When I finally got my eyebrows microbladed late last year, I had been thinking about it for a long time. Added to the list of “Things people don’t tell you about your 30s” is that your eyebrows start to thin naturally with age. Luckily I never over-plucked my brows in my teens and 20s, but I was feeling the loss of volume and compensating with brow gel (thank you Glossier Boy Brow).

I researched a LOT of local micro balding artists (I don’t know what else to call them LOL) by researching their work extensively on Instagram. If someone repeatedly created the exact same brow look on multiple faces, that was an immediate “No” for me — I was looking for a highly personalized approach to my brows because, well, everyone has unique brows.

Since microblading is a growing cosmetic procedure and art form, the number of talented artists is growing, so it should be fairly easy to find several options wherever you are locally (and there are plenty in Cleveland).

Filling in my loss of eye brow volume with Glossier Boy Brow

I ended up picking Danielle of Bloom + Clover mainly because I was very impressed by how patiently and thoughtfully she answered all my questions about the process. Her website’s microblading section has a great explanation of what to expect, including who this process will not work for.

Microblading is NOT permanent. It lasts for about a year and then you have to go in for a touch up. It is like a tattoo in that there are cuts made to the skin, but unlike tattoos, these cuts do not get as deep into the skin as a conventional tattoo does.

You end up visiting for 3 sessions total: The first is the consultation, then there’s the actual procedure (which takes about 3 hours - mine took about 2 and a half hours) and then there’s another touch up session about a month after the procedure.

This is my pre-microblading selfie. All the makeup is off my face so you can see what my brows looked like “before”.

On the day of the procedure, Danielle had me lay in a very comfortable massage bed and proceeded to draw on my brows. This probably took the most time as she tweaked the stencil to make sure my brows looked natural and symmetrical without looking too fake.

Once the stencil was on, Danielle numbed my brows. She did a first pass and then it was time for more numbing and then she finished up. Obviously this is a very abbreviated explanation, but honestly a lot of the time was spent with no pain because she was drawing or I was being numbed.

What does it feel like to have your brows microbladed? It doesn’t hurt much since you’re pretty numb, but my skin did start to feel a little sensitive toward the end. I don’t have a particularly high pain threshold, so my descriptions of the pain should be pretty typical. At one point I felt the cuts a little too much and Danielle topped up some more numbing cream and we waited for it to work its magic before she resumed.

Once you’re done, you’re given after-care instructions which include wiping your brows with a special wipe several hours in a row, and then applying a hydrating jelly (it looks like Vaseline but isn’t) for several hours on the hour.

Fresh microbladed brows. I had an event later in the day after my microblading session

I was told to not excessively sweat for a couple of days, and no prolonged exposure to water (no swimming and hot tubs), and no sun for a few weeks. And obviously, no brow products! After the “day of” aftercare, the gel application reduced to twice a day for about a week.

Danielle warned me that as brows heal, the healing process may make it look like you haven’t had microblading done at all (they kinda fade out all the way) but this is completely normal.

About a month after the process, I went in for a second round touch up which took about an hour and then I was done!! It’s now been about 3 months since that second touch up and I’m so happy with the results!! I spend zero time on my brows although sometimes I get inspired and brush them so my real hairs lay the way they’re supposed to. But other than that, there’s no work necessary!

So how much does microblading cost? Again, where you are determines this price, but in Northeast Ohio you should expect to pay somewhere between $350-$500 based on my research.

So there you have it - my microblading experience was wonderful, and I will definitely have it done again. Please do your own research but if you’re looking for recommendations, I highly recommend Danielle at Bloom & Clover!