Take the mystery out of your eyebrow shape! Follow these steps for perfectly shaped DIY brows
In a lot of ways, eyebrow shape is the great mystery of the face. We’re all mostly terrified of making some terrific eyebrow mistake, drawing weird looks for weeks or months until our mistake is corrected.
But knowing how to shape and maintain brows can be confusing – what should they look like? What’s the best shape for my face?
Professionals do a great job maintaining your brows, but trips to the salon or spa can add up. Is there a better way to master our eyebrows?
There is! Read on for my tips for your best DIY brows ever.
Let them be
If you’re recovering from an over-tweezing session, set them aside for a while. It can take weeks or even months for your brows to start to recover. Give them 6 – 8 weeks to come back to their natural state before you start to reshape them anew.
Find your eyebrow shape
To find the eyebrow shape that fits your face best, do a little measuring. Grab a brow pencil and hold it against the center of your nostril on one side of your face. Run the pencil straight up your face – it should hit close to the inside edge of your brow. Make a mark here. This center mark will help you keep a unibrow at bay.
Next, with the bottom of the pencil anchored at the nostril spot, sweep the pencil across your face, connecting a line between your nostril and the outside corner of your eye. Make a mark here – this will be the ideal end of your brow.
Lastly, align the pencil with your nostril and the iris of your eye. This mark is where the high point of your arch should hit. For a visual, I love the illustrations found at Paula’s Choice Skincare.
Repeat on the other side of your face. Voila.
Get ready to tweeze
The key to good eyebrow shaping is to be relatively pain-free. The best time for eyebrow work is after the shower – the heat softens the skin and the hair cuticle making it so less painful.
Before you start – remember, less is more! It’s a good idea to work slowly, pull a few hairs, and stand back and inspect. Better to leave too many hairs than take too many!
To pull hairs, grab with your tweezer as close to the skin as possible and pull in direction of growth. Hold the skin tight if you’re having trouble grabbing them with your tweezer or they hurt when plucking.
Shaping the brows
Once you have an idea of the technique, eyebrow shaping can begin. Start by cleaning up hairs under the natural line of your arch – following the line between the inside edge of your brow and the high part of your arch. Don’t over do it! Keep the fullness of your brow, taking only stray brows that disrupt the natural line.
Once that’s done, turn to the outside edge. Pluck hairs that extend past your outside mark and clean up under this outer edge of the brow, being careful not to let the eyebrow get too thin.
Don’t tweeze hairs on top of the eyebrow, unless they’re really out of line with the others. Lots of disastrous eyebrow shapes are formed by above the line tweezing – use with caution!
There you have it! Skip the spa and do your brows at home!