Quick Review: Browhaus Brow Resurrection

A lot of people out there know what Brow Resurrection from Browhaus is; however try to Google it and not many before-after photos exist. There are some beautiful, tempting results reviewed here and here, but it’s fresh from the first application, not the final results after the initial dye scabs off. Vivavia did a very nice job chronicling the journey from the start ’till the 11th day, but then we have to back to Browhaus for touch up job, and what will the brow looks like after all the sessions, the real results that we will live through the next 1-2 years?

I bet most of you ladies would want to know, considering the dollars that needed to be plunged in order to pay for this service Right? Riiiiggghht. 

I’m not quite a neato that will chronicle my day-to-day brow progression though, so I’ll just give you the before and the after one. Just to contribute something to people who intend to undergo this browjob

What it is:
For those of you who doesn’t know what a Brow Resurrection is, basically it’s a strand-by-strand eyebrow embroidery, so it’s much less harsh than tattoo. It should look that much more natural too.

Browhaus claimed that this strand-by-strand thing is unique to them, and they try really hard to sell it (Browhaus is always doing this upselling thing!). However, from what I know, there are other popular eyebrow embroidery places here in Singapore that also do it that way. With a fraction of the price!

Then why Browhaus?
Simply because of convenience. I have a thread and tweeze package at Browhaus ION, and as usual, due to my sadly bald brows, they made a real effort to sell me the Brow Resurrection service. They offered a small discount (forgot how much exactly…10%? 20%?) and free touch up job. The location of Browhaus outlets can also be considered strategic too, due to the fact that I used to live at NTU in Pioneer  The other popular, so called go-to brow salon for Singapore Airlines girls are located at Bishan (cmiiw)…

Before I signed up for this Resurrection thing, I researched a bit and the feedback at Singaporean forums are not really the most glowing reviews. Many said that the dye wears off really quickly, less than 3 months. Etc etc.

In the end I decided to try it anyway…thinking that “oh well, if it didn’t go well, at least I tried. I can then safely move on to that Bishan salon and will not question about this popular Resurrection thingie anymore”.

And this is Singapore mannn~ Tropical country. Hot and humid weather. Where you travel by bus and MRT. Couple that with my bangs…then it’s not that weird to have my brow powder/pencil gone by mid-day. Major sigh.

How much did I pay for the job?
This is one service that I’m not comfortable in disclosing the price; because it’s simply exorbitant. Go to Browhaus’ website and you can easily locate the price.

Show me the before picture!
I didn’t take any new pics before I did the Resurrection. I’ll just use my most frightening, old pic.

Beware. You’ve been warned.

Bare Brows

Oh yuck. Bare face with sunscreen, with bald brows.

My actual brows are very thin and sparse, and it looked bald on the above photo also partially because of the shape of my brows. I trimmed it to make it more curvy, but as the result, it looks even smaller, thinner.

After I moved to Singapore, I tried to grew my brows back, and went to Browhaus regularly to have it threaded and tweezed. The specialist there (I always have my brows shaped by Jelly at Browhaus ION) tried to balance and re-shape it so it suits my face better and more visible. After months of tweaking effort, it looked more decent but of course there’s nothing you can do with those fine and sparse hair.

What to do?
My specialist, Jelly, is no Resurrection specialist. There’s only 1 Resurrection technician at Browhaus ION. First she traced my brows with special pen, to give me an idea on how my brows will look like after the Resurrection is done. Mostly the shape that Jelly gave me through monthly thread/tweeze is just right to her (and me) also, because it just follows the shape of my brow bone. I asked for a natural dye tone too, hoping for a softer, not-drawn-up result.

So here goes the Resurrection process: Apply a numbing cream, apply the dye; repeat twice.

Does it hurt?
This sure is one of the most asked questions regarding any eyebrow embroidery service. The answer depends on the individual though…some think it’s almost totally painless and can sleep through the process. Others told me the pain is no worse than having your brows plucked.

For the, it’s not exactly pain-free, but nothing unbearable.

See, I have quite a high pain threshold, as in last year I lost a fingernail totally in an accident, and I didn’t even shed a tear. Brow Resurrection is not that kind of pain that make me wanna cry. However it’s not as light as having your brows tweezed. Luckily the most painful episode only lasted for a few minutes, tops.

Overall it’s not the kind of pain that bothers me to repeat the process.

Your first result?
At first because the dye is new, it looked quite harsh, almost tattoo-ed, but it scabbed off within 7 to 10 days. Within this time frame,  expect to avoid applying makeup/skincare products to your brow bone area. Avoid contact with water as much as possible (just a short contact like washing your face is fine). Do not try to pick the peeling brow too, it should come off naturally.

Browhaus highly recommended the following brow care products after the resurrection: Build & Fix. Well, that’s putting it mildly. Told ya Browhaus is quite pushy!

It’s balm and serum pair that speeds the healing of your brow, and the technician went on~ and on about how it helps retain the color of the dye. She points out that if I won’t use the products, the dye will be gone and my thousands of dollars will be wasted. Hmph. How do an emollient balm helps to retain dyes was beyond me. And they’re expensive too. I didn’t remember the details but it’s around S$100?

But my brow area was scorching after the Resurrection. And out of curiosity I bought it anyway, thinking it may help heal my brows. Yes it does! Much too expensive for such products, anyhow.

Browhaus Products: Build & Fix

The good thing was: the packaging of these products was uber cute! They put it in cardbox old-school camera. I had 2 guy friends visited my dorm room separately (for school work, I swear!) and both squealed “How CUTE is that thing!”. And the balm worked as a nice lipbalm too.

Anyway, the pain in my brow area subsided within a week and after a month, I was left with uber natural looking resurrected brows. Too natural looking! What’s the point of having such an expensive job if it looks like I still have sparse (albeit much better and visible) brows?

Bottomline: the dye was too light for my taste!

Edited to add:

I forgot to mention that my left brow was even lighter than my right…more dye had came off from that left side. I think it was caused by my bangs, which was swept to the left and it had hit my resurrected brows and wiped away some of the dye!

The touch up and tweaks:
You’re required to do Resurrection touch up within 1-3 months after the initial work to maintain the look of your brows, and make it more permanent somehow; so it could last longer (around 1-2 years or so I heard).

The touch up session was basically the same as the initial session. I asked for denser strokes and deeper tint, and the technician re-sketched my brows to see if I like it better. Having came from China, the technician was not really fluent in English and took my request of ‘denser brows’ as ‘thicker brows’. She showed me the sketch on my brows and even though it’s not exactly what I asked for, it looked pretty good too. It was a good experiment to have thicker brows anyway…and the technician told me this kind of shape is quite popular lately because it looked like ‘Korean girls in the drama series”: thicker in shape, less curvy…and she told me she liked this shapes better on my face too. Har Har.

This time I asked her to use darker, darkest tint available, even. She kinda confused because “but you have such a fair skin tone, would it be too harsh for you?”. Don’t care! I’m used to drawing end-to-end brows with brown powders, yo!

So…same process. Apply numbing cream, apply dye…repeat twice.

It looked better when she finished her job, and this time she didn’t push me to buy the Build/Fix anymore because she thought I should have enough products for the initial + touch up sessions care.

Enough with the crap, show me the result already!
So basically, same care after the initial session. This is what my brows looked like about a month after the touch up session, and basically what I’ve been living with ever since.

Resurrected

No products on the brows, I leave it as it is. Click to see the full-res version. Sorry for the lighting, it was taken at a bar.

What do you think? My ex-colleagues were surprised now that I have brows, but they didn’t even know that it’s embroidered. They (men and women) thought it looks so real! On the other hand, my younger brother (who surprisingly have an ultra-dense, dark brows) told me the result is disgustingly ugly

Bottomline:
Finally! Not so short of a review, eh? I think I pretty much like the result. And I’m now free from hideous brows everyday. It won’t fade after a run to the bus stop. It’s just expensive…Let’s see later if I would do it again at Browhaus…or try other salon. The liberty of not having to draw my brows daily is a bit addictive, and I won’t be hesitant to asked for darkest tint available. My hair is dark anyway.

What do you think of the “flatter”, thicker, Korean-like shape? Does it suit me?

Edited To Add:

Here’s a couple more pics with better lighting, taken the day after this post:

Browhaus Brow Resurrection Result

Browhaus Brow Resurrection Result

Edited almost a year later:

Here’s my results almost a year later after the initial session.

Brow Resurrection: A Year Later

Brow Resurrection: A Year Later

Read the full update post here.  :)

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