Ok so you probably heard my story about a bait and switch from a local company who posted to…read moreNextdoor that they're offering low prices for brow models and then raised them when people already booked and took the day off. Because of that, I was very wary when a nice person off the FB interwebs messaged me at 10pm about a last minute session the next day. She showed me pictures of their work and said that hers was done by them a while back as well, and this was legitimately free. So I thought about it and gave her my info, not knowing if I was going to go thru with it, since I had back to back appointments and wasn't sure I wanted to model for 6 hours. A little info about me, I had friends that owned beauty colleges in SoCal and always volunteered for hair, makeup, facials, waxes, you name it. How else can people learn other than by doing, under supervision of course. I'm always game to help out, and it's usually temporary since hair grows out, makeup can be washed away, etc. Semi-permanent tattooing is of course a different matter, but I figured that I can always say no if I don't like the way it's measured and it wouldn't cost me anything but time and I have glasses worst case, they can't see it anyways. Andrea messaged me that morning with directions and an appointment via Square. I felt better researching her a little bit. She went viral on TikTok for showing off the work that she does...Link HERE. People come from all over the nation to train under her. She's been doing it for over 1.5 yrs now. She used to work at a call center and wanted more flexibility in her work to be there for her son. She took a course and started working in the field-apparently in Texas all you need is a 2 day course, passing a test, and getting your tattoo license, cosmetology license ISN'T needed. She does such great work that a lot of her clients would ask her to help them learn, so she started training and honestly she's sooo patient and professional, it was a good sidestep for her. On the day that I went, she had me sign a form in the parking lot, kinda like a doctor's form to make sure you don't have allergies and understood the risks. Then showed me in her boutique where there were 3 separate rooms with the front room being the office, and the other 2 with beds. She introduced me to my technician who was there from Amarillo, Elva, who was doing the 2 day course, the 2nd day being that they would practice on live models (me). She had already spent the day before learning concepts, passing the exam, and practicing on a fake model. She found Andrea on TikTok and paid for her own travel and lodging as well as $2400 to train under Andrea. There was a trainee in the front room who came from Oregon to train with her, so she's very popular. She also does training sessions around the nation. I think she went to Sacramento the week after I got my brows done. So Andrea (trainer) has Elva (trainee) explain to me what they are going to do. In theory, the process was pretty simple: 1. Measure the eyebrows, make sure I like them 2. Draw them in 3. Shave the hairs around outline of eyebrows 4. Select the tattoo colors 5. Tattoo the outline 6. Shade in the outline 7. Apply numbing cream 8. Go over the eyebrow several more layers depending on how it shows up 9. Check on the one eyebrow 10. Repeat on other eyebrow In practice, it was a lot of work (hence the normal costs of $400-$800 for the 1st session, not including touch ups). What they did was spend 3 hours measuring and comparing and making sure that each line was symmetrical and precise. I'm talking about millimeters here. Read more here since apparently it's too long of a review: https://www.todoelpaso.com/2021/10/27/ombre-brows-for-free-ummm-yea/