As a teen of the nineties, I developed an unhealthy obsession with eyebrows. The poster girl at the time was Drew Barrymore, and I spent many hours in front of the mirror trying to emulate her pixie cut and pencil-thin brows. Thankfully trends have moved on, though my poor brows have never fully recovered.
One night while scrolling on Instagram, I stumbled upon a woman who’d just had a brow transformation that lifted her entire face; her previously thin, straight brows had been magically transformed into full, perfectly arched masterpieces. Her secret? A simple salon treatment called brow lamination.
What Is Brow Lamination?
Despite the name it does not involve any laminating machines or hot plastic, rather it’s a quick, painless in-salon treatment that reshapes your brows using a similar technology used to perm the hair on your head. Your brow hairs are combed up and into a fuller shape, coated with a keratin solution and set with cling wrap for about five minutes. After this, a neutralising cream is applied over the brow to fix the style in place, leaving you with fuller, fluffier perfectly arched brows, all for around $60.
Not only does brow lamination make your eyebrows look thicker and healthier, it can also make your eyes appear larger and more open. Over time our brows naturally thin, and our eye sockets ever-so-slowly shrink making our eyes appear smaller as we age. Having a skilled technician shape your brows to frame your face, can act like a mini brow lift. Plus, if you’re like me and are tired of filling your brows in every morning, it will save on time as the results last around eight weeks.
My Experience
After spending hours gazing at the good, the bad and the ugly of brows online, I booked at my local lash and brow salon to try it out. I won’t lie, I was a little apprehensive that I might end up with furry caterpillars on my face. I mentioned this to my brow technician and she reassured me that all customers had their brows shaped to suit their face for a beautiful natural result.
Given I hadn’t had a lamination before, we started with skin patch-test to make sure I had no reaction to the solutions. After establishing I wasn’t allergic, my brows were gently cleaned and rinsed to prepare them for the keratin solution which would relax the hairs. My technician combed my brows upwards before checking with me that I was happy with the shape,
She then applied the keratin solution over them (which smells suspiciously like an 80s hair salon). After about five minutes the cling wrap and solution were removed and the neutralising agent added to stop the straightening process. The treatment was completely painless and done in about 30 minutes.
The Result
I’ll admit I was a bit scared to look in the mirror but I was pleasantly surprised with my best-ever eyebrows. Perfectly styled and set with not a hair out of place, looking thicker and shinier than they had in 40+ years.
I was given what looked like a little mascara wand to comb them with in the mornings, but I only used it a couple of times over the following week, they just stayed put. And because I no longer needed to fill in my brows, it shaved a few minutes off my morning routine.
Would I do it again?
Yes - though I’d probably save it for special events or when I need a confidence boost. And for that reason, in my book, it’s money well spent!
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