Eyebrow Hair Loss: Causes and Treatments

November 02, 2021 • Emily LaCroix

Eyebrow trends have changed a lot over the past couple of decades. Where thin, arched brows used to reign supreme on the red carpet, now nearly every starlet smolders at the camera from beneath bold, full brows.

And while there is a long list of products you can use to enhance and complement your natural eyebrows to coax them into the shape you prefer, it can be really frustrating if you feel like your eyebrows aren’t bringing their A-Game naturally and forcing you to do a lot more work than you’d like to do to get them to their full glory.

As we age, it’s not uncommon for our hair to thin, and not just on our heads—your eyebrows and eyelashes can be affected too. There are also a number of other factors that can contribute to eyebrow hair loss. But the bottom line is, you don’t have to live with it. There are many different ways to address eyebrow hair loss, but first, let’s talk about what causes it in the first place.

What Causes Eyebrow Hair Loss?

Like we said, the most common cause of hair loss to your eyebrows is simply aging. They haven’t found a solution to that, unfortunately, although there are things you can do to help improve the appearance of your natural brows. More on that later!

Another common cause of eyebrow hair loss is hormonal imbalance. Conditions like hyperthyroidism can cause the body to either create too much or not enough thyroid hormone, and an imbalance in this area is connected to eyebrow hair loss. If you notice your eyebrows thinning or not growing toward the outer edge of your eyebrow particularly, you may want to have your thyroid checked!

Autoimmune conditions are another big culprit when it comes to eyebrow hair loss. Autoimmune conditions occur when the immune system starts attacking the body’s own cells rather than dangerous invaders—and if your immune system attacks cells related to hair growth, your hair can start to thin. There are also a few genetic conditions that can lead to eyebrow hair loss, so if you’re really struggling, speak to your doctor!

If you have any other conditions for which you take medication, and you’re finding your brows dwindling, it might be worth looking into whether your eyebrow hair loss is a side effect of a medication. While losing your eyebrows certainly shouldn’t be prioritized over your health, if you think medication might be the cause and you’re unhappy with the side effects, it may help to speak to a doctor about alternatives.

Unsurprisingly, many skin conditions also contribute to eyebrow hair loss—your follicles are part of your skin, and so if your skin is struggling, your hair growth may struggle, too. If you notice dryness, flaking, inflammation, or itching around your brows and you’re suffering from eyebrow hair loss, speak to your doctor or dermatologist! Conditions like psoriasis and dermatitis can be frustrating, lingering conditions, but they are treatable!

The last suspect if you’re losing hair loss is an obvious one: nutritional deficiencies. There are so many things that factor in when it comes to balancing your diet, it’s easy to lose track and inadvertently miss out on some things that you need to be wholly healthy.

If you can’t connect your eyebrow hair loss to anything else, think about your consumption of fatty acids, biotin, and zinc. A deficiency in any of these areas can lead to your body being too deprived of nutrients to grow hair as fully and healthily as it otherwise would.

Can You Avoid Eyebrow Hair Loss?

A lot of the possible causes we mentioned for eyebrow hair loss aren’t necessarily avoidable. But there are things you can do to make sure your eyebrows are as healthy as possible, which may lessen the likelihood that you struggle with brow hair loss in the future.

The main thing to keep in mind is that although it can seem necessary to maintain your brows, plucking, waxing, or otherwise removing hair from your eyebrows can actually damage your hair follicles or cause inflammation, and this may make the follicles less able to produce hair.

But don’t worry; this doesn’t mean you have to completely let them run wild. You can still groom your brows, just treat them with care!

Make sure to properly prepare before grooming your brows and to moisturize and be gentle with them afterward. When in doubt, it’s always worth seeing a professional who will definitely know how to treat your brows with care.

What Can You Do About Eyebrow Hair Loss?

If you’re past the point of prevention and are looking to fix eyebrow hair loss, you have a few options. It is, however, useful to know the exact cause of your eyebrow hair loss so that you know you’re treating the correct problem, and not ignoring something that could potentially be connected to a more serious condition.

If you speak to your doctor about your eyebrow hair loss, they may prescribe either a prescription eyebrow serum or a more common hormone-mediating hair regrowth medication. There are other options as well—but we’ll leave this to be between you and a professional!

If you think diet may be to blame, seeing to any deficiencies might be a great place to start! Look for supplements that provide omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Biotin is also a great supplement to work into your routine if you’re worried about any kind of hair.

If your eyebrow hair loss is simply the result of over-plucking, or you have just plucked and waxed your eyebrows within an inch of their life so that the follicles are no longer as forgiving as they once were, to an extent, you just need to be patient!

But if you want to help your eyebrows along in their regrowth journey, working our Brow Enhancement Serum into your routine can give your brows the boost of vitamins and amino acids they need to get back into formation.

How Do You Fill Your Brows in the Meantime?

If you’re waiting for a treatment to work, or you’d rather just leave your brows to do what they’ll do, there are so many makeup options to help you get your brows to look fluffy and full—even if they’re the thinnest they have ever been. We’d recommend using TatBrow Microblade Pen in one or two shades lighter than your natural brow color to add some natural-looking hair strokes.

You can go in with more detail, if you’re going for a more structured look, with a Micro Precision Pen, and finish off the look with some Ultra Hold Brow Gel to set your hair work and keep your bold brows from budging.

In Conclusion

If you’re experiencing eyebrow hair loss, it could be the result of many things, including a totally normal result of aging. It’s definitely worth speaking to your doctor about if it’s bothering you, not least because it could be a symptom of a larger medical issue, although of course eyebrow hair loss in and of itself is never medically dangerous.

If you’re waiting for a treatment to take effect, or just want to rock your brows as they are, there are many different options for helping to fill in your brows and get a look as bold as you like!