Don’t know if this is the right sub, but here goes. (English is not my primary language, so sorry if I am not making sense)
So yesterday I got a brow tint and lift from a beautician (I did a eyelash lift and tint at the same time). Now, I have light blond colored brows (I often use a dark blonde brow pencil to make them more noticeable), have (dyed) light blonde hair and I am quite pale. I never got my brows tinted before and wanted to give it a try. I want to take a bit more care of myself and thought it was a good idea, and doing it with a beautician would ensure me it would not end badly, compared to home kits…
Well, when I got up after the session and looked in the mirror, I was shocked because my brows were pitch black… And with the lift, it is very, very noticeable… The beautician told me not to worry, that it would fade “a bit” within 3 days. Also, she had not removed the tint om my skin, so it was “a bit more visible”. She told me to remove the tint on the skin in the evening (my appointment ended at 4pm). My 7 yo daughter screamed when she saw me coming home… My partner made fun of me… They both find it awfull. It makes me look mean… At 7pm I had enough and removed the tint by scrubbing like a maniac (and probably screwed the lift but I didn’t care anymore at this point). My brow color didnt fade. It is literally black. I send the beautician a polite message asking what tint color she used (scared that she might have used a dark brown, or black) and if it did not fade enough by saturday, if she could do it again but lighter. She responded that she used a dark blonde tint (which it did indeed looked like on my skin), and that it was the lightest tint she had. That it would fade a bit in 3 to 4 days (not 3 days likes she initially said) that it was impressive because I refused to get my brows structured and plucked (she asked me if I wanted her to pluck the few uncolored hairs that were left and I said no because I swell a lot and for a long time (and also because i am afraid i would hate the shape), but she didn’t talk about brow waxing. I feel like she is not taking responsibility by minimizing my feelings and anxiety (the first thing I said when seeing the tint, after a loud gasp, was that I could not go to work looking like this) and blaming it on me, while she did not informed me that it could improve the whole look (she knew it was my first time, and was friendly and talkative the whole time). I’m afraid the 3 to 4 days will juste make me more used to the situation, and notice it less.
I have looked on the internet but I don’t see any mention on brow tint that get significantly lighter after a few days. I did find pages saying that the color gets darker if you leave it on for too long, which I am afraid might have happened, especially since she did leave the tint on my skin . I am felling awfull and very self conscious… I don’t want to blame the beautician because she might be right and it just me panicking about nothing, but this is just so impacting that I am thinking about buying an Amazon kit to make it lighter (an possibly making it worse)…
As anyone ever had this experience and a color that got lighter?
Trust the process
When I tint my eyebrows and mess up, I use coconut oil and Vaseline on my eyebrows to break down the color. I leave it on for an hour and wipe off with a cotton pad, reapply, and repeat until it’s off. It usually takes me a whole day of that, though 😮💨 Maybe that might work for you?
It will fade to a natural color. I work at a salon with an aesthetician who does these and they fade to look beautiful and natural, although they always look harsh at first. It was the same when my mom got hers microbladed, they looked crazy and super dark but after they fade for a bit they look beautiful. I think the only reason it seemed like she was invalidating your feelings is because you invalidated her expertise by not believing her that they will fade 😂
I didn’t invalidate her expertise, I was extremely polite and even apologized for bringing it up, and explained I was very stressed out by it. It didn’t really help that she is very young (barely 17, right out of school (I discovered this while she was working on my lashes, so I admit it got a bit nervous)), only works since June and was not able to show any before and after pictures (because she kept forgetting (she also forgot to do before pictures on me)). She is also quite outspoken, like young people can be, which can come of as a bit rude during face to face, and especially by message. With the panick, I might have taken her very straight and to the point answers as her invalidating my feelings. 🫣 Well, I might make a new appointment with her so that we wax my (hopefullu datk blonde) bushy brows, and she can tell me she was right 😅
I do brows, and I’ve definitely noticed that the same tint color can look darker on bushy dense brows than sparse, fine brows. I’ve boiled it down to precisely: the more brow you have, the more of a punch a tint can pack. Idk if that makes sense to anyone else but it does inside my head lol. But like everyone else said, don’t worry, it will fade! Dandruff shampoo is notorious for stripping hair color so you can use it in your brows to speed up the process.
Hi, it’s me again…
It has been 5 days, and the color has not faded… even not a little bit… you can’t see a difference between my brow hair and my lashes… I tried the dandruff shampoo. Did it twice. Didn’t change a thing. It did irritate the skin on a place I had plucked some hair on Thursday (so 3 days before the shampoo). I did put immediately hydrating lotion after the shampoo, but it still got red. So now I have black brows and 2 small red patches right underneath them.
I think I’ll just go with the concealer for a few weeks. But I am really disappointed in the whole experience. I don’t know if I should reach out to the beautician. Since she doesn’t have lighter tints, she can’t really help. I’m also thinking of going somewhere else to try to salvage it… I have a professional event in 10 days and wanted everything to be settled by then…
I honestly didn’t know about the dandruff shampoo, I saw it in another comment. I’ll try to trust the process until sunday. But I get what you mean by dense/bushy. Since mine were so light, it didn’t really notice I had so many (I almost never pluck them since they were almost not noticeable). It’s almost been 48h, and they’re still pitch black. I’ll wait and see!
Just in case you do need to go out and the brows are making you too self-conscious, I have an experience I would like to share.
I had an eyebrow tattoo years ago, back when they straight up called it a tattoo and not microblading or brow embroidery. I also didn’t know what to expect going in and had it done on a Saturday. I had to go to work on Monday and I still had black Sharpie marker brows (I didn’t know how long it would actually take for the scabs to fall off when I made the appointment).
So I covered them with concealer and drew them back in with brow powder. No one clocked that there was anything different. No extended looks at my brows or anything. Actually later on when my colleague was considering having her brows done too and was asking about the “recovery” time, she was shocked when I mentioned that she had actually seen me when I was in the scabbing process.
Thank you for sharing your experience! It has also been mentioned by another redditor, so it seems it’s an approved method. I almost never wear concealer since it makes my skin break out for a week, but it guess it would be okay if only on the brows. I’ll give it a try if the tint does not lighten up by Sunday evening
The brow tint will fade within just a few days, but if you want to speed it up, use an anti dandruff shampoo - take a little dab on a qtip, leave it on for a good 15-30 mins, scrub, and wash off.
Moisturize fterwards, as antidandruff shampoo can be quite drying.
it actually does fade
Clam down. It lightens up. I do mine on a Friday so I have the weekend to let it lighten up before work on Monday. Just put some eyeliner on and wear a hat.
Ahaha I actually thought about dying my hair a few tones darker to try to make the brows stand out less. I had to wait 24 hours with my lashlift before putting on make up and and will definitely put on one of my many eyeliners now that it is ok
Dude just apply some foundation on it to lighten up. Stop freaking out. It will fade.
That did not even cross my mind since I very seldomly put foundation on! Will give it a try it it is not okay by sunday
My colour fades almost completely after three days. Even when they did it way too dark.
Rubbing alcohol on some cotton will help wipe the colour off or oil just go for it
Lol. She already said it would lighten.
Honestly, it sounds like you went into this situation without properly informing yourself. You’ve already made uninformed mistakes like this with bleaching your hair.
I understand your anxiety, but it kind of sounds like you owe the beautician an apology. I’d wait to see if it fades after those 3 or 4 days, and then reach out to her to send your regrets.
the color gets lighter.
The good news is it’s temporary I have pale brows as well and have to remind them very light brown and not leave the product on a long time! Look up Groucho Marx, I’ve had my eye brows look like that. Not a good look.
It may be a couple of weeks before it starts to fade but it will, this too will pass. Do not do anything to change it, what ever you might might react differently and you could end up with orange eyebrows.
leaving color on longer does not make it darker after a certain amount of time. that certain amount of time is about half an hour i think.
brow tints, brow blading, and permanent makeup of all kinds i believe, take a few days to settle down to the look the stylist intended. that is not the fault of the stylist, that’s how it works.
getting a color kit will not make it lighter. color doesn’t lift color, if you want it lighter you’d have to get bleach involved. would not recommend.
if you can’t go to work like this, you can try filling them in with a lighter brow pen, and if you want to do this again, get it done on a friday.
It will get lighter as your skin cells shed over next few days. In any case it will completely go away within a couple weeks.
It will fade! If you don’t like it though, plenty of oil based products and scrubbing will help the fade. Just don’t scrub too hard you pull your brows out