I’m not a celebrity but receiving over 650 likes for a picture I posted on Instagram recently made me feel like one—even just for a day. 😛 It was a selfie photo of me lying on a dentist-like chair in Browhaus, Lucky Chinatown Mall, while the beauty attendant was fixing my brows for the final look. In this post, let me share about my Browgraphy experience at Browhaus Manila. Will I come back for another session? Do I recommend it? You will know later.
Browhaus Brow Construction: Browgraphy
Prior to having the procedure done, my eyebrows were not really too crazy or unruly. My mom volunteers every so often to shave them for neat arches, like a gardener clipping a topiary, because I can’t do it by myself. Lately though, I felt like wanting to update my eyebrows’ shape and color (to match my hair color). In my world, this task is nebulous—something that should be left to the experts to be safe.
I chose Browhaus Manila to take care of my brows as they are known as the “global authority in hair removal” and they take business seriously. Browhaus operates in several branches in the Philippines for six years now, and they offer the expertise to transform a person’s look by grooming their brows.
Besides Philippines and Singapore (their base), they also have expanded to branches in London, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand. Their aestheticians in Manila are trained in Singapore in two to six months before they are considered qualified. With all these reasons, it didn’t take long for me to be convinced to try at least one of their services.
Browhaus promotes the Brow Resurrection (PhP 38,000) most, claiming that this will make a renewed set of defined and beautiful eyebrows to one who doesn’t have full brows and also improve anyone’s unkempt pair almost magically. More than Brow Resurrection, Browgraphy (PhP 1,298) took my attention because it’s way cheaper and looked less painful.
Browgraphy is a combined service consisting of shaping the eyebrows (via threading and tweezing) and color tweaking. Basically, it’s a duo which works to rework the brows to perfection.
For threading, I have learned that Browhaus uses a fine cotton thread that’s meant for the skin. Typical eyebrow threading doesn’t traumatize the skin the way waxing does. It removes stray hair strands in a row resulting in a clean and natural-looking brow line. Thus, for people who have sensitive skin like me and those disenchanted with waxing, this specialty process is a better option.
My Browgraphy Experience at Browhaus (Lucky Chinatown Mall, Binondo)
I made a reservation a day before for the Browgraphy service. The receptionist asked if I have had my eyebrows dyed and experienced threading before, to which I replied no’s to both. I don’t know if saying yes would make any difference to the steps and formula they will apply. Moving on…
I was led to a reclining chair and the beautician started studying my eyebrows. She asked me to choose among dark brown, medium brown and light brown for the brow color tweak. Lighter brows have a softening effect, while darker brows sharpen features and add definition. I went for the medium brown.
She applied the vegetable-based dye which contained light chemicals (not the same as the one we use to color our hair). The skin around the eye area is more sensitive, and this house product is intended for coloring the eyebrows. It made me look like the female version of Mr. Clean minus the mustache! See?
After 15 minutes, the beautician checked if the “medium brown” color I chose had already taken effect. By that time, I felt a bit of tingling sensation, but it was tolerable. I looked to the mirror and thought that my brows were not still brown enough to call it “medium brown.” We allowed another five minutes to pass until she removed the dye.
Next, she showed me a piece of paper with illustrations of shapes of eyebrows and asked me to choose one. I was clueless and needed some help as well with the selection. In the end, her recommendation was what I regarded as best advice: fourth row, last column.
She proceeded to shape my tinted eyebrows by threading the immediate area, quickly removing the fine hairs. For remaining hair which could not be removed by the thread, tweezers were used; and finally, scissors to trim individual hairs.
The last steps of my Browgraphy treatment were the application of soothing cream to minimize redness and avoid irritation and the filling up of my brows with brown powder. I was advised not to wash my eyebrows water for the next five hours.
So, how was it?
Of hair removal techniques, many believe that threading causes the least discomfort, if any discomfort at all. Eyebrow threading by Browhaus was not painless, but it was quick and straightforward. It actually felt like tiny rubber bands snapping my skin one after another. I said ouch a couple of times and almost jumped off the seat. The staff said it’s normal for me to feel that way since it was my first time. 😯
I’m just glad I’ve survived the 30-minute treatment without shedding tears to look more fashionable. 😛 The result was satisfying but not drastic as I expected. Anyway, it’s the little things that add up. This is the finished #nofilter look:
Browhaus provided me with a survey sheet which asks customers to rate the elements of the service they rendered and the totality of experience with them from 1-5. Three questions were open-ended. I didn’t have enough time to write my answers on paper since I was rushing to attend a family gathering. I wrote my blog’s URL for them to check and see my answers. And here they are, as follows:
Q & A
Will I come back for another session? I most probably would not want to come back for another Browgraphy session again. This is because I don’t think that there’s high value for money. The two-in-one solution of coloring and threading my brows does not seem worth the price of PhP 1298 to pay, given that the color is expected to last for two to four weeks only. I can go to other salons to groom my eyebrows and achieve a good brow balance via threading at a much cheaper rate.
Do I recommend it? Yes, I recommend this treatment, especially if you do not know how to shape your eyebrows on your own and you want to dye your brows with maximum comfort and safety for your skin. Having a well-maintained eyebrows can make you look younger by brightening and increasing the intensity of your eyes. Browhaus professionals are nice and you will feel rest assured that they will take care of your brow woes the right way the first time and every time.
What improvements do I suggest to Browhaus? Browhaus Manila has a modern studio that welcomes customers with a friendly and clean environment. They have proper threading furniture and sanitized tools. They follow a standard process that’s aligned with their base in Singapore. They are the experts in styling and grooming the eyebrows. Hence, I can’t anymore think of any improvement with regard to their work and performance.
But if I were to suggest an “outside of the box” improvement, I’d like to propose something related to innovation. 🙂 I would like them to have an optional personalized service of taking a before-photo of the customer, uploading it to the computer, running a system which can analyze based on the facial shape, skin color, hair color and the rest of facial features and then generating a suggested outcome of the eyebrows automatically.
In addition, it will be good if there is also the facility to allow the user to manually mix and match eyebrow shapes, colors, thickness and styles for them to see how the result would look like. This will give better appreciation and excitement in looking forward to the result.
If these can be part of the free consultation service of Browhaus, then I think they can gain more power in turning prospects or leads to actual customers. To extend the plan for improvement further, Browhaus can also develop the application and allow everyone access it via web and/or mobile apps anytime and anywhere! 😛
[schema type=”review” url=”https://www.facebook.com/BrowhausManila” name=”Browhaus Lucky Chinatown Mall” description=”Fs 417 & 418 Lucky Chinatown, Reina Regente st. Cor Dela Reina St., Binondo, Manila” author=”Rochkirstin Santos” pubdate=”2014-09-02″ user_review=”4″ min_review=”0″ max_review=”5″ ]
Other branches:
- Browhaus Greenbelt 5
4F Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center Makati City | (02) 501.3998
- Browhaus Serendra
2F The Piazza at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City | (02) 901 0597
- Browhaus Abreeza
3F Abreeza Corporate Center, JP Laurel, ajada, Davao City | (02) 82 285 7270
wacky group pic with bloggers and marketing manager Raquel
group pic with bloggers
