How does the coronavirus affect Microblading and when will it be safe to resume being microbladed?

It has been a long slog for most of us, the coronavirus has taken over our lives and our livelihoods. London Brow Clinic has not been open since March 2020 due to the virus (mainly because the clinic is situated at The Royal Garden Hotel in High St Kensington which has been fully closed since the lockdown came into place), and I (the microblader and business owner) have had the opportunity to use this time to think about some aspects of this business that need attention and that have been affected by this pandemic. 

It is worth mentioning here that I have made various choices throughout my journey as a microblader that have affected the commercial aspect of my business. My business is not a machine that depends on a hierarchy of cogs; those at the bottom doing the work with those at the top skimming the rewards. The sinister side of many of the large microblading businesses and academies across London and indeed the world, work in this way. This is not to say that I have not attempted to scale my business by recruiting fantastic microbladers, I have absolutely tried to do this. The condensed reality of the aforementioned statement is that I simply have not managed to find or train, someone in whom I am confident can carry my brand name, and the weight of what that means for my business. I suppose the difference is whether the objective is to provide a consistent level of quality, or whether the only thing that matters is churning customers through in order to make as much money as possible.

Well... There has been one massive benefit to the above. I haven’t had to lay anyone off or furlough anyone other than a booking assistant. It also means of course, that the customer who books with London Brow Clinic, knows who will be treating them on the day and doesn’t need to worry about booking with a clinic whose master blader has fantastic reviews, but ends up being bladed by “god know’s who” who hasn’t even qualified yet and has very little experience. I could name many microblading establishements in London that operate in this way but I will not as I am not in the business of defaming other institutions without knowing all of the facts. I speak from the stance that I have trained with three separate academies and have seen with my own eyes what the internal politics looks like within these operations, and have been approached by some of these larger insitutions with the view of becoming one of their “cogs”. If I were only interested in money I may have even been more profitable by doing this. But in the end I wanted to stay true to the original reason why I started this business, to facilitate in making people feel more confident in the most natural and honest way possible. 

The moral of this story is that London Brow Clinic will absolutely be one of the businesses that comes through this pandemic unscathed. It will continue to put the needs of the customer first, making sure to take the time to fully assess the objectives of the individual customer and not prioritise making money over customer satisfaction. I am keeping abreast of the political and scientific stance this country has over when businesses like this can re open and shall be keeping people informed via social media of when we are opening again. In times like these it is important to remember what matters most, and for me, one of the things that I miss terribly is speaking to my many customers in whom I have found many friends. I miss you all and look forward to making you look beautiful for many years to come. And for any new customers who have fallen upon this blog whilst researching for a microblader who cares about each and every one of their customers’ individual needs, rest assured that you are in the right place. All you need do is read the messages on the website and Instagram to see the sentiment of the people who choose LondonBrowClinic as their microblading clinic. 

I wish you all the best, thanks for reading. 

Galata xx 

LondonBrowClinic

Brow Lamination ... next big thing or waste of money?

I’m afraid busy clinic means I haven’t posted in a while but the ever growing craze concerning brow lamination has spurred me to create a post to give some customers a little insight into this new trend.

Soooo, brow lamination is a treatment which essentially relaxes/perms the eyebrow hair, essentially “setting” it in much the same way as one might experience when chemically straightening or curling their hair. The reason that I feel compelled to create this post is because, in much the same way that people often enquire about microblading to understand the finer details of what it entails, I think people are not entirely aware of what this new treatment really is. And honestly, seeing the myriad of Instagram posts relating to brow lamination I can see why.

I am seeing an incredible volume of posts boasting that brow lamination offers a fantastic natural full looking brow that don’t really relay the facts surrounding the method used and how long this lasts relative to the price. Anyone who ever used to have HD brows done will know how frustrating it was to walk out of a brow salon having spent £40 for wonderful brows that are going to last about 3 minutes.

Now, after having undergone a training course in this treatment, I’m afraid I will not be rolling this one out to my customers. For ethical reasons I cannot push that this a more natural treatment, because almost all of the treatments I see online do not disclose that it is both a chemical AND tinting treatment. The residue from the tint leaves some colour behind that will be gone incredibly quickly, meaning the result you see really doesn’t last very long at all. Coupled with the fact that the chemical perm lasts only a few weeks (in much the same way as it does on a lash lift) means that this treatment is not offering much bang for its buck given that the average price by a reputably trained practitioner is roughly £40.

I have also seen a number of beauticians coin this treatment as being more “safe” as the skin isn’t broken, but all you need to do is speak to a hairdresser and ask them how often it is safe to perm the hair on your head. Sufficed to say, the chemicals used to straighten the brow hair are strong and cannot be underestimated.

All in all, in all honesty I do really like some of the brow lamination results I am seeing out there. I have even rolled this treatment out on some friends and family with pleasing results. But I have caveated this to all of them on the basis that it is likely to cost them about £40 a month if they want to keep it up, which unsurprisingly results in looks of dismay.

If you ask me, soap brows provides the same affect which can be achieved at home, and costs about 10p! Let’s keep the exaggeration in check people 😉

Keep safe and lots of love

Galata x

How do I choose a microblader and how much should good microblading cost?

Sometimes, you can get an impression of value or worth because people tend to assume that the more expensive something is, the better it must be. In some cases of course, this assumption is correct, there are reasons why a pair of shoes from Russell and Bromley will generally last longer than a pair bought from Primark (no knocking Primark, small caveat, I really like Primark).

Unfortunately, in a market like microblading, which is new and being further saturated every day by people who are under qualified and operating dangerously, this isn’t always the case and I am writing this post to explain why.

Expensive premises....

It goes without saying that there are many who perceive medical procedures to be of a high standard if the practitioner has a premises on Harley St. I’m afraid I have seen first hand that this isn’t always the case, and that some microblading companies/practitioners choose to set up shop here in order to give the illusion of experience or calibre, when in fact, when peeling back the layers, these are often poorly maintained clinical spaces and house generally overpriced practitioners for their level of experience.

Influencer led kudos...

Now, this is a touchy subject for those of us in this field. I have repeatedly been approached by PR firms offering to send influencers my way with a sponsored post in return for a free session with me. To be brutally honest, I am becoming increasingly wary of the “recommendations“ made by influencers, as I think are many astute followers who correctly assess that if it is play for play then what does it really say about the service or product? Also, I hate to say it, but why are these influencers who are making a mint, asking for free services? I don’t want to make it sound as though I haven’t thought about it, and been tempted. Or that I haven’t microbladed any celebrities. I have worked on incredibly famous people, but the difference is that I have not worked on them for free, and in most cases these celebrities have required an NDA (a non disclosure agreement) in place to protect the knowledge that their beauty is “enhanced” from the general public. I am proud to have worked on so many fantastically famous women, but why should I work for free and why should they plaster what they do to their faces all over the internet?

Availability and waiting lists...

I write this quietly chuckling to myself when I think about some of the advertisements my counterparts make online regarding their “lead time” and availability.

I don‘t try to disingenuously inflate how busy I look online by claiming that it will take 7 months to book an appointment with me. Perhaps because I don’t charge £700 for a pair of brows (like some of my counterparts) I actually need to blade more than one person a day meaning that I need to work a little harder to make my money. I have to say, I would rather be accessible. I don’t think my moral compass would allow me to strip someone of almost £1000 for a pair of brows that they can’t guarantee will last a certain length of time. Who are these people kidding? On this basis, I am proud to say that I am a specialist, that this is all I do all day. If I was only doing 1 a day, my waiting list would be a year long too!

Equally though, watch out for the practitioners charging £100 a set. There is no getting away from the fact that we need to properly sterilise our equipment and some of it is literally one use only. An autoclave (sterilising machine) costs in the region of approx £7000, how many £100 pairs of brows would it take to buy a piece of kit like this? Be careful...

I hope this helps some of you to gauge where value lies. If you want any more advice please give me a call. I am here to help...

Gali xxx

LondonBrowClinic