have also tried a similar creme product and although the convenience was great it would not activate and stain well and yes [SEP] works well for sparse eyebrows and helps stain skin where there are no hairs the longer you keep this on the darker this gets brown black if you have very sparse eyebrows though ie areas where there is really no hair the dye will not last more than days because it is on skin if you have a little hair then no worries dye will probably last for a week at least weeks highly unlikely have also tried a similar creme product and although the convenience was great it would not activate and stain well and yes i used chemical ie peroxide gel creme as specified the powder capsules can be opened and used in smaller amounts since you will not need a full capsule for each use so this is a very economical buy carefully open the capsule place the powder in the included grey cap or on one end of a plastic soup spoon easier to clean and mix with the creme that is how little you need