Killingspree questions…How the hell is Brenda Christian’s Universal Brow Definer supposed to work? Is there any science behind this?
The Left Brain raises an eyebrow:
One or the maxims of the Beauty Brains is that “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” It looks to me like the Universal Brow Definer fits that description.
Background on Universal Brow Definer
This product is an eyebrow colorant in pencil form and consists of waxes, oils, fatty alcohols, talc, and iron oxide colorants. (The full ingredient list is available on their website.) These are standard ingredients commonly used in similar products, however, the manufacturer makes several claims about this product that are rather incredulous.
Brenda Christian claims
Brenda makes the following claims about Universal Brow Definer on her website:
Scientifically reads and automatically color adjusts to the pH of your eyebrow hair follicle.
The Definer will not work on your hand or other areas of the face but is specifically designed to simulate eyebrow hairs.
Automatically adjusts from light to dark, warmer or cooler, to all natural eyebrow hair shades including Platinum Blonde, Soft Auburn, and deepest Brunette.
Just stroke Universal Brow Definer over clean skin in your eyebrow area and watch as it automatically changes to the color of your own individual eyebrow hairs, filling in tiny gaps and perfecting your shape.
The Definer even creates a fuller stroke toward the root of the hair, thinning to the end, just like your own natural eyebrow hair.
If you have had a hair color service, Universal Brow Definer will refract the hair color you have chosen, causing your new hair color to blend more naturally with your own eyebrows.
The science behind Universal Brow Definer
There are two key elements to these claims that I’d like to comment on: that the product automatically changes color to match natural brow shades and it is somehow triggered by the pH of the eyebrow follicle. The latter part of the claim doesn’t make much sense since the follicle doesn’t have an intrinsic pH and even if it did, the color of eyebrow hairs are not related to pH. It’s a moot point anyway since there doesn’t appear to be anything in this formula that could accommodate such a pH triggered change. (There are pH sensitive dyes but these are not allowed in products used around the eye.)
Enchanting encapsulation
Since pH isn’t an option are there other known mechanisms that could provide color change? In theory, yes. The formula contains three colorants: yellow, black and red iron oxides and white titanium dioxide. These colorants could be encapsulated (for example, with wax.) That encapsulation could provide a color change that is triggered by friction when the capsules are rubbed on the brow. However, I can think of no mechanism that would “automatically” match the released color to the natural color of the brows. Even if the colorants were encapsulated there is no apparent way to control how the color would be expressed. I should also note that none of these proposed mechanisms can explain how the product would work on eyebrows but not your hand or face.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
My review is based solely on a review of the ingredients in the product and an understanding of the chemical and physical properties of these ingredients. I can not conceive f any technical explanation for how this product could work as the manufacturer claims. There is always the possibility, however slight, that this product could somehow be combining these standard ingredients in such a way as to produce an effect that is not apparent. However, it would take a properly controlled test to convince me that this is the case and that this product is not just marketing hype. If anyone at Brenda Christian would care to share additional information with me about how this product works, I’d be happy to revisit the topic in a future post.
What do YOU think? Have you ever used a color changing product like this? What did you think of it?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thankyou. This was exactly what i was looking for! A complete breakdown. I wasnt sure how this pencil would (if it did) work.
Ive seen another pencil that also doesnt work unless its pressed on the brows. The shu umumera H9 eyebrow pencil.
Apparentally this is how it works:
‘Unique color pigment releases only when it interacts with the oil in the eyebrow hairs.’
I dunno what to do! My brows are sparse, but long, and much darker then my hair. I do lighten them. But i need to actually fill bits of them in!
incredulous doesn’t mean “hard to believe”. A person is incredulous when they are not buying your story. I think you wanted to say incredible.
P.S. Please don’t go away for a whole month again soon.
I’m not a science expert, just a hobbyist, but this product’s claims make no sense to me. Since when does a specific hair color have a specific pH value? All I can think of are litmus tests and imagine people going around with bright red or blue eyebrows. I’m sensing that this is another case of O-Glow.
This is probably the goofiest time Carl Sagan’s quote has been used, bu “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
Cindy Crawford, a decade or more ago, gave a great tip on brows– a taupe shadow or pencil is universal.
I believe this is because the shadow of a hair on your skin would be taupe.You are creating the effect of the shadow of a (nonexistent) hair.
Killingxspree–my brows are long and sparse and (mostly) too dark as well. I brush them up, trim them, and then fill in with taupe shadow and or pencil. I then fix them in place with brow gel. Anastasia Brow Gel is the stiffest I’ve tried, and comes in tints if your brows are graying, as mine are. I imagine a good hair gel would work fine with a spoolie brush you can buy cheaply at Sonia Kashuk at Target, but I like the convenience of the applicator and tube.
I’m not a chemist, but, as a physicist/electical engineer I think this is a bunch of whoey!
They seem to be full of it. The link you provided to the product on their website quotes an Amazon review from January 2009, but the Amazon page has zero reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Brenda-Christian-Universal-Brow-Definer/dp/B001RVJNEU
The Amazon page also claims that it’s recommended by the American Journal of Esthetic Medicine…which does not turn up on Google.
Not quite sure how this works….but that’s not as important as “does” it work. As an eyebrow artist I’ve been using this pencil for 13 years and it is the only pencil I recommend to my clients. It truly looks just as natural on my blonde haired clients as it does on my African-American clients. Maybe it’s not possible to be pH related but it is THE most neutral and natural of all eyebrow pencils I or any of my clients have ever encountered.