by Chrissy Iley
I have always had thin eyebrows; they go with my thin hair. I have learned what to do with the hair. It involves someone other than me blow drying it and using a ton of volumising product and no conditioner. I have learned this from the best.
Mark Smith at John Frieda with whom I used to write the column Hair Bitch is a hair genius. I could walk out of the salon literally with someone else`s hair. Someone else, who had full, lush, rock star hair. If only I could have someone else`s eye brows.
I have a bald spot in the middle of my right eyebrow. I am not sure what the cause is. It is brow alopecia, stress, hormones, over plucking as a teenager, one or all of those. The other day someone sent me a picture of me on New Year`s Eve. Not only did I looked tired and emotional I looked bald on the brow.
I have been going to a local threading person who made me look surprised. I hated that semi circle shape. And it has been several months since I visited Houda at Angelo David in New York and my brows were clearly without direction, without definition. I was horrified.
At around the same time I was passing Damone Roberts in Beverly Hills. Damone has been known as the Eyebrow King. He has worked with all the great divas; Madonna, Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alicia Keys and Robert Downey Jr.
He has a line of products – they work with at the salon – that are lovely. Better still they don`t push you into buying any of them. On a Tuesday you get two brow services for the price of one, so you can get waxing /threading / plucking and dying.
Lashelle Ullie is an expert threader but when I told him I was afraid of the thread and being made to look constantly surprised he offered plucking. He did not agree that threading is less accurate as he is an expert but on the whole I think it is. It is a risk, unless you are seeing a seriously experienced person. For my brow every hair counts.
Lashelle exuded calm and confidence. He trimmed away making the tiny seem important. In the end it was the kind of brow trim that made my brows look thicker and fuller. He did some colouring and some filling and the result was very transformative.
He also introduced me to a Damone Roberts product called Brow Gain. He said it had been developed particularly for cancer patients, who wanted to get their brows back after chemo.
I since have been applying it studiously. It has only been a week but I feel it is working.
While in the salon I slipped into their bathroom. It is one of the most VIP bathrooms I ever been in. The wall is filled with compliments from the feted and the famous. It included -pride of place- among the scribblings a note from Robert Downey Jr who is full of praise saying “Damone is for everyone.”
Eyebrows are such an important part of the face and often neglected, taken for granted. I don’t trust myself to throw a good shape and I certainly don’t trust the local threader. I am hoping for no more surprises. I am hoping to stay regal!
Damone Roberts Beverly Hills, located at 9669 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. (310) 271-2100. www.damoneroberts.com.