Hoshi Studio

34 🎈

This year marks 10 years since my last back surgery.

I’ve been thinking a lot about everything that’s happened over the last decade.

There have been surgeries, injuries, rehab, nerve issues in my hands, sprains, strains and more setbacks than I can count.

At the same time, my career has grown into something I never imagined. I’ve had the opportunity to teach, speak, travel, and dedicate myself to becoming better at my craft and bringing value and support to my friends and colleagues.

I’ve also spent the last two years trying to navigate the declining health and long term care of a parent, and anyone who’s been through something like that knows how consuming it can be.

Life has felt heavy for a really, really long time.

Through all of it, I’ve kept coming back to my love of movement.

It’s where I’ve worked through frustration, celebrated progress, met some of my favorite people, and remembered that there’s always something worth working toward.

And truly what I’m most proud of is finally feeling like I’ve found a sustainable way to train. It took literal years of outrageously frustrating trial and error.

Learning to listen to my body, getting re-injured, changing my approach, and accepting that I couldn’t keep doing things the way I always had. That process changed me as much as the injuries did.

Emily Rausch | Injury Rehab for Pole Dancers was a major part of that process and I’ll scream her name from the mountaintops for the rest of my life.

Ten years ago I was trying to figure out what my body would let me do.

Today I’m able to plan what I want to learn next and know that I can achieve it.

That feels like a pretty good way to celebrate turning 34.

Boy Brows 💪🏼

Men are the hardest clients to show healed results on because if I’ve done my job properly, you shouldn’t really notice the work.

Male brows are restorative.

The intention isn’t to make them look styled or overly groomed. It’s to replace density that’s been lost over time and restore some of the structure that helps frame the face.

Most people wouldn’t see him and think, “He had his eyebrows tattooed.”

They’d just think he looks a little more rested, or notice that something looks better without being able to put their finger on exactly what changed.

To me, that’s the most successful kind of result.

Also, a huge thank you to my husband for letting me tattoo him over and over again for the last 12 years. He’s been my most patient model, and a lot of the techniques I use today were refined because he trusted me enough to be my guinea pig so many times. 🖤

Fresh off the 💉

Shading VS Hair Strokes

Most people think the only way to recreate missing brow hair is with hair strokes.

I don’t. 🙈

Hair strokes have their place, but I don’t believe a few tattooed lines are enough to convincingly replace large sections of completely hairless skin.

This client had no brow hair from her arch to her tail.

This is exactly where soft shading shines.

Instead of trying to imitate individual hairs, I’m recreating the visual density that was lost. The result is a brow that looks fuller, softer, and far more believable, both immediately after and once healed.

Shading gave me the ability to rebuild that entire section with soft, believable density that blends seamlessly into her natural brow. Not by pretending there are hairs where there aren’t, but by recreating the illusion of fullness.

This is exactly why I reach for shading in cases like this.

It isn’t just capable of filling sparse areas. It can completely transform a brow. 😉