy explained that she could make it completely numb with injections of an anesthetic, but that that would also cause some swelling.)

I don't like to look at needles, so I kept my eyes closed the entire time. Amy explained what she was doing each step of the way, so I was never surprised by a feeling or touch.

The whole process took about an hour, but it felt like it went by really quickly. I highly recommend bringing a #squad with you when you go to chat and tell stories and keep you from thinking about the fact that you're being stabbed with a needle over and over.

Amy had me get up to look in the mirror when she was done. My head hurt and I had involuntarily cried all my eyeliner off, but all that fell away because my brows looked fantastic. Within a few minutes, I could barely remember what my old shape had looked like, because this one just looked so right on my face.

The hardest part of getting permanent makeup turned out to be the healing. Over the course of the next week, the top layer of skin turned itchy, scabbed, and then flaked off — and I was not allowed to touch it except to put a moisturizer on them twice a day with clean hands. I also wasn't allowed to take any workout classes that make me sweat, which meant skipping a week at my mothership, Flywheel.

All I wanted to do was scratch or pick my face. Amy had warned me about this, suggesting I not make a ton of plans, but I was still a step away from needing pot holders tied around my hands. Picking off the scabbing can lead to uneven healing, a mantra I repeated in my head 17 times a day. A week after the procedure, Amy — who texted me every few days to see how I was doing — allowed me to gently wipe away any remaining scabs with a damp cloth.

Here's something else no one tells you about permanent eyebrow makeup: You're only half done once you've healed from that initial procedure. Four to six weeks later, your artist will have you come back for a touch-up. You can't skip this, as she'll use the time to fill in any areas that healed unevenly and adjust the color if you don't love how it healed. In my case, Amy took my brows a bit darker. After that, you get another week of oh-my-god-just-let-me-pick-my-face, but then you're really done! (Well, until you need a touch-up in a few years.) The only regular care you need to give them is moisturizing and wearing sunscreen every day, something you should be doing anyway.

I lost count of how many compliments my brows got, from both people who knew what I'd done and people who didn't. Amy describes the results of good permanent makeup as "your friends will know you look great, they may just not know exactly why." She's right.

I can also just live my life now. When I have an itch on my face, I can scratch it and not worry that I'm wiping off half a brow. When I go to spin class, I can wipe my face freely and know I'll leave class looking like a (red-faced) human. When I rest on my boyfriend's shoulder, I don't have to worry that I'm getting makeup on his shirt. When I go to the beach, all I need to pack is snacks and sunscreen.

I hope that my real eyebrows do grow back one day. When they do, I think they'll look even better with the depth and definition of the permanent makeup behind them. But regardless of what happens, I don't have to worry about them anymore, and that weight off my shoulders is everything.

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