I’ve been holding off on getting my brows done for the past few months, ever since losing my job back in October. It just seemed like one of those expenses that I couldn’t justify, since theoretically I can maintain my brows pretty well on my own. It’s only when I get lazy and don’t pluck regularly that they get all messed up shape-wise — and I’ve learned that, while I *think* I’m good at re-shaping them myself, I actually tend to make them a bit uneven and over-pluck certain areas.
So I’ve been dying to get back to my brow gal, May — I don’t think I’ve seen her since last summer! But back when The Big Job Loss happened, I went to a dermatologist because I was maxing out our health care benefits before they expired. And my dear new derm (Paula Zook, whom I HIGHLY recommend for Seattle-area folks) chatted with me a bit about Retin-A, and convinced me to go back on it.
So I did, and I’ve been loving it — it’s definitely helped with some of the frustrating cystic acne I’ve experienced, and the new micro-gel formulation is indeed less irritating than the stuff I used in high school. But with Retin-A comes a big caveat: NO facial waxing is allowed. The skin gets too flaky and delicate, and you can actually rip off patches of skin if you wax while you’re on Retin-A treatment.
So what’s a gal to do? I’ve read about threading, but I haven’t been able to find any good threading referrals in Seattle, and besides — I’d miss my May! Luckily, it turns out May is game for plucking. I’ve always thought this was a smarter alternative, anyway — some salons in Barcelona refused to wax my pal’s eyebrows, because they said that it pulled too much at the skin and caused a loss of elasticity around the eyes. So I’ve always been a bit leery when I get my brows waxed, but it’s just so much FASTER. However, now that I’ve got a real reason to have to avoid it, I’m very excited to try plucking.
I’ll be making an appointment to get plucked by May sometime in March. I can’t wait — I’m not sure if the rate is different than for waxing, but I figure the process must be more precise, and I also think it’ll be less irritating to my skin. (Because I’m very fair and sensitive, I tend to have GIANT red blotches all around my eyebrows for a good two days. I even invested in some of those oversized sunglasses when that trend hit, even though I thought they were hideous, because they were the only thing that covered up my lobster brows!)
I’ll definitely update. But I just thought I’d stress this here — even though I myself have waxed my brows in the past, I really think plucking is a better solution. I’m happy to finally get the nudge I need to make the switch — I think the skin around my eye area will be that much happier when I’m in my sixties!