Plucking your eyebrows can be irritating, annoying and a pain, but well-shaped brows are key to pulling your whole look together. Here are a few tips and tricks to make this nuisance chore a little less annoying.
What You’ll Need
1. A good pair of slanted tweezers (I swear by Tweezerman slanted tweezers — they are hands down the best)
2. Ice to help numb the area if you’re afraid of pain
3. Great lighting and a magnifying mirror
4. Eyebrow brush
5. Hairspray or brow gel to keep eyebrows in place
How-To’s
Once you have all of your must-have’s in hand, you can begin plucking your brows. The number one mistake most women make when shaping their eyebrows is overplucking. Be very careful to only tweeze what you need to; if you overpluck, the hair may not grow back quickly if at all. To play it safe, err on the side of caution and underpluck. You can always go back later and get any stray hairs you missed.
To numb the area, apply ice to the eyebrow you’ll be working on first. I’ve found that by wrapping an ice cube in a paper towel or washcloth, you can numb the area enough to where you won’t feel much but a dull pain.
To begin plucking, grab hair in the direction of growth and don’t grab too many hairs at a time. The magnifying mirror and good lighting can help you see exactly where you need to pluck. If you hold your skin taut while you pluck, the hairs will come out much easier.
If you’ve ever heard that you shouldn’t tweeze the top of your brows, ignore that advice! It’s a complete myth, and brows should be tweezed from both the top and bottom to look complete. Be careful, though, and check your progress every few minutes to make sure you’re not overplucking.
Continue plucking until you are satisfied with how your eyebrows look. Remember, brows should have a slight arch to them. If you aren’t sure where your arch should be, place a makeup brush or a pencil parallel to the colored part of your eye. Your arch should be where the pencil meets your eyebrow.
If you Over-Pluck
Even the most careful plucking can result in sparse brows. If this happens to you, use a coordinating brow pencil and make short strokes from the outer edge of brows inwards to fill in missing spots. To soften the harshness of the brow pencil, use your fingers to blend in the color and create the look of a uniform brow.
To finish the look apply a dab of brow gel or hairspray to help your brows stay in place all day.
While plucking your brows may be a chore, these tips should help you make this dreaded activity a lot less painful and annoying. Well groomed brows are the key to your entire look, so make sure you keep your eyebrows plucked to perfection with this handy guide.
Do you have any tips to make brow plucking less of a chore? Share them in the comments!