As a beauty lover and #skinfluencer, I’m always up for putting my face on the line to try and test the latest in beauty.
One of those things is the brow lamination trend. My eyebrows are so sparse, I didn’t pluck them for two years in an effort to grow them out. But when I saw Amy Clark’s success with brow lamination back in November, I felt like maybe there could be hope for me and my brows yet.
The in-salon treatment that makes your eyebrows look perfect every day with zero effort usually costs around $120 and lasts for six to eight weeks, but since salons were forced to close, people have been laminating their eyebrows at home.
WATCH: Here’s how to remove acrylic nails at home if you’re in a DIY beauty mood. Post continues below.
I’m a DIY kind of girl, and after loving my in-salon result, I thought… surely I could do this myself, right? What could go wrong?
So, I ordered an at-home brow lamination kit online and gave it a go. Here’s how it went.
But first, remind me… what is brow lamination?
Brow lamination is a perm for your eyebrows that chemically straightens and lifts them into a full shape.
A lot of us have more brow hairs than we think, but they grow in different directions. By perming them all in the same direction (using the same process as a lash lift), they can look a lot fuller. you can combine this with an eyebrow tint to pick up your shorter brow hairs for an even better result.
Brow lamination won’t help if you’ve got thin brows, but it’s perfect for those with sparse or patchy brows, or fuller browed-people who want them to stay in place without any product.
Best at-home brow lamination kit.
After my sister bought an at-home brow lamination kit (with the help of a beautician friend), I purchased the same one. It's the Funmix Mini Lash Lift kit from eBay and I paid about $30 including shipping from an Australian seller.
The kit (which is designed for doing lash lifts but can be used exactly the same way for brow lamination) comes with lash glue, lash lift pads, a cleaning tool, perming solution, fixing solution, cleaning solution, and a nourishing oil to condition the hair post-treatment. The kit is good for five applications, so I'll try an at-home lash lift next!
If you’re concerned about shopping on eBay, you could try the IconSign Kit ($39.98) on Amazon, or more expensive salon kits from Le Beauty ($165) and Locks Lash ($189).
How to do brow lamination at home.
Here's how at-home brow lamination works.
First, I glued my brows into the desired position using the supplied lash glue and a spoolie. From here, I applied the perming solution to one brow at a time, followed by Glad Wrap over top to let the chemical do its thing.
The perming solution works by breaking the bonds in the hairs, and if you've ever had a lash lift, it smells exactly the same. The kit said to leave this first solution on for eight to 12 minutes. I chose eight because better safe than sorry!
Then, you use the fixing solution to set the broken hair bonds into the shape you glued at the start.
The fixing solution smells similarly chemically, which is comforting to me because I know it’s doing something but it might be unnerving for beginners. While applying it, my brow area started to foam up a bit. I did watch a few brow lamination videos on YouTube beforehand though, and this seemed normal.
I left that on each brow with Glad Wrap for eight minutes as well.
After removing the chemical, the next step is to cleanse them. Here, you can tint them - I used the 1000 Hour Brow and Lash Tint in Dark Brown and followed the instructions on the packet.
Last, I applied the nutritive oil included in the kit. This is important because the chemicals used in the lamination process dry your hairs out.
The surrounding skin went a bit pink during the process, but it didn’t tingle or sting and it resolved within an hour or so. This happened during my professional brow lamination too.
After lamination, you can’t get the area wet for 24 hours while the hair resets, and you can’t exfoliate the area for three days.
Here are the results immediately after, and in a shot wearing makeup and clear brow gel.
My at-home brow lamination verdict.
Altogether, the process took about an hour – this was my first time and I wanted to be careful.
I loved the results and would happily laminate my own brows at home again, I’m sure I’ll get better as I go. I do feel like my DIY brow shape isn't as good as when the professional did it, which is to be expected.
Until I can go in-salon again, at least I don’t have to use four different brow products to give myself eyebrows for Zoom calls now.
Hannah English is a skincare obsessive and scientist with an honours degree in pharmacology of melanoma treatment. She also runs an Instagram account (ms_hannah_e) dedicated to incorporating sunscreen into beauty routines. Feature image: supplied.
Would you try at-home brow lamination? Tell us in the comments below!
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