A Hair Raising Prospect: Eyebrow Transplants All the Rage in Hollywood
In the hot pursuit of perfect eyebrows, stars indulge in a ritual of tinting, tweezing, threading, waxing, laminating and microblading, boosted by an arsenal of serums, supplements, pencils, powders and gels. All on repeat, since results are temporary. Now, a permanent brow transplant procedure is trending thanks in part to Chrissy Teigen sharing her results on social media in November.
The procedure is quietly being done by “tons of actresses and actors, some of the most famous A-list actors in the entire world,” says Century City hair restoration specialist Dr. Marc Dauer, who has performed it for over 15 years.
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Teigen’s hairstylist Jen Atkin vlogged about getting the procedure in 2021. She and Teigen saw Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Jason Champagne, as did actress Meagan Good after seeing Amber Rose’s results on Instagram.
“It took 10 years off my face immediately,” says Good, who had the procedure three times to perfect the shape. “It was life-changing for me. I grew up in the ’90s, when everybody was doing their brows super thin, so by the time I was 19 they weren’t growing back. I got them tattooed when I was 24 or 25, but it faded and looked harsh. So I started doing microblading [in which semipermanent pigment is injected into brows] when I was 30, but the lines started to bleed into each other. I just wanted a thicker, fuller, natural brow.”
Robin McGraw, wife of talk show host Dr. Phil, turned to Dauer for the surgery and went on record about it in 2020 after the transformation sparked plastic surgery rumors.
“It was crazy how it changed my face,” McGraw tells THR. “My brows finally became proportionate for my features. I blame it on my three older sisters. They played around with my brows and over-tweezed them. They were very far apart and thin. One had an arch way far to the left and the other one didn’t have any arch. I grew my bangs out to cover them. I’ve had bangs my entire life until now, and that’s why!”
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images; Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Some patients seek eyebrow transplants due to loss of hair due to alopecia, chemotherapy and scarring.
There’s also an uptick of men booking the surgery; Dauer says that his initial 9-to-1 female-to-male ratio has morphed to 7-to-3.
“Men’s brows start to thin from the outside in,” says Champagne. “It is aging when you lose hair in your brows, so it definitely can help you look more youthful.”
The process starts by designing a patient’s dream brows, something both Champagne and Dauer do themselves. “I literally draw it out with an eyebrow pencil, freehand,” says Dauer.
Other surgeons call on Hollywood brow gurus such as Anastasia Soare. “I’ve had clients come to me so that I can mark their perfect brow shape with my golden ratio shaping technique ahead of their implantation appointment,” says Soare, who has worked in tandem with Beverly Hills transplantation specialist Dr. Craig Ziering.
Kim Kardashian’s arched brows are often cited as a model by patients, say both Champagne and Dauer (who also says Megan Fox is frequently referenced).
Conducted under local anesthesia, the five-hour procedure ($8,000 to $20,000 in Beverly Hills, say the surgeons THR spoke to) involves transplanting an average of 250 hairs per brow, typically from a site on the back of the scalp, and inserting them one by one into the brow area. Recovery with minimal bruising and swelling takes a few days, then hairs shed within a month and begin growing back in three to four months. Full results can be expected within 10 months.
Since the new hairs come from the scalp, texture varies and growth outpaces existing brow hairs. “I trim my brows every two to three days,” says Good, “and if your hair’s curly, like mine, you have to train it to be more straight like brow hair.” For that, she uses Patrick Ta’s Major Brow Lamination Gel.
The angle of the implants is another part of the art. “I’ve refined it, so the hair lays as flat as possible against the skin,” says Champagne. If done incorrectly, he says that “the hair can stick straight out of the face, and the only way to get rid of it is to do laser hair removal or electrolysis.”
While there are many hair growth-promoting elixirs and treatments on the market — such as FDA-approved Latisse (which Dauer recommends) — none of them will grow new hair. “Those serums do work to some degree if you have hair there,” says Champagne. “But for those patients who over-tweezed and have never seen any growth, the only way to get more hair in the eyebrows is to transplant them.” Seconds Dauer, “Once the hair follicle is gone, it’s gone.”
This story first appeared in the July 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
