Step-by-Step Guide to Brow Lamination

During brow lamination, all lotions and tints touch the skin under and around the eyebrows. For this reason, it is paramount that there are no irritations on the skin whatsoever.

• Acne/hormone medication and other topical medicines – can cause skin peeling and affect the treatment outcome.
• Any skin irritation (sunburn, psoriasis, dryness, etc.)
• Breakouts
• Beauty spots/birthmarks
• Warts
• Previous allergic reaction to Lash or Brow lifting products or tint – if there is a history of allergic reaction to tinting, Brow Lamination can still be performed; however, the tinting step should be skipped
• Bleaching – bleaching dehydrates the hair and can result in overprocessing and over pigmentation after tinting.
• Henna dye less than one week before Brow Lamination – henna dehydrates the hair, so it may result in overprocessing
• Less than 24 hours before the Brow Lamination, skin scrubbing can cause additional skin irritation.
• Recent brow tattoo – skin must have healed entirely before lamination
• Recent facial peel – leave at least one week between treatments
• Botox or fillers – leave at least two weeks between treatments
• Spray tan – leave at least five days between treatments.
• Sunburn – skin must have entirely healed before lamination
• Head Lice
• Alopecia Areata

Explaining to the client how the brow lamination treatment works are essential to eliminate false expectations. Brow lamination does not fix the brow hairs in the specific position as it does with lashes. Instead, it makes the brow hairs softer and easier to maintain and shape. So it is imperative to explain that the client will still require a brow gel to set hairs into desired position each morning.

One of the main questions about brow lamination is how long the results will last. This depends on multiple factors:

• How much has the hair growth direction changed? The more significant the change, the quicker the results start to fade.
• How much hair the customer has? More brow hairs mean longer-lasting results because the loss of single hairs is less noticeable.
• Home care. The results will last longer when customers nourish their brows and keep them in check with brow styling gel.

Since eyebrows can be lifted and tinted to either look sleek or bushy, show customers pictures of different options.

Talk to customers about home care, as it will play a big part in how long the results will last.

Cleanse the customer’s eyebrows thoroughly before the brow lamination treatment to remove any makeup, natural oils, etc. It’s best to use a pH-neutral (not pH-balanced) cleanser as it starts lifting cuticles gently. 

NB! Do not exfoliate eyebrows before lamination to avoid skin irritation. Applying lamination products on broken skin noticeably increases irritation. 

Easy Lift has a dual purpose: 

• To prepare brow hairs for the treatment by making their structure super soft so it’s easy to shape them without using glue 
• To fully open brow cuticles without dehydrating them as regular primers do

Open cuticles allow the lotions to penetrate deeper into the hair for maximum effect. Please don’t skip this step, as our products DO NOT WORK PROPERLY without them.

Easy Lift is intended to be used ONLY with the super gentle Ruthie Belle Lash & Brow Lift product series, as it enhances the effect of the curling lotion. Brows can easily over-process if it’s used with a more aggressive brow lift brand. 

Apply Easy Lift with a tapered long-tip micro brush. Apply it generously – use as much product as necessary to thoroughly cover all brow hairs (especially tiny crosshairs that are the most difficult to lift) but avoid flooding the eyes. The product needs 30 seconds to do its magic and doesn’t need to be removed or rinsed. Don’t press hard on the skin when applying, as the product needs to open the brow hair cuticles, not the skin cuticles.

The purpose of the lifting lotion (also known as curling lotion) is to soften the keratin in the hair so that we can reshape it. The direction of brow hairs in this stage does not affect the result, so keeping them brushed in any particular direction is not essential. Read more about the chemistry of lifting lotion here.

Lifting lotion processing time depends on the coarseness of the hair and how much its direction needs to change. The coarser the hair/, the more the direction needs to change and the longer the processing time.

The lower part of eyebrow hairs naturally grows upwards, and the top part downwards. The top part also has many little stubborn cross hairs that are the hardest to lift. This means the top of the eyebrow takes the longest and most work to reshape.

Start applying lifting lotion from the top of the eyebrow so that the hairs that need to change direction can process for longer. Next, cover the whole brow with a generous amount of the lotion.

Spread the lotion from the inner corner to the outer corner and then brush the lotion from the outer corner to the inner corner, ensuring the hairs' roots get covered. Repeat the movement upwards once and downwards once.

Apply more lotion if needed.

NB! Our lotions are gentle, so you need to use a sufficient layer for them to work correctly. This is very different from aggressive lotions – if you use the same amount of our lotions as aggressive lotions, the brow hairs will not change direction! 

Avoid rubbing lotions onto the skin to avoid irritation and focus on covering the brow hairs from the root.

You can check the processing times by lifting some hairs in the opposite direction. If they bounce back – it means that they are not ready yet. If they lack any resistance – then they are. It is better to check the hairs in different locations of the brow as some areas can process faster (for example, the head of the brow generally has softer and lighter hairs; thus, they require less processing time).

NB! Avoid brushing the hairs during and after the Lifting lotion as it may cause them to stretch and become curly.

For most eyebrow types, the front and tail of the eyebrow lift faster than the middle part, so lotions should be removed first.

Remove lotion residue with a dry cotton pad or Q-tip. If the customer starts to feel itchiness during the lifting stage, remove the lotion and proceed to the next step.

Fixing lotion gives brows their new shape. Read more about the chemistry of fixing lotion here.

Apply the fixing lotion to the whole eyebrow and then shape it however you want the eyebrows to look. I recommend using the Wide Lami Brow Brush to spread the lotion and shape the brows, as its dense bristles make separating brow hairs very easy, allowing the lotion to spread more evenly. However, the brushing must be done gently to avoid irritating the skin and stretching the hair after the lifting lotion.

NB! Brow hairs should never be raised by more than 45 degrees relative to natural growth direction to avoid kinks after growing out in a few weeks. On average, the head of the brow will have a 90-degree angle, the body approximately 75 degrees, followed by the apex and the tail going from 45 to 0 degrees (like shown in the picture below):

Processing time for our fixing lotion is 4 - 6 minutes for all hair types. Don’t worry if you leave it on for a few minutes longer, as this will not irritate the skin. 

Remove lotion residue with a dry cotton pad or Q-tip. 

As the brow hairs have been chemically treated, the processing time for tint is shorter than without lamination. Tinting time varies, depending on your tint type and the desired outcome.

NB! After applying the tint, the hairs should be brushed as they were during the Fixing lotion, as the hair cuticles are not fully closed, and the brow shape is still setting.

My recommendation for doing brow lamination on new customers is to remove some tint from the start of the eyebrow after 4-5 minutes to check the shade. This will leave a lovely ombre effect and indicate how your customer's eyebrows are reacting to the tint.

Of course, you can always re-apply the tint after removing it if you want the eyebrow's start to become darker.

PRO TIP: Always choose a tint color that is a shade lighter than you would usually choose to avoid over-darkening the brow hairs.  

Remove lotion residue with a damp cotton pad or Q-tip. 

NB! It is better not to use henna dyes or hybrid tints after the brow lamination as they dry out hair and skin. Henna can also result in unpredictable pigmentation. (Not advised to use Estel, Binacil, Bronsun, Elan). If your client prefers to achieve tinted skin, it is advised to do it a day after the Brow lamination is performed.

The maximum developer % should not exceed 3%.

Apply Shine Repair the same way as fixing lotion.

Process for 5 minutes for all hair types.

Remove lotion residue with a damp cotton pad or Q-tip. 

Always shape eyebrows after lamination is finished, as this causes skin abrasions, so no cosmetic products should be used on the skin afterward. Also, I do not recommend applying any makeup on broken skin.

NB! Eyebrow trimming is highly not advised. Brows and lashes are genetically “programmed” to grow to a certain length. Cutting prolongs the life of the hair by making it grow thicker and wirier, thus weakening the follicle. Also, by cutting the brow hair, we expose the cortex to the elements, which can make the brow hair lose its natural pigment.

For example, barbers quite often cut men’s eyebrows, and more often than not, they have very light, sparse, long, wiry eyebrows.

Brows require home care after lamination. Please read about home care from our dedicated article.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.