Brow Gray Hair / Color-less brows Now Have a Solution
photographed by Patrick Power
Getting up in years truly brings out some of the weirdest phenomenon's I have yet to become used to ... with gray hair popping out of every orifice - probably the most eery of them all. But when those weird twinkle-y - wire-y - corkscrew-y gray buggers start piercing through my eyebrows, and making us look like a female version of Andy Rooney, that - is when the line is drawn !
Gray hair is determined in percentages ... (for ex.) 30% of the hair is gray . . and so on - do your best to ball park it. It takes quite a while to get all the way to a 100% gray eyebrow, so for the purpose of this post we will deal with those of you with partial gray brows and what to do about them. Yes, this is a mild take-off on my other post about eyebrows, although I didn't address the grays. Eyebrow hair is unlike any other hair on the body, have you noticed? Check out Andy's in the above photo ! ! !
Gray hair in eyebrows are unflattering, horrific and if you have them, start thinking about getting rid of them - nobody likes to look at them I promise you. With the gray hair comes the inevitable resistant hair. What is resistant hair ? ? Probably the opposite of what you think, in hair color it means: it "RESISTS" absorbing color easily. The resistance is strong by this weird 'wirey' hair, -- to get new hair color in-SIDE the hair strand to cover up the gray, and is very difficult to eliminate. You will start to notice one gray and end up plucking it, then the 2nd one - with a another tug. There comes another slight problem that goes head-to-head with this one... the thinning of our hair, not only on the head but in the BROW (for those of you not there yet!) . Therefore, plucking starts to become a problem, if you pluck all the grays there won't be any eyebrows left. . . . do I want Gray hair that is at least on my face ? ? or no hairs in my brows and go for that whole "hairless - eyebrow-less look as we see on our dear Madonna here" look that works on very few ?? The decision, as I have experienced and I would also recommend, should land in keeping the hairs intact and learning how to trim them properly - dealing with the twirls and tinting them the professional method.
Here is where we run into a huge problem. In all 50 states that I know of, (California is known for being the toughest of them all - so to go off of my own state, is the safest bet), tinting eyebrows is illegal !! I find that sentence hilarious, all the crap going on in the world and tinting gray eyebrows is illegal. Whatever, I know I've complained about "lack of regulation" in the Cosmetic Industry...now look at me. Guess that's what's so fun about being a critic, you can just tell people where to go and 'why'! But seriously, I am not sure truly how this is taken care of, but my theory is . . . you are going to do it anyway - in the privacy of your bathrooms and homes throughout the land. I'm sure you all have been attempting it right along, but the results have been less than stellar. It happens all the time and I can guarantee you that Laura Bush gets her eyebrows tinted in the exact manner I am going to preach to you. You know why I know that? NO....wrong answer - - -You don't want to know!
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The Disclaimer is here, in no way do I endorse the tinting of eyebrows as it is deemed dangerous in the state of California. So if you embark on tinting your own eyebrows you are doing it under your own, you are also completely responsible for the outcome, having absolutely nothing to do with the writer of this POST or Killer strands. Please leave this site immediately, if you think that you may come into any danger at all.
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If you are to order this kit you will be asked to sign a DISLCLAIMER, Lordie knows , but I want to look like the good citizen....just in case I happen to survive - you just never know these days.
So now....off to the point of all this.
I suppose there are many of you that have not gone through my lessons on hair color and all the theories - rules and regulations, so I don't think it's appropriate to review all of that now. There is lots of room in the COMMENTS section - ask away.
1st Basic Question: What is Gray hair? Its not gray hair at all, its truly 'white' hair that "appears gray". It is Pigment-free hair, that's it - as you & your hair aged, the pigment no longer wanted to make that journey up into the hair strand, it is tired. So much of life is just common sense, I love that about even science!
So if its hair with NO pigment, what must we give it, to make it appear back to normal?
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPigment Pigment = Color = Tint
What Pigment out of all the tones fills in the pigment-free hair ? ? There is ONLY ONE! ?!!!!?!?!? "N" Series
2nd Basic question...What volume Developer is the one and only Volume that works to COVER GRAY HAIR ? ?
2222222222222220 VOLUME (there is a new addition to this category - but lets KISS > Keep It Simple STUPID
What you will need is 2 tubes of professional hair color, the rinky-dink colors that pass for hair color in the beauty supplies will not tackle this strong "resistant" hair in the eyebrows - I promise you.
The rules, for COVERING GRAY HAIR ? ?
- Use a percentage of "N" Series to cover Gray hair - depending on amount of gray - I will give percentages with order
- Then add a color/tone to make the Brow - your color...the exact amount comes with your kit-
- Use 20 volume developer
- let process full 55 minutes - Its Resistant remember?
- lay down when processing so - no DRIPS happen - here is where you can do one of your weekly De-Stress naps I speak of - while deep conditioning your hair.
- 2 custom chosen pro hair colors- See charts in GROUP ( join the Group boys & girls)
- 20 volume Developer = ( 1-2 year supply)
- short brush for application
- q-tips for shaping
- Gleam oil for eyebrow health
- brow trimming diagram - priceless - keep those twirlies in line!
I have drawn a fantastic diagram with directions on how exactly to trim the brow, for those of you that order the eyebrow tinting kit.
We will run into the same problem here - similar to the problem we run into about hair coloring and my helping my readers with the solutions...
EVERYONE is different, and we each have our own variables . . . such as:
- how much gray is in the brow?
- what level is the hair (not gray) in the brow ?
- do you have full brow or sporadic 1/2 ?
- what level is your hair presently ?
- have you ever tinted them previously ?
- do brows need trimming?
As always, another excellent, informative post. Thanks, Dakota! I can't wait to receive my 2nd order of Thriven! Jen
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen . . its on its way..
ReplyDeleteCan you use the brow tinting kit to bring a dark brown almost black brow to blend better with a more vibrant red hair tint?
ReplyDeleteMadonna? Pretty sure that's Mona Lisa...
ReplyDeleteother than that, good info (:
Hi!
ReplyDeleteYou've used my photograph (eyebrow) without permission.
Where can I send an invoice for the almost four years of usage?
Patrick Power
No Patrick, that's my eyebrow!
DeleteInformative, amusing. The plural of "phenomenon" is "phenomena."
ReplyDeletePatrick I get my photos from Google images, nowhere tricky
ReplyDeleteCan men tint their grey brows ?
ReplyDeleteOf course, I used to do in the Salon all the time, and I know thousands of men who do. Just tell me how light/dark you hair is............... when purchasing your kit .........and I will make the perfect combo Eyebrow Kit for you & it comes with the complete directions to getting it right ! Of Course! KC
ReplyDelete