Eyebrow Mini-series Returns, Part 4

A few of my favorites from my eyebrow arsenal.

I know it's been "forever" since I wrote a post re eyebrows and I must admit that part of the problem is that I envisioned a mini-series of at most, two, maybe, three parts.  Instead I feel as if I've wandered into a quagmire which I can't seem to get myself out of!  (See Parts 1 here, 2 here and 3 here .) Who knew that eyebrows are such a complicated subject?  Well, other than the cosmetic industry, which is suddenly making billions on all sorts of brow products each year?  And to add to the delay of another brow post was that I was a bit....well, stunned by what transpired. Just as I was about to write another eyebrow post, something stopped me, and FAST!


Things really were coming along quite nicely, if you recall: actually, I had to check on that, just to be sure!  I remember so little from one day to the next, and it's been over a month since we all last "spoke" about brows, a veritable eternity for one tied down by CFIDS/ME, fibromyalgia, etc.


Last all here had heard, I was about to go off to my "beauty place" and getting my eyebrows done was definitely on the agenda.  Alas, the woman who did my brows was not my normal go-to person and I encountered a problem I'd never had before.


If anyone recalls, I'd been using Rogaine for men on my brows (and let's not forget my FIVE bald spots) at first and then changed the brow "helper" to Smartlash.  When the technician asked me what color I wanted my brows dyed, I told her that Lan used black in the past.  I got a "brows up" look from her but I assured the lady that it was the only thing that had worked in the past.  In fact, I decided to take things a few steps further - fool that I am! In order to ensure the job, I asked that not all color be taken off so that the color could work a bit longer on my ride home. (Where DO I come up with these ideas?)


And so, I was in for a sad surprise once I arrived home - with Groucho Marx brows.  For the first time ever, thanks to Rogaine and SmartLash, I had a few more brow hairs and they seemed to have a nicer texture than before. But in the midst of all this good news, the fact remained that the brows had absorbed every bit of color, and then some! I scrubbed and scrubbed, trying to get the dye off my skin at the very least, to no avail. After a couple of days (of scaring myself each time I happened to catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror) I just hoped to tame the color in any way possible yet Groucho did not want to budge!  I wasn't a happy camper, to say the least.  Of all times for my brows to go overboard, it had to be for my son's wedding?  (Murphy's Law anyone?)


Friends assured me that within two weeks the color would have tamed down: it didn't.  My daughter professed to love the color: "how dare she humor me?" was my feeling.  And the shaping was not wonderful as I was so spoiled by Lan: I kept picking a brow hair off here and there, as visions of "don't over-pluck" from sources galore, danced in my head.


I eventually did discover that if I wore enough eye makeup the look improved but we're talking about a LOT of makeup.  One good thing came out of this: I do believe that I am going to try to master the fake eyelashes, though this project is not on my immediate to-do list: I somehow lost my box of lashes and adhesive between the attic and moving back into my bedroom.  (Huh?  How do you lose something like that???)


But getting back to brows.


Somewhere I'd read about Mac's brow pencil and decided to order it and I'm thrilled to say that I love it.  I use the color Fling;  it was perfect and I liked the fact that you don't need to sharpen this pencil.  I plan to get another one for my handbag for a quick job repair when needed.


In duty free, I was able to pick up two Chanel eyebrow helpers: their pencil (in color 50), which I'm also loving and a trio of browshadows, "Le Sourcil de Chanel Perfect Brows" in 10 Natural, which I've not had a chance to play with much as of yet.  But  they look extremely promising too and given how expensive the brow powders were, I WILL most certainly be experimenting with them.  I was told by the Chanel sales lady that first I should use the pencil, then the powder.  I THINK I have that in the right order, but I really need to look it up to make sure.  (Just kidding: I do remember the right order!)


I'n the meanwhile I've made a monumental decision: I need to look start looking for someone closer to home to do my brows - even hair and if pushing it, my lash tinting locally too.  This should be interesting since I haven't had the inside scoop on anything local in at least 10-15 years now.  But the trips to Pittsburgh are just entirely too stressful, with such uneven results that it's a matter of diminishing returns.


Finally, I must admit that I've gone off my SmartLash as well as my Rogaine. In an earlier post, regarding the use and then dropping of Rogaine, I wrote:


"I think my biggest problem is that I'll use it but then something will happen (a flare, a relapse, a crisis) and when life gets back to "normal," I forget all about it.  We've just started moving back into our bedroom and bath and already, as my life is slipping out of control a bit - OK, more than a bit, but more controllable than what's been the norm in the last two years - I'm finding it hard to remember to take my meds, much less remember to work Rogaine into the needed areas of my head."


Ah, how true. But I am not going to be defeated. I have started onto a regime and though I'm going throug a rough patch, I'm sticking to it and adding other "goodies," which I will discuss in the next week or so, so more on this later. 


But I did think it was funny that I knew exactly what happened to my Rogaine routine countless times and yet glad that I've pinpointed the problem because I always say, "knowledge is power..."  I'll be writing a post on this soon, my "health plan" (ha!).


Here's to everyone feeling their best, only better!



NOTE: This is always good for a laugh!  I can't really see the screen.  I can't make out some of the letters at all, others are murky.  And I lost my post and had to return to the first draft of it...  How many hours wasted and for what?  This DD is a barrell of laughs. Ay!  How did I ever think this was going to be fun?  It is, after all, me and the Internet: that is NOT a good combo!  ;)

My eyebrow miniseries: Part 3

My Mally Eyebrow kit.

Just a few moments ago I opened up a box with an order I'd placed a few days prior on one of my favorite drugstore/beauty websites.  I'm always so excited when I receive a package.  It's about the only time, you see, that my poor memory works in my favor: I get to see what the surprise in the box is because heaven forbid I manage to remember something from one day to the next, often one hour to the next.  Receiving a package in the mail reminds me of Christmas, before I learned that there was no Santa.


The surprise was a new mascara that I'll be trying.  There have been several companies now that have come out with mascaras using the new technology of forming a tube around each lash, instead of "painting" mascara on lashes.  I so wanted to try it on immediately but remembered that tomorrow I will (hopefully) be going up to get my hair, brows and lashes done and I don't want to risk any residue on said brows and lashes to interfere with coloring/tinting.  But considering the fact that I often forgo mascara and hope that liner will suffice (it never does) this is a biggie for me. My eyes are always turning red for this reason or that and I've grown tired of mascara as one of the contributing factors to the redness. This latest attempt to find a mascara that I LOVE (as opposed to "love") is an on-going project.


But to continue with the adventures of trying to grow more eyebrow hair and lashes - or trying to deceive the world at large that I DO have them at all....


This past winter I actually started using men's foaming Rogaine.  It, Rogaine, is something I've tried on and off for years, although I'd be embarrassed to tell you the number of cans of just-started Rogaine cans/pump bottles I threw out when we had to move ourselves and everything we owned when vacating the second floor for the remodeling. Actually, the old Rogaines would probably have made a great exhibition of the progress Rogaine has made since it hit the market big-time; there seemed to be new packaging with each "improvement" to the formula.


I think my biggest problem is that I'll use it but then something will happen (a flare, a relapse, a crisis) and when life gets back to "normal," I forget all about it.  We've just started moving back into our bedroom and bath and already, as my life is slipping out of control a bit - OK, more than a bit, but more controllable than what's been the norm in the last two years - I'm finding it hard to remember to take my meds, much less remember to work Rogaine into the needed areas of my head.


However, the Rogaine on my bald spots, as well as my eyebrows, has worked out well.  And since I'll soon be mother of the groom and because I want to look my best in order to not embarrass child number two, I've moved my trip to get my hair done, etc. to now rather than later.  And I can't wait to hear from my stylist if she thinks there's been an improvement since she last saw me a couple of months ago.


Continuing with the brow-growing adventures/sage... after a while, I got a bit lazy with the Rogaine on my eyebrows routine (it DOES take a bit of concentration and focusing, not something a person with CFIDS/ME/fibro has in much abundance) so I ordered one of those eyelash enhancers.  I can see that my brows are a little bit fuller (doesn't take much...I'll never be a "before and after" picture) but whether that's from Rogaine being applied to my head and that some is getting to the brow area because of the chemicals going around, who knows?  Actually, that's a rather frightening thought, isn't it?


I have to admit that I have no idea as to why I chose the "Smartlash" eyelash enhancer over the others on the market. I do know it was from reading one of the beauty columns out there and somehow I felt I could give it a go with the brows.  After seeing that I hadn't grown a third head, I've started using it for its intended purpose, on the eyelashes.  I have noticed that the eyelashes, BTW, are a tiny bit thicker and darker, this despite the fact that I'm easing into the eyelash routine.  There are indeed two reasons for the hesitation.


Somewhere, I'd read that one of the products could change blue or green eyes to brown - and permanently.  Aside from the scary part of putting something so close to your eyes that can change your eye color, I've been hesitant because so much of my identity is tied up in the color of my eyes and I don't really want to mess things up.  If I'm in a great mood or feeling good, my eyes are green, their default color.  The better I feel and the better the mood, the greener the eyes.  If I'm in a lousy mood or very ill, the color changes to blue.  Back in the 80's, I bought green contact lenses, when they first came out in various colors, and my ever-observant hubby didn't realize I'd been wearing those suckers for at least a month.  When I asked him how he could manage to miss this, he answered, most sincerely, "I just thought you were in a great mood this past month."  I'd hate to mess up a system that my family banks on in order to judge how to treat me...gingerly or badly!  (Just kidding about the badly...somewhat?)


Getting back to brows, I've also somehow fallen into the eyebrow "shadow" approach for the past two decades, thinking that the pencils were too harsh and fake - but let me add that I'm not the greatest artist in the world!  Stila has a brow set that I think is rather nice.  My only problem is that my skin tone changes day to day and my hair color changes every time I get it done (or as it grows out!) and I need a bigger selection of colors to choose from.Stila has two colors in each of her pots, one for the lighter side and one for for the darker side of the spectrum of your hair color. However, here too, my blending skills are just not good enough for my satisfaction.


Consequently, when Bobbi Brown came out with her chocolate palette of eyeshadows a few years ago (not brow shadows, but close enough for me!), I snapped that up quickly because of the various shades I could play with.  I've got a few quads too, like Dior and Smashbox, which have brown shades included which I like to experiment with also.


Now Colorscience came out with the cutest, most convenient little brow kit I've ever come across, but the colors do NOT suit me and I'm embarrassed when I think that my second most frequently viewed post is a picture where I'd used the Colorscience.  I can't tell you how often I've wanted to change that lousy picture and wonder if I was on crack the day I posted it - JUST JOKING about the "crack" bit!!!  But I was fooling around with trying to learn how to take a picture of myself that day with my iPad, not keeping in mind that HOW I looked mattered too.  At any rate, if I could repot this compact with tins of colors I like in the right size and shape to fit the "compact," I would. I love the very slim case (and I've had many over the years), with its brushes, one my favorite miniature slant brushes for brows.  I just dislike the color immensely for my skin.  But others may find it suits, especially if there are brow hairs to begin with and only "filling in" is required, not building brows with almost no hairs, that is, having to almost start from scratch. This kit is perfect to throw in your bag.  And because I'm always losing the tiny slant brushes, I often carry the kit with me just for the brush alone.  (I know this makes no sense to the "normal" person out there but to the CFIDS/ME/fibro's I think this is somehow understandable.)


Not too long ago, I saw that Mally had come out with a nice kit, made of fabric, that holds a compact of brown brow color and an ivory highlighter.  It also holds a brush with two different brush heads on either end, and her black pencil eyeliner, which I love - it does not move after it's had a chance to set, though there is enough time to smudge it if you like before it dries completely.  I also like the kit because it can't be lost easily (it's a shiny lime-ish green) and because I can throw in one or two other (small and thin) products.  It's a bit too bulky though, so for something like flying, it most probably won't make it to my carry-on bag, though the jury's still out on that.


I think I still have one more post to do and we'll be finished with the "brow miniseries."  I've found a couple of gems that I'll describe next time.

Until then, I hope you are doing as well as can be and are going to have a great weekend!   Until next time, when, hopefully, I'll be back with great-looking brows!

My eyebrow miniseries: Part 2

Teaser: some of the items to be discussed in my next post!

And so, welcome back to my continuing saga of the eyebrow, my "miniseries"!  


I happened to ask my immunologist the other day what exactly causes so many of us with CFIDS/ME to have so much hair loss, and he said that he thinks no one really knows, though stress seems to be the most popular theory. I happen to agree, but that alone can be an entire series, including the fact that it is not "psychological" stress, as too many in the "shrink" world would love to convince us, but the stress(es) of CFIDS/ME/fibro, the immunological and neurological ones, to be more precise.  But on to today's continued topic of eyebrows.  Ah yes, I can tell everyone is waiting with bated breath!


As to why some of us have sparse brows and some of us have full ones...well, that's always boggled my mind, thanks to my mom and my daughter.  My mom and daughter both have beautiful Brooke Shields brows (as well as hair and strong nails) that are often the envy of many and when it comes to cutting hair, they give their hair stylists a complete workout.  I've always looked at their hair and brows and marveled at how people with similar genes can have such different characteristics.  But the hair and brow sparsity I'm experiencing has now reached an entire new low because of CFIDS/ME and even the fibromyalgia.  So, I've given up on "hair envy" and just deal with what I've got, just happy for my mom and daughter.


Consequently, over the past ten years or so, I've been on almost desperate hunt for "help."  I have bought many kits, pencils and my favorite route: eye and brow shadows in colors and finishes/polishes that "help" somewhat. You name it and I've most likely tried it.


I think my desperation reaches its highest heights when I start to seriously think about and then finally talk about and consider the whole tattoo route.  Understand, I think tattoos are a horrid trend and despair that they've become so mainstream.  Hollywood has a LOT of answer for, especially since they started this craze and just as it caught on big time, so many of those in Hollywood began getting their tattoos taken off by means of extremely expensive and often painful laser treatments.  We are going to have an awful lot of ugly looking body parts once sagging strikes that young segment of our population that's been most influenced by this fad.  Shudder: think of the drooping Chinese bits of philosophy that are so precisely embedded into a body part that will soon look more like ragged and misshapen scrolls as opposed to the sweet little straight-lined rectangular paragraphs they start out to be.  No one should use tattoos as a means of decorating the body (sorry if my age is showing in this one aspect of life) but in my case, for all too many reasons, even I have seriously considered getting my eyebrows area tattooed, even seriously considered getting a fake eyeliner effect!  Of course, I would only go to a doctor or to a tattoo artist recommended by a physician and not simply a tattoo parlor on Main Street, USA.  Here are the sorts of things I ponder and which hold me back, or on the other hand, won't leave my mind as a possibility:

• Do I really want to be stuck with the same kind of brows for the rest of my life?  Brows are like everything else: they change just as fashion changes.
• Do I really want to mess up my face?  I'm not sure it will be done "right," aesthetically.
• My hair color never stays the same.  I'm always adding more highlights and lowlights depending on my mood.  Tattooed eyebrows could limit my choices.
• What ARE the possible health risks, even the ones not yet imagined?
• I don't have enough problems with my vision?  I should go and risk things even more with tattoos in such a sensitive and crucial area?

I suppose the tattoo thing has really been on my mind because I've actually had a few discussions about this on plane rides, of all places, and I'm not one to do much talking with fellow passengers, knowing it's a pain to have a Chatty Cathy sitting next to you.  However, at least four or five women sitting next to me have filled in their brows or had their eyelids tattooed, or both (yes! what an incredible number, especially considering how rarely I fly!) and couldn't be happier.  What's more, they've all been older than me...close to my mom's age.  Now that is definitely mind-boggling and has given me pause as to why I've not gone this route.  I suspect I'm simply scared my luck wouldn't hold and, besides, I'm still trying to somehow manage to get to some really needed doctor's appointments, so I suppose the whole tattoo thing really is low on my list, even in the investigation category, as I seem to use my brain - when it's not fogged up - for more pressing issues.  But a girl can dream....

On the other hand finding Lan in Pittsburgh has done wonders.  As I've written about before (on March 27 and on April 9) Lan can get every single one of the very few brow hairs I DO have to accept color (for some reason, my brow hairs have a hard time absorbing color) and she has a very good and gentle hand with the hair removal so that I've not had the burns that can lead to the unfortunate double brow scenario described in Part 1 of this "miniseries."  After Lan does my brows I am in "face bliss" for about four weeks.  The brows aren't bad for six weeks, especially if I'm careful as to how much product is used to clean my face, not over-washing and over-scrubbing the brows.  However, I still do need to use pencil or brow shadow to help. The dyeing of brows and the removal of stray brow hairs is just good for a fuller look, a guide to see where to go and to make me feel more human when I don't use makeup, which is most days.  Finally, I might add that sparse brows, for anyone, age you: brows often do get more sparse as we age and this is one reason the eyebrow market has been so successful in recent years.  Unfortunately, the CFIDS/ME people have a lot more "filling in" to do.  

Lately, because of energy and health considerations, I can't run up to Lan often enough.  Since I'm happiest when those lashes are done I have put down finding someone a bit closer to home on my to-do list since getting out of the house (bed!) is getting to be harder and getting to Pittsburgh is almost a journey.  I do worry, however, about how safe anyone else would be.

And so, these are my desperate thoughts and slightly desperate measures for the approach to my almost "non-existent" brows problem.  My next post will deal with the less desperate measures.  That is, unless I remember some other aspects of this subject that needs discussing first...not a stretch considering how multi-faceted beauty is and how difficult it is to achieve, especially for those with chronic medical considerations.

Until next time!   And I hope everyone's feeling as well as can be!  

The beginning of my "eyebrow" series, part 1

This picture has nothing to do with today's post: I just wanted to put it in because of yesterday's enjoyment of watching the festivities of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and all the BBC specials.

To say that I have very sparse eyebrows is to be kind.  It's another result of this stupid, stupid illness.  In fact, I didn't know, for the longest time, that the reason my hair in general was thinning and falling out was caused by my CFIDS/ME.  Oh, this didn't happen all in one single day or even in a year.  It's been a decades-long process as this "imaginary illness" has silently been devastating my body (and my brain).


My quest for trying to "fix" my eyebrow problem has shown no bounds, it seems.  I've not taken an official count of the brow sets, pencils, shadows, gels and other paraphernalia I own, or other methods I've tried, in my quest to find an answer to this problem, but it HAS been a long road.


To give you an idea of how pathetic my brows are, here is a story for you.  I include it because I'm a strong believer in the school of "knowledge is power" and with this DD, we need all the power we can get!


Eons ago, I'd been going to a local person to get my hair done, and decided on one visit that I'd have my brows waxed, for the first time ever. The thinking (if indeed there WAS any real thought involved) was that with the peach fuzz gone, I could see just enough brow hairs to work with...that is, if I remembered to use a large mirror with a magnified side as well as lights.  Anything short of this was either an impossibility or, on the other side of the spectrum, the end result would show great promise if I ever decided to become a clown and go to clown school. Not surprisingly, my brows had become the longest part of my make-up routine - precisely because I most certainly did NOT want the clown school of brows.


Well, the person who was to do my waxing asked if I wanted to color my brows as well.  Did I?  Great idea, thought I!  However, there was a blip involved in this two-things-in-one-go method.  The "abuse" of my fragile skin, that is, coloring my brows as well as having them waxed at the same time, tore up the area and the result was burns.  


That night at dinner, my middle child, the one who notices the weirdest things, said, "MOM!  What happened to your face?"  Note, he said, "face"?  Said child was about eight years old at the time.  I started to explain that I'd decided to get my eyebrows done (trying to think quickly as to how to explain to an eight year old what "waxing" meant) when middle child might well have gotten whiplash from his head jerking around so fast from the double-take as he said, "you mean YOU have eyebrows?" and started to carefully check out my face with the same fascination he had when finding bugs in the woods or by a creek and tried training them to do tricks.  I might have gotten upset by such a statement but the innocent boy was just so genuinely surprised that I couldn't even feel hurt.


But what DID hurt was the unfortunate timing: I needed to renew my driver's license within the next week. The poor fellow taking the photos really tried his best to minimize the "wound look" which made it appear as if I were sporting two strange sets of brows.  NO makeup is good enough to cover that sort of facial mishap, and certainly not with the sort of camera that the State police used for those photos.  This was a MOST unfortunate driver's license, which I then had to carry for entirely too many years and caused MANY double-takes when, say, an innocent store clerk needed to see my ID when I wrote out a check.  I even got to the point where I'd warn people before they saw the picture, not wanting to be responsible for any more whiplash than absolutely necessary, but really, there was NO preparing for such a sight.  


So, brows have been a sore subject with me, especially in the last few years because as I get older, the brows get more sparse.  


As I said, this story shows just how much we need to be aware of what changes this DD can do to our bodies and is a cautionary tale which I've written about quite a bit in earlier posts: we need to be so careful with what we do to our skin, to our very selves.  Once this illness sinks it's teeth into us, we are no longer the person we were before. However, the bright spot is that knowledge is power and we need that knowledge and power in order to be armed to defeat the blasted enemy, and not allow it to break down our self-esteem nor our will to thrive!


The results of this eyebrow journey (sounds like so much fun, no?) will be revealed further along in what I'm calling my "eyebrows" series.  Given that we are living in the age of what I call the "eyebrow era," when brows are making brow people into almost celebrities, and wealthy ones at that (think of the fortune Anastasia has amassed!) and you'll see we're in the midst of a most unfortunate era for those of us with sparse brows.  I mean, it would have been so much easier on us if Mona Lisa's brows (or lack of them) were now in style.  Alas, such is not the case.  So, in my next post(s) I'll talk and give names of products that have helped me.  


Ta ta!  Till our next "talk."