What artists need to know about laminated brows

by Polly Smith

Have you seen Brow Lamination everywhere the past year and want to know more? Some of our top Flawless Trainers have shared their thoughts about Brow Lamination treatments and the best practices for us technicians to use. Get all the advice you need when it comes to consulting with your clients, assessing their brows and which types of products are the safest to use on their natural hairs. Our brow lamination starter kit contains the best products for you to kick-start your new treatments.

Julija Baltulioniene of Juli Lash Studio

Brow lamination was one of the most wanted treatments in 2020 and we believe it will still be very popular in 2021 (when we reopen), because the trends of natural beauty are ruling the world.

Brows are a significant part of our face and define our expression. Nowadays we all dream about fuller and bushier brows, the brows you see on the cover of beauty magazines.

How is this look achievable and is it suitable for every type of brow?

In my opinion, those that would benefit from the most from this treatment are those with full and thick brows.

Anyone with thin and full eyebrows can consider this treatment, however, you would get a similar outcome using brow sculpt, and brow hair can be styled without a big effort on a daily basis.

I personally wouldn't recommend it for people with super thin, uneven or patchy eyebrows.. In this case, I’d rather recommend having brow architecture done using henna or skin-staining tint for several months, until the brows are fully grown.

I would also not recommend laminated brows to pregnant ladies, as hormones can play here and no result might be achieved at all.

There are many various ways to perform an eyebrow lamination. For example it can be done in combination with brow architecture or using a natural pattern of brow shape (the latter is the trendiest at the moment). It can be tinted in a natural way (tinting only hair) or it can be tinted using skinstaining colours. Brows can be bleached and colour might be lightened (but we wouldn’t recommend doing that the same day as brow lamination). It is also important to know that it shouldn't be used on the same day as a henna treatment.

If someone’s brow hairs are thin and flexible, laminated eyebrows can be performed without gluing them to the skin and laying them down nicely. However if the brows are thick and grow in different directions, you might want to use glue and align the hair the way you like them to be before applying lotions.

While working with eyebrow lamination lotions it is always important to remember that the product should have as little contact with the skin as possible, to avoid irritations. When you apply lotions, place it mostly on the hair in the shape of the eyebrow. Make sure to clean it from the skin in the surrounding area.

Brow lamination works in a similar way to lash lamination. The first lotion is relaxing the hair and the second lotion is fixing the hair in the desired shape. Here it is important not to over-bend the hair and not to create any sharp angles. (If you brush them too much upwards in the middle or the end of the brow body, you might create some unwanted angles on the hair and that will become visible after the brows have grown out).

The front of the brow, around 1/8 of it, should always be brushed up, the middle of the hair brushed in a 45 degree angle from the ear, and the end of the brow body should point towards the ear. Avoid putting all the brows upwards - it will create unwanted breakages to the natural brow hairs.

Never cut the tips of the brows after eyebrow lamination. Hairs will become flexible after this treatment and you can put them in pretty much any shape you like. It is very important to deliver this information to the customer, as some of them think that brows will remain stuck to the forehead until the next visit. Yes, they will be like that for the first 2-3 days, before the treatment settles in properly, however after that, brushing and styling is needed to maintain the look, especially for thinner hair. Brow Sculpt will help you style the brows into desired shape (whether that’s more trendy, spiky, or into a defined, precise shape) - you can play with it - one day one shape, another day or event - completely different shape. It can change and frame your face in whatever way you like. Make sure to explain this to your customer while you deliver information about aftercare. Educated customer = happy customer = happy artist!

It is important to remember to decrease the amount of time for tinting, to avoid creating brows that are too dark. It should be 2-5 minutes, depending on the tint you use and the colour of your client’s natural brows.

Tinting is normally done after the second lotion, however, if you plan to use skin-staining colour, I’d recommend doing the full lamination process, clean brows and then afterwards go in with architecture and tinting. Otherwise the tint won't stain the skin, especially if you used glue to fix the brows. Personally I prefer natural looking “Brow UP” results, without architecture, but your client might have a different style in mind. Have variety and selection for your customer to choose.

Listening to what your client wants is key. Consult with them about what they would like to achieve from this treatment and follow through with what you think would work best for their brows. If you believe that a client isn’t suitable for this procedure or that you may not be able to achieve the outcome that they desire, have the knowledge and certainty to explain why that might be and offer alternative treatment. Always remember, one of the most important steps actually comes after the treatment and that’s explaining the after care to your client.

Gina Nascimento of Flawless Lashes by Loreta Portugal

There are generally two types of Lash Lift products available to us technicians: aggressive old school products and more gentle modern ones. As we all know, the world of cosmetics is moving towards using gentler and safer products on our natural features and the lash & brow industry is no different! It’s very important to understand that aggressive products work very differently from the newer, gentler ones.

Among other differences, these newer and more mild products need a little bit more time to carefully process lashes & brows, while aggressive products shock them rapidly into a completely new shape while putting a lot of stress on the natural hairs.

Curling Lotion: The Game Changer The key ingredient in all of lash lifting is the curling lotion, also known as the perming lotion because it is the most aggressive out of all lash lifting products. The purpose of curling lotion is to fully open all of your client’s lash cuticles and soften the keratin inside the lash, so we can give lashes a whole new shape. But the state of lashes after this stage is very different, depending on whether they have been treated with gentle or with harsh products. That’s where FLAWLESS comes in! The curling lotion's basic method of working is to raise the pH level inside the lash. Our range is much lower than the industry average of 9.

You can spot more aggressive products from the types of containers they will be sold in. Aggressive curling lotions can be stored in glass bottles with openable lids, since their pH doesn't drop upon contact with oxygen. Whereas gentler curling lotions lose their curling effect after oxidation so they cannot be stored in containers with openable lids. That’s why we are using an innovative airtight bottle system for our Flawless Lash Lift lotions. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide! You may need to take some time to have a think about the formula of the Lash Lift system you are using. Compare the characteristics of gentle and aggressive Lash Lift products and evaluate the lotions you use and whether you are providing the safest service for your clientele. When you switch from strong lash lift products to gentler ones, you might not notice the difference in your customers' lashes after the first lift but the more treatments you do and the better you get to know their lashes, the more of a difference you will see. I hope this has helped you to make up your mind whether to use aggressive or milder Lash Lift products in the future!