Combination

This is the one for women who want their brows to look like brows, not like beautiful make-up. Fine hair strokes are drawn through the front and along the top edge, following the direction your own hair actually grows, with soft shading behind them for density.

Up close you see texture rather than a printed edge. It is the most convincing finish Alison does, and it is the one people are most surprised by when they are told it is not real hair.

It takes the longest, needs the steadiest hand, and costs a little more — and the whole of that difference is chair time.

It depends on your skin, and Alison will be straight with you

This is the treatment where the honest conversation matters most, because it does not suit everybody and there is no point pretending otherwise.

Oily skin and open pores spread pigment. A fine stroke does not stay a fine stroke in skin that is working against it — within a year it softens into the shading, and you have paid extra for a powder brow.

So if your skin is oily, expect Alison to steer you toward powder or ombré. It will look better for longer and it costs you less. She would rather lose the difference than have you back in a year disappointed.

If your skin is normal to dry and you have some brow hair of your own to work around, this is the one that will make people ask who does your brows.

How it ages

The strokes soften before the shading does, so a combination brow gradually becomes a softer, more powdery brow over its life rather than falling apart. Plenty of women let it do exactly that and then boost it back.

Healing runs the same as the other brow treatments — bold, then flaky, then the second week where you are certain it has gone wrong, then fine. Your perfecting session at four to six weeks is included, and on this treatment it matters more than most, because that is where individual strokes get strengthened.