The day I got a face tattoo

Cara Delevingne is famous for her eyebrows. Photo: Kevin Tachman

I cursed my thick eyebrows growing up. Forever plucking and waxing to control them. Except I did it too much and now that I’m 40 they are thin and sparse. 

I would fill them in every day with eyebrow powder. Annoying.

So when I met with eyebrow expert Sharon-Lee Clarke I was expecting her to tell me I should regularly dye them.

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Eyebrow tattoos

Here are some before and after photos of women who have had their eyebrows tattooed. 

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I wasn’t expecting this.

‘‘You should get your eyebrows tattooed.’’

Wait.  What?

Shelly Horton's eyebrows BEFORE.

They only people I’d seen with tattooed eyebrows looked terrible. Older ladies with blue grey brows that looked like they were drawn on with magic marker.

‘‘There’s a new tattooing technique called ‘feather tattooing’ where tiny lines are drawn on the skin to look like hairs. No block fill-ins,’’ said Clarke. 

‘‘Feathering has been around for about two years but we only took in on about eight to 10 months ago. It’s progressed from the machine method that would do block colours to feather strokes so it looks more natural. We’ve played around with the technique and we always err on the side of caution.

Shelly Horton's eyebrows immediately AFTER tattooing.

‘‘It’s the ideal solution if you have gaps in your eyebrows or scars or they need filling in. It means you don’t need to maintain your eyebrows as often. I also do it for ladies who’ve had chemo and their eyebrows either don’t come back or come back differently.

‘‘We don’t recommend it to everyone. Only one in twelve. Most common is lack of hair. Or the wrong shape. A round brow is ageing.’’

But fashions change, so is there a risk you’ll get thick brows tattooed on but thin brows may be the big thing next year?

Shelly Horton's eyebrows six weeks after tattooing and after dyeing.

‘‘The right brow shape for your face doesn’t change. You should never follow fashions – you should have the shape that suits your face,’’ Clarke said.

It’s an investment. For a full brow tattoo it’s $1250 plus a $175 consultation. But it’s much less if you only need to fill in a gap from a scar. It lasts 3-5 years and you can change the colour.

I was sold. So I turned up an hour before my appointment for numbing cream to be applied to my skinny brows. I flicked through magazines and showed Clarke what style I wanted. I like thick defined brows. To me they make a face look complete.

The actual procedure only took about 15 minutes and the pain was bearable.  It feels like a pin being scratched over your skin.

After it was done they applied Vaseline. I looked in the mirror and my mouth dropped open in shock. They looked massive. Of course, they were also a bit red and swollen from the procedure and shiny from the Vaseline.

But massive.

Clarke saw my face and assured me they would fade by 40 per cent in the first three weeks.

I got home and couldn’t stop staring at them in the mirror. I felt numb and it wasn’t from the anaesthetic cream.

My fiance arrived home and recoiled in horror when he saw them and then he burst out laughing. Not the reaction I was hoping for.

"Babe they look like cartoon eyebrows. What have you done?"

What had I done exactly! I was on the point of tears.  I was madly googling ‘‘eyebrow tattoo removal’’ and drinking scotch.

I was flying to New Zealand the next day for a work trip and he smirked, "You’ll fit right in, Maoris love face tattoos."

‘‘They’re going to fade’’  I wailed. ‘‘They said in three weeks it will be 40 per cent lighter.’’

‘‘Then it’s a good thing you’re leaving the country," he laughed wiping away tears.

Trust me, he stopped laughing when he got no sex that night.

My girlfriends were kinder. "My mum had it done years ago and it will fade. Trouble is it fades to a blue colour.’’

Great.

You can’t apply any make up to the area  for 48 hours. You have to avoid sunlight, don’t pick at them  and put Vaseline on  before you have a shower. And twice a day for two weeks you apply Bepanthum. Yep, a cream for baby’s bums and my eyebrows.

I was diligent in my after care for what seemed like massive cartoon brows.

You get so used to seeing your face in the mirror that when there’s a change, it’s all you can see. But after a few weeks I was used to them. Gradually I started to like them. They did fade.

After a month I went back for my check up and even asked for a few more strokes to fill in some gaps.  I also had my brows dyed as they were a little bleached from the sun. This completed the look.

Now I love them.  Even without make up I feel like I have a ‘‘face on’’, when I work at Channel Seven the make-up artists all comment on what a great shape they are and how they suit me.

Even my fiance likes them now.

Plus I rang my dad in Queensland and told him I got two tattoos. The gruff ‘‘Oh Shelly, you promised me you’d never do that’’ from him made me chuckle for days.