Eyebrow
Finding Your Brow Shape
To determine exactly where your brow should begin, hold a makeup brush or a pencil straight up and down against one nostril. Where the pencil lands by your brow is where it should begin. The brow should end a little past your eye (if it grows down too far it will drag your eyes down). If you have a natural arch, work with it. If you need to create one, look into your eyes. The arch of your eyebrow should fall directly above the outside of your iris. Using an eyebrow pencil, fill in the brow area that you want to preserve so you can pluck outside the edges.
Begin tweezing from underneath the brow, removing one hair at a time from the inside of the brow to the outside. If part of your brow is thin enough already, do not pluck that area. Pull hairs in the direction in which they grow. Next, using a small brush, brush your brows upward. If they are too long, trim them very conservatively, cutting only a tiny amount at a time.
Once your brows are well shaped, you can use a variety of products to enhance them or fill them in as needed. Check out brow fixers, tinted brow gels, brow powders and brow pencils.
Shaping the Brows
Like nail shape, the shape of your brows depends on your personal preference, but keep in mind that your eyebrows can affect your whole expression. In general, the beginning of the brow should be aligned with the center of the nostril below it and extend a bit past the outer corner of the eye. The arch should fall over the outside third of the eye. Tweezing too far in from the inner edge of the eyebrow will make your eyes look smaller; plucking too much from the bottom will make you look perpetually surprised. If you have doubts, leave the hair unplucked. Be sure to tweeze in the direction that the hair grows and pluck only one hair at a time. Proceed with caution! Eyebrow hair grows back slowly.
There are ways to reduce the pain and irritation that result from tweezing. Take a hot shower before tweezing, or hold a warm washcloth on the area. But whatever you do, don't numb the area with ice: Cooling the area closes the pores, making it more difficult to remove the hair and causing more pain. When you're finished, wipe the tweezed area with a cotton ball soaked with astringent to prevent infection.
Keeping Eyebrows Groomed
Though many people shape their eyebrows by waxing or threading, the drawback is the wait between visits to the salon. It's for this reason that most women tweeze their brows themselves. If you haven't shaped your brows before, it's a good idea to have a technician start you on the right path. A professional can wax your brow to give it a good shape, then you can maintain that shape by tweezing on your own. If this doesn't appeal to you, electrolysis is a great way to eliminate the need to tweeze your brows (though this requires extra time and money).
Shaping your eyebrows correctly is important because it can change your facial expression. Though the shape is up to you, it's best to stay as natural as possible. In general, the beginning of the brow should be aligned with the center of the nostril below it and should extend a bit past the outer corner of the eye. The arch should fall over the outer third of the eye. Tweezing too far in from the inner edge of the eyebrow will make your eyes look smaller; plucking too much from the bottom will make you look perpetually surprised. If you have doubts, leave the hair unplucked. Be sure to tweeze in the direction that the hair grows and pluck only one hair at a time. Proceed with caution! Eyebrow hair grows back slowly.
Threading is an ancient form of hair removal from India and the Middle East that's being rediscovered today. The threader loops a cotton thread around the hair to be removed, twists it, then pulls the hair from the follicle. The procedure is commonly used on facial hair. The amount of pain experienced is similar to that of tweezing.
Grooming Brows at Home
Whether you spend four or 40 minutes on your makeup, well-groomed brows are the difference between looking okay and looking fabulous. A well-shaped brow can lift and open your eyes, making you look younger, more sophisticated and more rested. If your brows are truly unruly, splurge and get them done by a professional, then be diligent about removing new growth to maintain the shape.
To reshape your brows yourself you'll need about 40 minutes. Don't rush. Once you pluck a hair, it takes a long time to grow back. Here are the tools you'll need:
- A large mirror near a window (natural light will allow you to see each brow hair clearly).
- A good pair of tweezers. (We love Revlon's slanted/rounded angle tweezers or anything from Tweezerman.)
Grooming scissors.
- A small brush (either a baby toothbrush or an old mascara wand that's been cleaned will do).
Remember, less is more. You can always go back and pluck again. Before you pluck, determine what your best shape is. In many cases, nature has already given you an arch that will become more obvious when you remove hairs along the bottom of the brow. Don't try to copy someone else's brow -- work with what you have.
To determine exactly where your brow should begin, hold a makeup brush or a pencil straight up and down against one nostril. Where the pencil lands by your brow is where it should begin. The brow should end a little past your eye (if it grows down too far it will drag your eyes down). If you have a natural arch, work with it. If you need to create one, look into your eyes. The arch of your eyebrow should fall directly above the outside of your iris. Using an eyebrow pencil, fill in the brow area that you want to preserve so you can pluck outside the edges.
Begin tweezing from underneath the brow, removing one hair at a time from the inside of the brow to the outside. If part of your brow is thin enough already, do not pluck that area. Pull hairs in the direction in which they grow. Next, using a small brush, brush your brows upward. If they are too long, trim them very conservatively, cutting only a tiny amount at a time.
Once your brows are well shaped, you can use a variety of products to enhance them or fill them in as needed. Check out brow fixers, tinted brow gels, brow powders and brow pencils.
Shaping the Brows
Like nail shape, the shape of your brows depends on your personal preference, but keep in mind that your eyebrows can affect your whole expression. In general, the beginning of the brow should be aligned with the center of the nostril below it and extend a bit past the outer corner of the eye. The arch should fall over the outside third of the eye. Tweezing too far in from the inner edge of the eyebrow will make your eyes look smaller; plucking too much from the bottom will make you look perpetually surprised. If you have doubts, leave the hair unplucked. Be sure to tweeze in the direction that the hair grows and pluck only one hair at a time. Proceed with caution! Eyebrow hair grows back slowly.
There are ways to reduce the pain and irritation that result from tweezing. Take a hot shower before tweezing, or hold a warm washcloth on the area. But whatever you do, don't numb the area with ice: Cooling the area closes the pores, making it more difficult to remove the hair and causing more pain. When you're finished, wipe the tweezed area with a cotton ball soaked with astringent to prevent infection.
Keeping Eyebrows Groomed
Though many people shape their eyebrows by waxing or threading, the drawback is the wait between visits to the salon. It's for this reason that most women tweeze their brows themselves. If you haven't shaped your brows before, it's a good idea to have a technician start you on the right path. A professional can wax your brow to give it a good shape, then you can maintain that shape by tweezing on your own. If this doesn't appeal to you, electrolysis is a great way to eliminate the need to tweeze your brows (though this requires extra time and money).
Shaping your eyebrows correctly is important because it can change your facial expression. Though the shape is up to you, it's best to stay as natural as possible. In general, the beginning of the brow should be aligned with the center of the nostril below it and should extend a bit past the outer corner of the eye. The arch should fall over the outer third of the eye. Tweezing too far in from the inner edge of the eyebrow will make your eyes look smaller; plucking too much from the bottom will make you look perpetually surprised. If you have doubts, leave the hair unplucked. Be sure to tweeze in the direction that the hair grows and pluck only one hair at a time. Proceed with caution! Eyebrow hair grows back slowly.
Threading is an ancient form of hair removal from India and the Middle East that's being rediscovered today. The threader loops a cotton thread around the hair to be removed, twists it, then pulls the hair from the follicle. The procedure is commonly used on facial hair. The amount of pain experienced is similar to that of tweezing.
Grooming Brows at Home
Whether you spend four or 40 minutes on your makeup, well-groomed brows are the difference between looking okay and looking fabulous. A well-shaped brow can lift and open your eyes, making you look younger, more sophisticated and more rested. If your brows are truly unruly, splurge and get them done by a professional, then be diligent about removing new growth to maintain the shape.
To reshape your brows yourself you'll need about 40 minutes. Don't rush. Once you pluck a hair, it takes a long time to grow back. Here are the tools you'll need:
- A large mirror near a window (natural light will allow you to see each brow hair clearly).
- A good pair of tweezers. (We love Revlon's slanted/rounded angle tweezers or anything from Tweezerman.)
Grooming scissors.
- A small brush (either a baby toothbrush or an old mascara wand that's been cleaned will do).
Remember, less is more. You can always go back and pluck again. Before you pluck, determine what your best shape is. In many cases, nature has already given you an arch that will become more obvious when you remove hairs along the bottom of the brow. Don't try to copy someone else's brow -- work with what you have.