Brow lamination is a non-invasive eyebrow procedure which lifts, straightens, and optionally tints each individual hair. It produces a neat but voluminous result with a contemporary look.
It’s sometimes compared to brow tattooing, because it gives a brow enhancement that lasts longer than a day.
But unlike with permanent makeup, the technician works with your natural eyebrow hairs only, without depositing any pigments under the skin or attaching extensions.
They do apply a chemical solution, though, so many people wonder does brow lamination hurt.
Here’s all you need to know about how the procedure feels, what’s normal and what’s not, what to expect, and when you might have cause for concern.
What Does Brow Lamination Feel Like?
To begin with, you do feel everything involved in the treatment as it happens. Since eyebrow lamination doesn’t involve breaking the surface of the skin, there’s no need for any topical anesthetics.
That means that the numbing sensations that are so often included in permanent makeup procedures are absent from this treatment.
Instead, you will feel the products being applied, the sensation of the eyebrow brush, and the careful touch of your artist.
Let’s walk through all the sensations of brow lamination step by step.
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The Cleaning
Before the actual lamination starts, your technician will carefully and thoroughly clean the brows and the surrounding area. You will feel the cleanser that they apply to your skin and eyebrows, and possibly some slight patting or rubbing.
This doesn’t hurt at all. Your technician knows that the skin of the face is sensitive, so they’ll be gentle in the way they handle it.
The Lamination
The eyebrow lamination procedure consists of using 2 solutions on the brows and combing them along the way.
So you will feel the careful, deliberate strokes of the spoolie or interdental brush while your technician shapes the brow hairs into your desired arch.
You will also feel the general wetness of the perming agent when it’s applied.
The perming agent is a chemical solution specially formulated for the eyebrows. It’s not aggressive to the skin of your face, so it doesn’t cause any discomfort to the skin beneath the brow hairs either.
At most, you might feel a slight tingling sensation while it sits in your eyebrows. The solution stays in place for a few minutes, to make the brow hairs more pliable to shaping. Exactly how long depends on the specific formula of the product.
That gives you enough time to register it working if you’re particularly sensitive to any unusual sensations on your skin (that’s the tingling). It’s equally likely that you won’t feel anything at all.
Additionally, artists usually cover the brows with plastic wrap to maximize and accelerate the effect of the laminating solution. So you can expect to feel the clinginess of the wrap too.
After the lamination and the brushing are done, the tech will apply a fixing solution and fresh plastic wrap to make sure your newly permed brows will keep their fabulous shape. This again might feel wet and clingy for a few minutes.
Image source: Instagram @browsbynat_
The Tinting and Grooming
If you opted to include an eyebrow tint in your procedure, you’ll feel the tech applying a coat of brow dye. Dyeing might reveal some stray hairs in the area, or the tips of some brow hairs might stick out from the new arch in a way you don’t like.
If that happens, your artist can trim those hairs or tweeze them out, so you can expect the sensation of brow scissors moving around or the plucking feeling of the tweezers or threading.
Image source: Instagram @lumybrows
The Nourishing
In the end, your artist will apply a growth serum or nourishing oil to your eyebrows. This is an essential step which restores nutrients to your brow hairs after exposing them to the chemical solutions.
It also boosts your brows’ hydration and gives them a great final gloss. So that’s the final sensation you can expect from your brow lamination procedure: the general wetness of applying the serum.
Does Eyebrow Lamination Hurt?
Nope! As you can see, brow lamination doesn’t hurt at all.
The only sensations you can expect are those of the wet products and your artist’s tools: the brow brush, plastic wrap, and optionally tweezers or brow scissors.
You might or might not feel a slight tingling as the laminating solution works its magic. It’s a subtle feeling which isn’t unpleasant and doesn’t harm your skin in any way.
Does Eyebrow Lamination Burn?
Nope, it does not – and it absolutely should not!
That said, there’s a tiny chance that you might develop some irritation or allergic reaction to the chemical solutions used. It might happen if they were left on for too long or if you’re already sensitive to/intolerant of any of the ingredients.
If you feel a burning sensation, or even just heat, unusually strong tingling, or any kind of unpleasantness at all, tell your artist immediately.
They will remove the plastic wrap and the chemical solution from your eyebrows, cleanse the brow area of any residue, and apply some immediate relief if necessary.
After that, they’ll probably direct you to your doctor for an allergy test or sensitivity assessment.
For this reason it’s highly important that you be honest with your brow technician about any sensitivities, intolerances, allergies, ongoing medical treatment, supplements, and underlying health conditions, even if they seem unrelated to you.
Your tech has to know what they’re getting into in order to keep you safe, ensure maximum comfort, and provide you with the most amazing results possible.
That’s why they will typically have a brow lamination consent form for you to fill out and sign during your consultations.
NOTE
Always do a patch test prior to treatment! Even if your brow tech doesn’t insist on it, make a point of requesting one.
A true professional knows that allergies are always a potential risk and they place their clients’ wellbeing first. A patch test lets both of you see how your brows and skin react to the perming products before you commit to the procedure in full.
Image source: Instagram @browsbyzulema
Conclusion on Does Brow Lamination Hurt
Eyebrow lamination is a completely non-invasive, comfortable procedure. There shouldn’t be any sensations other than the products and the touch of your brow tech’s tools.
Feeling a degree of wetness, the clinging of the wrap, and potentially some mild tingling are all normal, expected, and shouldn’t be uncomfortable at all. If anything feels off at any point, alert your technician.
If you have a negative reaction to the patch test, consider using a different lamination solution formula, going to a different artist, or giving up on brow lamination altogether.
In that case, you might look into microblading or other eyebrow treatments.
Cover image source: Freepik
