If you’re one of his 128K followers on Instagram then you’ll know that flame-haired blogger Gwilym Pugh (@gwilymcpugh) has a strong selfie game. By his own admission, this is due, in part, to his now signature beard and impressive eye-browage. ‘When I posted a before and after photo of myself with and without the beard I was surprised to read more comments about my brows than the beard,’ says Gwil, who relies on professional brow tinting to make sure his two (or is that three?) prized assets are perfectly colour co-ordinated. We grabbed five minutes with him as he had his brows tinted at London’s iBrows etc to find out more…
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1 Blokes need brows too
‘Male grooming is huge and there's no shortage of 'masculine acceptable' product lines available for blokes to buy. Having said that, there's still a lot of treatments and products that I feel men aren’t comfortable discussing and taking advantage of,’ explains Gwil. And he's got a point. Waxing, facials and massages are now widely booked by man folk but why shouldn't they feel comfortable and confident enough to enjoy the transformative powers of a bit of brow maintenance as well as us girls? 'It's starting to become much more common place to see men booking in to get their brows threaded and tinted,' says iBrows etc founder Sandra Shiek. 'They shouldn't feel at all self concious to make an appointment, it's no different than getting a regular trim and they'll see a huge difference with the smallest shape, tidy and tint.'
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2 Invisi-brow be gone
‘My problem is this; having red hair is a blessing and a curse. Whilst the hair on my head is a flaming beacon of uniqueness I’m left with pretty much invisible brows. For someone that likes to communicate with facial expressions this is an issue!’ Having considered, and then quickly vetoed using a brow pencil, Gwil decided to give tinting a shot. ‘Using a brow pencil would require daily attention as well as the skill to actually pull it off without looking like a disaster! This leaves dying them, or rather tinting. I think I initially had the idea to do this after seeing the results of a shoot where the makeup artist had really paid a lot of attention and darkened my brows significantly. I looked at the images and thought “why can’t I look like that all the time??' Tinting is a trick us girls have been using for years to make our eyes look brighter and our brows more defined. Even if you're totally tweezer shy a bit of a tint makes a heck of a difference. It's subtle and requires minimum time commitment for maximum results.
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3 Time to let your brows do the talking?
You'll find most of the salons we have on Treatwell are set up for male brow grooming. Ok, the salon environment might still be geared towards the female sex but don't let that put you off, it doesn't stop Gwil that's for sure. ‘There a load of places you can get this done including makeup counters in a lot of stores, but specialist shops and salons are safer for first timers if you’d prefer not to be gawked at by people passing by. Trust me, a 6’4 ginger man with a beard getting his brows (I also get my lashes done at the same time to match!!) does attract a few funny looks.’ Any professional brow salon will welcome you with open arms. 'On a more serious note, just because the treatment is labelled a “beauty treatment” don’t let that put you off and make you feel emasculated,' says Gwil. 'The results are subtle and natural looking, but equally can transform the overall look of your face. Prices range from around £12 – £20 which in my opinion is a small price to pay to increase my facial expression repertoire significantly!'