Spend or Skip? GrandeBROW
If every anti-aging product on the market really did what it claimed, we'd all look 18. And while there are many effective products that help make the most of our looks as we age (and I, for one, like the way I look better at 45 than I did at 18), there are also many that are nothing but snake oil. Thus, I've created this series, Spend or Skip?, in which I will apply my twenty years as a beauty guinea pig to objectively road-test and review buzz-generating, anti-aging products that everyone's talking about. The mission: to help you decide whether to buy—or bypass—the latest fountain of youth.
Next up: GrandeBROW
Regular readers know I’ve found success with two other Spend or Skip? candidates: Rodan + Fields Lash Boost (I posted my before and after photos here), as well as with Evolis Reverse Activator. The results with Lash Boost were dramatic; my lashes went from average to unequivocally l-o-n-g. The Evolis results were subtle and probably less apparent to anyone but me and my longtime stylist Nunzio (who did comment in April that the fragile hair around my face seemed denser). Thus, given this success, I thought I’d go for a hair triumvirate and give GrandeBROW a whirl, in hopes it could spark new growth in my sparse brows.
Why did I choose GrandeBROW? It was recommended to me by LA brow guru Kristie Streicher, whose tweezing plan I am currently following (and outline here). I asked her if I should try Latisse or Lash Boost on my spotty brows, but she discouraged me, saying she’d seen clients who’d tried this and, while they did see some new growth, the hair that grew in was often wiry and difficult to tame (think: Andy Rooney brows). Now, I'm not a doctor and don’t know why this would happen, but Kristie postulated that it might be the sheer strength of these formulas: They cause hair to grow so fast, strands don’t have time to be properly nourished and softened in the follicle, and thus pop out like pipe cleaners. (If you’ve tried Latisse or Lash Boost on your brows and care to share your experience, please do so in the Comments below.) Kristie said she had, however, seen good results with GrandeBROW, and cited all the moisturizing, soothing ingredients it contains (like hyaluronic acid and vitamin E), to complement the growth accelerating benefit of its active ingredient, prostaglandin I.C.
I’ve taken some before photos and will post those, along with some after photos, at the six-week mark. (GrandeBROW says it takes at least that long to see results.)
I do think I should say, at the start, that I'm less optimistic about my results than I was with Lash Boost and Evolis Reverse Activator. With these two growth-boosting serums, I was primarily aiming to goose growth of existing hair (as in, make my lashes longer—or the weak hair around my face stronger). However, what I need GrandeBROW to do is cause strands to sprout from spots that have been hair-free for several years. I’ve researched and written often enough about hair loss—and talked to enough dermatologists about female pattern balding—to know that sometimes, when a follicle has been long dormant, it closes up shop. For good.
Thus, I may be asking GrandeBROW to do the impossible: trigger growth in follicles that are permanently retired. Which is why I am road-testing to see if my goal of new growth is even feasible—and to save you money if the effort's futile. But we can all hope; check back in six weeks for my progress report. And if you’ve tried GrandeBROW, please let me know what you think, either at mediumblondeblog@gmail.com or in the Comments, below.
