If you find yourself waiting for your eyebrows to grow out and the steps above aren’t enough, Madron has a couple more out-of-the-box ideas to help you love your look in the interim. Read more about waxing here. It’s basically a brow that has been plucked within an inch of its life, but only under the arches and at the ends, creating a comma-like effect. But you can achieve balance by filling in the eyebrow tail. “It’s a sin to shorten beautiful, long eyebrows,” says New York City brow groomer Joey Healy.

Grooming Your Eyebrows

See which ones tend to fall in line with the top of your eyebrow and which ones stand out in length. Use a pair of angled eyebrow scissors to carefully trim any outstanding hairs. Remember — you can always trim more later, but you can’t add more hair if you take away too much. Take your time and trim little by little, especially if you’re nervous. To prevent breakouts and pimples after waxing eyebrows, be sure to use the right pre and post-wax care on skin. It’s okay to continue using post-wax care even three days after waxing. Gently exfoliate the skin 24 hours after waxing and avoid going to the gym, performing activities that might cause chafing or irritation, and avoiding extreme sun exposure.

Ideally, it’ll be right after you take a shower; warm water opens your hair follicles and softens hairs, helping them slip out more easily. When you’re ready, here’s the easiest way to tweeze your eyebrows and achieve quality results. It may seem counterintuitive, but you should avoid using a magnifying mirror while plucking. The tool can make it look like there’s more hair to remove than there really is which can lead to over-plucking, says Streicher. Instead, use a regular mirror in a well-lit room — if you can’t see stray hairs under these conditions, neither can anyone else.

This double-ended brow brush from Healy’s product line has a spoolie brush on one side for combing your brows into place and an angled brush on the other for filling them in with makeup. Use the spoolie end to prep your brows for trimming. After you’ve trimmed up, use tweezers to nix any hairs that fall outside your brow map. Then, fill in with brow pencil or powder for a polished look.

Which Eyebrow Shape Is Best?

Inspired by this ancient principle of Divine Proportion, Anastasia recognized that the same formula could be applied directly to the human face to create aesthetic harmony. Believing that brows should be shaped according to an individual’s bone structure, Anastasia developed an eyebrow shaping technique based on the Golden Ratio. Every once in a while, however, you realize that your next wax appointment is just a smidge too far away, and there’s no way you’ll be able to snag a new appointment before your big date. That’s when it’s time to take matters into your own hands. We recommend leaving it to an eyebrow waxing or threading professional, but if you prefer to tackle them at home, Madron stresses the importance of good lighting. “You want to be in front of direct natural light if possible. Overhead lighting creates shadows, which obscure your view.”

While pencils and powders are great for enhancing your arches day to day, consider brow tinting for a more permanent solution. “It saves time in the morning since you don’t have to worry about adding definition with the right pencil or powder daily,” says Streicher. “You can just wake up and go.” But don’t try this at home! The safe way to color your arches, says Streicher, is with the help of a pro brow guru or colorist, who will likely use a semipermanent vegetable dye. Results last about three weeks; expect to pay anywhere from $15 to $50. A brow expert shares important tips, from where to pluck your eyebrows to how to reduce pain during and after the whole event. Once you have fully waxed the bottom, in between, and above your brows, use tweezers to pluck any stray hairs that are leftover from waxing.

If you’re using Bailey’s technique, the hairs outside of your “map” can go. He recommends using two hands to tweeze properly—hold the skin taut with one and gently remove a hair at a time by tweezing in the direction of growth. “This protects the follicle so the hair will grow back,” Bailey explains. Using brow serums with ingredients like peptides, castor oil, hyaluronic acid, and caffeine can help stimulate brow growth, contributing to thicker-looking brows. In order to make your brows look their best sans makeup, avoid touching your skin care products to your brows—otherwise, they may become weighed down. Each person’s “best” eyebrow shape depends on their face shape, features, natural brow shape, and more.

Tips

But if you have the patience, it can save you time and money compared to regular trips to the salon. To begin, use a small amount of wax and apply the wax under your eyebrow around the area you have mapped out. You can take off more hair, you can’t add it back, so be sparse in the beginning until you feel comfortable. The pre-wax gel included within your bundle in the kits mentioned above is going to be used now. Apply the gel with a cotton pad all over your brows and the skin between and around your brows . This step gives an added layer of cleansing to prep your skin, ensuring a good wax, and can help prevent some irritation and post-wax pimples.

“This will help ensure you don’t grab the wrong one and end up with a patch or a hole.” Realizing there was a glaring gap in the market, she began to offer brows as a separate service.

To find where the tail of your brow should end, take your brow pencil and hold it at the outer nostril, going to the corner of the eye and once again marking the spot with a line. All you need to take your brow grooming into your own hands is a pair of tweezers and a fine brow pencil to map out your shape. Line up the straight edge against the outside of your nostril and inside of your eye. Where the straight edge is, your eyebrow should begin. But as annoying as it can be, eyebrow maintenance is a must if you’re looking to achieve a certain type of polished beauty look. And with the help of regular trims, it’ll be much easier to keep unruly brows in check. Plucking your eyebrows in hopes of achieving that flawless, face-framing arch can be a tedious (and painful!) process.