With big-name clients such as the Kardashians, Lucy Hale, and Zendaya, it’s no surprise Kelley Baker has become a household name in beauty. The brow queen also boasts a loyal fanbase of non-celebrity clients who travel far and wide to her salon—some driving from three hours away for monthly brow appointments and others even visiting from out-of-state once a year during summer vacation. We chatted with Kelley about her famed technique, her product line, and her unwavering belief that no eyebrow is unfixable.
What’s your number one piece of brow care advice?
“I would suggest for people to definitely always see a professional before they start to do anything to their brows. A lot of people don’t realize that there’s a method to the madness, so come in and let us take care of you.”
What’s the most common mistake you see people make when doing their own brows?
“I would say probably filling them in too dark and using the wrong products. I have a product line and I’ve made it really easy for everyone to be able to do their own brows, which is so important to be able to go home and do it yourself.”
Do you have a favorite product from your line?
“It’s called the Three Bee Kit. It has a highlighter pencil, a brush, and a brow pencil. The highlighter pencil we use underneath your brows to lift them and make them look more defined, and then the defining pencil just makes them look even more perfect and fills them in wherever you have holes. I’ve put them all together so you’re not missing any of the tools, and the colours are so simple that you’ll never mess up. Our products are now in 300 salons.
I also have my own tweezers and they’re really nice. It’s funny because you know tweezers are good when someone’s boyfriend or husband steals them, and all of my clients—if they have a boyfriend or a husband—always have theirs stolen. Good tweezers are always important. Mine have a little slant on the side which makes it easy to not poke yourself or break the hair.”
Can you walk me through your brow styling technique?
“The first step of what I do is brush through the hair—I’m brushing them up and then I’m trimming any of the long brow hairs that are poking out. Then next we’ll wax—waxing is nice because it gets all the little baby hairs. You know, there’s always myths to every beauty treatment you do—waxing is my personal favorite because it just gets them nice and clean.”
How often do you recommend clients come in to get their brows done?
“Typically once a month. I have clients come anywhere from every two weeks to six weeks, depending on where they live and stuff. We have clients that drive from three hours away to get their brows done. I just had a family come in that comes once a year from Oklahoma for summer vacation—[they’ve been coming] for five years.”
Is there a favourite brow transformation you’ve done that comes to mind?
“I had one lady come in who had the tiniest, littlest brows—there was like nothing there—and even just softening the piece of hair that she had left and then showing her how to fill them in was such a drastic change. She still comes back in just for me to fix that one little tiny piece! When she first came in I was like, ‘Oh my god, what am I supposed to do with that?’ But you just have to do something, and that’s my one thing that I say to everyone—there’s always something you can do. Even if there’s a tiny bit, you can trim them, you can tweeze a few, you can always soften them and make them more even.”
Biggest career highlight so far?
“I think the celebrity part of it and the fact that now people just call and request for me to come is the coolest. You know, they literally just call the salon—I don’t have to reach out at all. But I used to always say, ‘One day I’ll do everyone, they’re all going to want to their brows done. One day I’m going to do the Kardashians…’ and now I do!”
You can purchase the Three Bee Kit and other Kelley Baker Brows products at Lac + Beauty (162 Davenport Rd, Toronto) and online at kelleybakerbrows.com.