D.I.Y. eyebrow tinting - any advice / suggestions?

I checked out that product directly from its manufacturer’s website … $19.99 US for the product, plus $30.00 US for shipping. That’s about $85-90 CDN I think.

That would buy me almost 6 salon visits … hmmmm. But I could do it whenever I wanted … hmmmmm.

So much thinking to do. About eyebrows.

Maybe what I REALLY need is a life! :smiley:

There’s also some sort of hair product sold in Europe that basically erases grey without changing your regular hair color - it only comes in one shade and you put it in and it’s supposed to restore the grey hair to the color it was originally. I have no idea, whatsoever, how it would do this. I also know that it’s not sold in North America.

Vichy Dercos hair products have been sold in Europe for years but only arrived in Canada last year, and still aren’t sold in the US, AFAIK.

Stainz - yes you are in Canada - get the Lise Watier stuff - it’s FABO! (And pretty cheap - about $15 and it will last YEARS (unless you regularly make up like Groucho Marks).

That would be Grecian 2000.

Here is the link to the FAQ’s. Babelfish now has an Dutch-English transaltion available, so you can use it to transalte Dutch to English, but I didn’t know how to directly link to the translated page.

The expalnation seem s a bit bogus to me, but from independent research, (my Dutch Consumersmagazine) it seems the product worked okay. Not splendid, but okay. The main attraction is that it is very gradual, for men who don’t want to come to the office with suddenly visibly dyed hair.
Grecian 2000 has been in Dutch stores for a decade now.

I wish I could ask about beautyproducts that aren’t sold here, but I just don’t know where to start.

Do you know the patches you can put on your nose that will clean pores by adhering to the little fat globules in the pores? When you remove the patch, those fatglobules are literally drawn out and the pores are left clean. They are sold in Europe, are they known over there?

alice_in_wonderland - Not to make trouble, but I am just curious - take this as more of a general question - how do we KNOW hair dye causes blindness? Do you have any case studies, or just the warnings from the manufacturers? When I tried to find proven cases, all I could find was two women who had allergic reactions in the 1930s and no incidences since. It didn’t appear to be a proven chemical reaction - just an allergic reaction, when I researched it.

If it is illegal because 1% of people might be allergic, why aren’t peanuts illegal since those with sensitivities can die from it?

You can buy it in the States. It’s known here as Gregian Formula. Useless Facts

Maastricht, the nose strips are available under the name Bioré[SUP]®[/SUP] Deep Cleansing Pore Strips.

Having done a short stint with blindness, I can tell you that I wouldn’t take the chance. Think about it…wouldn’t you just have to kick your own ass for eternity if you harmed your eyes in order to have cheaper beautiful eyebrows?

EVERY over the counter hair product sold in Canada has a warning not to use on the eyebrows or lashes. When I’ve attended schools we’ve been taught that the product is not safe for brows/lashes. When you apply a product to your head, the amonia fumes are enough to make the eyes water, turn red and puff up.

Frankly, I assume the reason they know it’s not safe for around eye use is because they mixed some up and shoved it in th eye-balls of bunnys and they went blind.

Really, if you would like to do a little case study and shove the stuff in your own eye-balls to determine if the warnings are accurate, be my guest. I don’t recommend it.

Humm - my last post was a little too high on the Snark-O-Meter[sup]TM[/sup].

Anyhow - don’t put the crap near your eyes. (Have I said that already?):slight_smile:

I wasn’t planning to. I am simply curious, in the name of stamping out ignorance, if anyone had anything other than manufacturers warnings to substantiate those claims. There must be morons out there disregarding the labels - what has happened to them? I am not going out to conduct experiments or anything. I just wanted the factual background. “Just because we said so” isn’t nearly as interesting as knowing the actual chemical reaction, such as the ammonia bonds to proteins in the cornea, causing it to harden or some such.

Here you go:

And here

and

Anyhow - I’m leaving work now. If I have a minute tomorrow I’ll go on pubmed and see if I can find some studies for you.

BTW - did I metion not to use hair dye products on the brows? 'Cus you shouldn’t - it can cause blindness. :wink:

I’ve been using regular dye on my eyebrows for over 10 years. I am very careful. My eyebrows are pretty far from my eyes. Even with the permanent dye, it doesn’t last more than 2-3 weeks. Also, permanent dyes bleach the hair a bit, so when it fades, you are left with lighter brows than you started with. I use the semi-permanent and get the same results. I never worry about dying the skin under the brow. It only happens a little, fades in a day or two, and is hardly noticable anyway.

The reason you are not supposed to use dye near your eyes is the possibility of an allergic reaction. You can use the same dye for years and suddenly develop an allergy. This happened to my friend. She was a mess! The dye was applied to her head, but her whole face swelled up. Her eyes were swollen nearly shut. So, you are supposed to do a test patch on the inside of your elbow every single time.

I have been looking for an eye safe tint, though, because I want to dye my lashes too. I saw one here in NYC, but it cost $40.00, and that seemed like a rip-off.

Hi, once you do the patch test, that eliminates the main problem of an allergic reaction. In beauty school we used an orangewood stick to apply the mixed tint. You can use a disposable mascara wand. Make sure you leave enough of the tint on the outside ends of your brow, and evenly on the brows, root to ends. You put vaseline above and below your brows and wherever you DON’T want the tint to go, and wear latex gloves if you don’t want your fingers and nails looking filthy. Use damp cotton discs to remove the tint.

You can buy the stuff at a salon services provider. You need a tube of tint and a small bottle of developer. You can buy tiny glasses to mix the stuff in using an orangewood stick. It isn’t rocket science. We spent about two minutes going over this information before we tried it in Beauty Therapy. I did it maybe 5 times before my first exam in it.

However, doing eyelashes you have to be so careful, and not a good idea to do your own. Although I know some Therapists who do their own eyelashes, one eye at a time, that’s a bit dangerous. It is really, really close to your eyes, so any tiny amount of product in your eye and you must rinse and rinse, or get medical attention. However, Beauty Therapists are not doctors or medical experts, and really at the end of the day if you are careful and aware of the dangers, tinting eyebrows and lashes is easy to do. You could study it with a friend and do each other’s eyelashes. Once you know the risks, how to keep the eye sealed shut when tint is applied, used the damp crescent shaped cotton disc under, the vaseline around skin, cotton disc over. Thoroughly remove any traces at the end. I don’t know why other beauty therapists make such a big deal about it, it isn’t hard to learn. Main thing is just to be careful.

If you haven’t the money to pay a salon, there is still an option which some people prefer to doing it themselves: find your nearest Beauty Therapy training centre, it could even be in a community college. They always need clients to build their training hours. Under supervision of the instructor, they practice waxing, facials, massage, body electrics, manicure, pedicure and eyebrow/lash tinting. Some charge a nominal fee, some don’t charge. It’s a great way to be beautified or pampered without breaking the bank.