Brace yourself Steemians, I'm going to share a few Aesthetic techniques that we utilize in my shop every single day. I have agreed to be the model because I am the "squatchiest" of everyone on my whole team. (Yeah, the Boss never spends the time on herself that she should and squatchy is my slang for Sasquatch, Bigfoot or Yeti when hair growth reaches OUT of CONTROL proportions.)
I've owned a Day Spa business for 12 years, worked in the industry for 26 years and have personally been involved in hair removal for 35 years. I started really young due to my ethnicity. I'm a mix of Irish and Italian which makes for a stubborn coarser hair. Plus, I have lots of double follicles which means that one pore can have 2 hairs growing from it. (People who teach hair-removal techniques love this because it's a challenge...me not so much, but put plainly and simply, you take the cards that are dealt to you in life.)
This is my "BEFORE" Picture. No make-up and you can see my oil-rich skin. We undertook this exercise at 3:15 pm and I definitely had my afternoon shine on. So, first of all, if you have an oily skin or a combination of oily and dry skin, all the excess oil must be removed before we attempt to wax or the wax will not adhere properly to the hair that we want to remove. I could give an 8 hour lecture on the intricacies of different waxing techniques and protocols but I won't bore you.
At first glance you might think that my eyebrows aren't that bad
Trust me, they are. This will make more sense to you, once I show you what they can and should look like.
Before I do that, I want to draw your attention to a few areas of my brows:
- the areas on both sides just above my nose;
- the space directly above my nose, between my brows;
- and the space between my lower brow and my upper eye lid;
(I'll give you a second to examine these areas.)
Before After
Brow sculpting is like carving-out beautiful brows with the perfect arch from an existing rugged canvas. It's the quickest way to lift the face and turn back the hands of time. It's also important to note that your eyebrows are not exactly the same.
They are sisters, (or brothers) that aren't twins
The sooner you accept this fact, the easier the process will be for you because you can actually stop driving yourself crazy trying to make them match.
A well-groomed man looks very debonair with his brows shaped. It finishes his look and lifts his face just as much as it does for a lady.
So let's look at how this is done:
- Start by measuring and marking. (Once you get good at this, you can do it without marking but I'm going to show you this because it is a critical step to determining where the natural arch of the brow should be.)
The first measurement happens from the flare of the nostril, intersecting the tear duct to the outside of the brow. Place your first line here with an eyeliner pencil.
- The second marking guide is taken from the flare of the nostril, intersecting the middle of the pupil to the middle of the brow. This is where the natural arch of the brow is actually located.
- The third and final measurement is taken from the flare of the nostril, intersecting the outside corner of the eye to the outside edge of the brow.
- Mark both right and left brows.
We use different types and kinds of waxes for different areas of the body
On the face, we predominantly use what's known as hard wax. Hard wax is applied when it's very warm. This makes it the consistency of a very soft taffy and it's quite malleable. It hardens in approximately 30 seconds into a solid and is then briskly (and I mean fast) removed in the opposite direction that the hair was growing. Years ago, before hard waxes, everyone just used soft wax, then applied a muslin strip of fabric over top and that's what was briskly pulled off. This is not the best for the face because it's very traumatizing to the underlying skin. Also, the wax migrates under the muslin when a technician applies it, because you have to push down on the fabric to make sure that it's adhered properly to the wax. This makes getting tight precision next to impossible.
- Apply the wax to the centre, between the brows.
- While the wax sets up, brush the brows into position, then remove the wax by pulling it off in the opposite direction that the hair is growing and as close to the body as you can. You DO NOT want to pull up or away from the body because this tears the skin and breaks the hair.
- Apply the wax to the area just above the brow and remove it once it sets up.
This whole process normally takes about 12 minutes from start to finish.
- Apply the wax to the area just under the brow and remove it once it sets up.
- Let the tweezing begin. Tweeze any stray hairs that did not adhere to the wax.
- Remove the marking guides, disinfect the skin and apply a calming serum.
Most people are a little red right after being waxed. This generally lasts for about 20 minutes.
Here's another look at the transformation:
A big "thank you" is extended to @dianelyndon who took the pictures and @purplemagic who did all the waxing and tweezing.
I'd really love to see some hair removal techniques from other Steemians. For example, I'd love to see a tutorial on both threading and sugaring. If anyone decides to do this, please comment here with the link to your post. ;)
I welcome your comments and invite you to follow me on my journey...as I try to be a little less squatchy.
~ Rebecca Ryan
fantastic post @rebeccaryan, well my wife really like your suggestions to prepare eye brows, i hope she now try it at home instead of going to beauty saloon, i definitely help her in measuring and marking, thanks for sharing
I wish you both good luck. It can be done just with tweezing if you don't have the wax. It just takes a lot longer. You would still use the same measuring guides.
you take a lot on your plate, the hairs have to be removed against the direction the hair grows ! when you do it wrong you bend the hairpocket and the hair grows under the skin, not nice and hard to correct . Let your wife go to the beautysalon, they know what they are doing ! :-) What is a wife when she can not go to a beautyshop now and than :-)
@rebeccaryan,
Ha ha ha I never did this, my wife does :D She said it's really painful thing! No idea and won't get that experience either :D Nice article and photography with a lot of information on this very curios thing :D
Cheers~
Thank you @theguruasia! Yes there is pain involved because we are ripping hair out by the roots. It is traumatic to the tissue. All in the name of beauty. :)
Double follicles...i'm learning great things again from you my friend! I was wondering why you were so red like that...Is this process painful btw!?
My wife will love this post!!!
These women i tell you!!!Lol!
Hi Chef! Yes it is painful...but it's quick and the redness goes away in about 20 minutes.
It is what we can do...think of it like plating an entree, the beauty is in the fine details and the balance. :)
You got me here!!! Yes you are right...with the fine details, special touches and balance...the end result will be amazing.
Night and Day. Simplicity and elegance win every time.
Lol i read some man here who think this is only for woman? :-) So many man would look better when the harvest ther forrest on there nose top and have two brows instead of one ! and than all them hair on top of the eyebrow going to the borderline of their hair, to be quiet about the long flat ones on the eylids it self. !!! So many man would be nicer to look at when they would take care of their selves a bit. :-) Tell your wives that, they will be happy to help you and take the tweezers out ... :-p
@rebeccaryan - Oh ma'm you are beautiful. She made your eyebrows well Ma'm. Love it & nice you shared your experience ma'm.
+W+ [UpVoted & ReSteemed]
Thank you so much @steemwija!
@rebeccaryan
Oh Rebecca. How lovely you look. The women of the world spend lots of time and money just to look attractive.
I am so glad that my maker gave me the human body of a man.
Why? Because I am much too lazy to try to look attractive to other members of the opposite sex. Ha
I only do enough grooming to look OK by even the same sex of humans that I am. Winning a beauty contest would not ever be a part of my desire to achieve to that level. Sorry. lol
I do the basics for appearance acceptance. That is it. Shave, brush teeth, floss, and use mouth wash. I even take a shower or bath to look clean.
That's it. See how handsome I am? Ha ha
But, I do really appreciate the work, time, and money spent by the ladies and girls of our human race to look pretty. Pat growls at me when I look though. Ha
Thank you for this very informative post. Young women, such as yourself, look very attractive to me with all the time and effort spent to get our "wow's."
You have earned it. Hats off to the lovely ladies and girls of the world.
Without you. This world would be a boring place.
Francis
Thank you for calling me a young women Francis! That's one of the best things that I've read all day.
Yes, as a woman I can also say that the world would be a boring place without men.
At the end of the day, it's all about balance.
I do not play the battle of the genders one-uppers-and-put-downs. As you can tell from my pics, I am Mr. Natural. Hair serves many purposes. Cultures have their rules as to what is aesthetic. These dogmas are how women are sold on the philosophies of torture devices and rituals of Four-inch-pointed-toes stilettos (Chic is not dislocating one's arches.), brassieres, daily war-paint applications with deadly chemicals, and sensitive-area hair removal.
In case, anyone is wondering; I admire women who do not shave their legs. I'm often asked this as a "qualifying question." I do not demean women who engage in the aforementioned practices. However, I hope they would challenge themselves as to WHY.
Brooke Shields, Fan Bingbing, Cara Delevingne, Amal Clooney, Priyanka Chopra, Allison Williams, Camilla Belle, Emilia Clarke, Emma Watson, and Salma Hayek are among glamourous women who perform minimal tweaking to their eyebrows.
Rebecca, I'm sure you're amused by my comment and unsurprised. So, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
BTW, my barber trims my eyebrows and throws in a haircut. They are a vigorous wild thicket which has interfered with my sight.
You, Sir, are an upstanding human-being. I think you are absolutely right.
Maybe some day our "current" socially acceptable appearance practices won't exist at all. Services like engaging in hair removal is not a decision to be made lightly. It's painful and is a process.
The benefit after years of electing to have it done, is that the hair doesn't grow back as much, if at all in areas. This makes it less and less painful each time and then it becomes about saving time...if you don't have to shave for a few weeks than that allows you to do something else.
I'm a gal, that removes hair on an as needed basis, (which is determined by me). Your example of your own brows interfering with your sight would qualify as "as needed" in my books and I'd make the same call. :)
If I lived close to y'all, I would volunteer to be y'alls guinea pig for shit like this! She could tweez my brows and whatever she wanted to. She could paint my nails even! I would even let her wax da da da deez nutz! Sorry, couldn't help myself. Just put me in the corner now already! I'm such a bad bad man.
Hahahahaha! I cannot talk to you about the finer point of waxing testicles on the blockchain LOL! I can only allude to how much it can hurt and how much bruising can result and unless you're a Star or are participating in a "nutscaping" contest, I do not recommend it. (Under the category of shit I wish I didn't know)
I kid you not, it's a thing. http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/27/men-are-taking-photos-of-their-balls-in-front-of-beautiful-landscapes-5465223/
LMFAO!
Okay Becca, I'm not going to ask you how you came across or knew about this article lol but it's hilarious! Although, I was just joking about waxing my goods because I already take care of the boys by shaving them. I know this is TMI but oh well. Shaving them is risky enough as it is without having to do all that violent yanking off wax crap. No thanks, I will stick to my good ol' shaving cream and razor! Damn son!
It is my job to know...all things body. LMFAO ! It is a blessing and a curse. Trust me on that. ;)
Had no idea ,saw few ladies change in that way of transforming in the face with grooming but didn't had any idea of how do they do it ,Seems pretty easy though lol ; )
Wow
Thank you @american-pie!
Thank you @sabbir24! I love the gif.
behind the beauty its so much hardworking and sacrificing of time, thanks for sharing
Thank you for having a look and commenting @sheikh27!
Wow. This was so good. I always thought my eyebrows were different, but I thought it was just me because it made sense that they were supposed to be the same, so thank you for making that clear. I never actually went to salon to get my eyebrows done, always did it myself, but never really knew it how. Your drawing and measuring really helped. Thank you. I'm following you because I see you are a Cannabis Coach and I don't know much about it, but would like to learn about it. Also it seems like you like sharing about health etc, and so do I.
Oh Good @joalvarez! I am following you too! OK, no worries about this. we often all just tweeze because it's a little easier if you stay on top of the strays as they grow. I just let mine get out of control and it was faster for me just to get them done while I was at work. When you tweeze yourself, it is better to take one hair from one brow, then go to the opposite brow and take a hair. We are always taking more hair from the brow that's opposite your dominant hand. It is harder to tweeze on your dominant side...so if people are too agressive on their easy side, the brows don't look balanced...if that makes sense to you. :)
thank you for sharing friends
I have a thing for my brows ring perfect and get them done every week at the salon . I actually brought Hard wax a week or two ago , kinda scared to mess up my brows but I can tell from you that drawing it out first really helps
Hi @journeyoflife!
Ok, the wax needs to be hot but not too hot or you'll burn the tender skin around your eyes. Set your pot to medium. Practice on your arm. It's tricky to hold the skin taught and pull low at the same time. By low, I mean as close to your skin as you can. You don't want to pull up. If you tweeze, I always recommend tweezing 1 hair from the right brow and one from the left. It is way easier to tweeze the brow opposite your dominant hand. If you don't work on balancing the brows, it's very easy to get one substantially thinner. Hope this helps. ;)
I agree it is tough to pull at the same time , I think I will price to practice before I start to look like a 🤡. I will let you know how it goes
Very good. I'd love to know how you do.
Wow...wonderful post with useful beauty tips.... by @rebeccaryan
Wel done and perfect work....
Upvoted....
Cheers~~~~~~
Thank you @dinidanda!
I love having my eyebrows done. Do you do your own too?
It's one of the best things anyone can do for themselves. It gives such a lift to the face.
Yes. However, I must admit it was nice to lie down for a few minutes. LOL!
I agree! I want to learn to do my own as well. Any advice for beginners?
A great lesson for and an interesting article, thank you.
I always follow you.
Because you are offering leaflets at the level
Keep going
Nice Rebecca! and useful for girls ;))
its good looking and thanks for given tips of beauty.
amigo #resteemia at your service
you looks fantastic. excellent work & nice article @rebeccaryan
ReSteemia
'UpVoted ReSteemed Commented'
Thank you @resteemia! I love the gif.
my niece went to a beauty shop and had her face done she said there was a certain amount of pain when they ripped some her eyebrows out with tape. I will say she look like a new person when they got done. thanks for sharing your post. I have always tried to stay well groomed however I do not go to a beauty parlor. I might give that a try sometime
You are so sweet @cowboyk! It is a nice thing to at least trim the eyebrows at the same time the hair is cut. This is often just done or you can ask if it's not. (A good stylist or barber will do this.)
That was nicely done now its look perfect ;)
Thank you @blazing!
You look beautiful and wonderful rebeccaryan
This seems to be very good
I want to know his name
greeting
Thank you @walidsalah!
Very informative and great pics. Ill paas it on ti my wife. Im looking for real followers. I amd new and my reputation is so low. Thanks.