Does it hurt?

Almost everybody asks this, and almost everybody says the same thing afterwards: that they had wound themselves up over nothing. That is not a promise it will be painless. It is a fairly reliable pattern.

What follows is what it actually feels like, rather than the reassurance you get on most salon websites.

What brows feel like

Most people describe brow work as scratching, or as a vibration with an edge to it. It is not the sharp pain of an injection and it is not the sustained burn of a large body tattoo. The needle is working in the upper layers of the skin, not deep into it.

A common reaction, genuinely, is that people fall asleep in the chair. Another is that the first pass — the one before the second numbing goes on — is the worst of it, and everything after that is duller.

If you have had your brows threaded or waxed, you already know roughly what your brow area is like for sensation. Most people find this easier than threading, because it is spread over a long time rather than concentrated in one pull.

What lips feel like

Lips are more sensitive than brows and it would be dishonest to say otherwise. There are more nerve endings, the tissue is softer, and the whole lip is worked rather than a thin strip.

Most people put lip blush at a four or five out of ten once the numbing is working, and describe it as a strong buzzing or a hot, prickling feeling rather than a sharp one. The outline is the tender part; the fill is easier.

Lips also swell more than brows, and the tenderness lasts longer afterwards — a day or two of feeling like you have had a bump to the mouth is normal.

How numbing works

A topical anaesthetic goes on before anything starts and needs about twenty minutes to take. That is the wait you will do at the beginning of the appointment while the shape is being drawn on.

Once the skin is open, a second and stronger numbing agent can be used, and it works far better than the first because it can actually reach where it needs to be. This is why the beginning of the appointment is usually the most uncomfortable part and it eases from there rather than building.

Numbing wears off through a long appointment and can be topped up. You do not have to be brave about it — say something and it gets re-applied.

What makes it worse

These are all within your control and they make a real, noticeable difference:

• Caffeine on the day. Raises sensitivity and thins the blood a little. Skip the coffee.
• Alcohol the night before. Same effect, worse. Skin that is bleeding does not take pigment well, so this costs you on the result as well as on comfort.
• Being on your period. Sensitivity is measurably higher in the few days before and during. If your dates are predictable, book around them.
• Painkillers that thin the blood — aspirin and ibuprofen. Paracetamol is fine.
• Being frightened and tensing up. Not trivial. Tension makes everything feel sharper.

What makes it better

Eat before you come. A proper meal, not a slice of toast — a two-hour appointment on an empty stomach is how people end up lightheaded, and that is far more common than pain being the problem.

Bring headphones. Music or a podcast gives your attention somewhere else to be, and there is nothing you need to be doing during the appointment except lying still.

Sleep, if you get the chance. It genuinely happens.

Ask for breaks. There is no prize for going straight through, and stopping for two minutes costs nothing.

If you are properly frightened of it

Some people are not asking out of curiosity — they have a real fear of needles, or a bad experience with a dentist, or they faint. That is common enough that it is worth planning around rather than pushing through.

Say so at the consultation. The patch test appointment is a useful trial run in itself: it is tiny, it takes a minute, and it tells you how your body reacts to the idea of being in that chair.

It is also entirely reasonable to book brows first and decide about lips much later, once you know what the whole thing is actually like.

Afterwards

Brows feel tight and slightly tender for the rest of the day, similar to mild sunburn, and that is usually gone by the next morning.

Lips are swollen for a day or two and tender for two or three. Cold water, something bland to eat on the first evening, and paracetamol if you want it.

Neither should be painful beyond that. Pain that is getting worse rather than better after the first couple of days is not normal and is worth a phone call.