We’re sure you’re familiar with the different types of eyebrow grooming techniques. Still, there was a time when it was pretty rare to hear of anyone doing anything other than tweezing their brows. Microblading was a thing of the future and waxing your brows still wasn’t very popular. Almost everyone relied on tweezing to get their brows looking on point.
Here at TatBrow, we love the idea of going back to tweezers. It might be a bit more time-consuming, but it really does offer you more control over what you’re doing. Plus, you don’t have to stress about having someone else messing your brows up.
Getting your brows done at a salon can be worth it, but that’s only if you find a good technician you trust, and that’s not always the easiest thing to do. Not to mention, it’s more $$$ down the drain.
Supplies Needed
The supplies you’ll need to get in a good at-home brow pluck are super straightforward. You’ll need good tweezers, a nice mirror, eyebrow scissors, a dark eyeliner pencil, and a white eyeliner pencil.
You want a solid pair of tweezers. The last thing you want is for your tweezers to miss hairs or break them off before you can pull them out at the root. Having a good pair of tweezers will make a world of difference.
A good mirror is important too. It’s key that you can see what you’re doing very clearly. If you have a vanity with lights, then you will be good to go.
The eyebrow scissors will only be needed if you think your brow hairs are on the longer side and need a good trim, but if not, you can skip this step.
Both eyeliner pencils are crucial as they both have to do with getting the right brow shape and making sure you don’t overpluck. Overplucking your brows is everyone’s worst nightmare. Still, there is really no reason to suffer through that when you have so many techniques and resources to help you avoid it.
Find Your Brow Shape
Knowing your brow shape is a crucial step to having perfect brows. It’s a step that many people skip; they just assume that the way they’ve been plucking their brows their whole life is the right way. Well, sometimes a change is good!
Finding your brow shape definitely isn’t a difficult task; all you need is a makeup brush and eyeliner pencil.
- Start with placing the pencil on the side of your nose, then pointing the pencil at an angle, so it’s no longer in the eye area. Wherever the pencil edge hits the brow line is where your starting point is.
- To find your arch, you’ll want to keep the pencil pressed to the side of your nose, but now angle the tip of it straight across your eye. Wherever the pencil tip lands is where your arch should be. Make sure to mark each area well, so you don’t forget.
- To find the tail, place the pencil at the edge of your nose and point the pencil across the bottom of the eye. The pencil should run right along the lower lash line. Wherever the pencil lands is where the tail of your brow should end.
After you’ve found your perfect brow shape, you must go over each area you’ve marked and mark it a little better. You want to make sure you have a clear map to follow. Nobody wants to deal with over-plucked brows, right?
Pull Your Hair Back
You don’t want any strays or baby hairs getting in the way of your new beautiful brows. Make sure you pin your hair back away from your face.
Trim Your Brows
Now it’s time to get into the fun stuff; let’s dive in! The first thing you want to do is to trim your brows if you feel it’s necessary.
Yes, everyone’s brows get a little bushy, but some people’s brow hairs can grow extremely long. If you don’t cut them down to a normal length, it can leave your brows looking wonky no matter how much you pluck them.
- Take an eyebrow or makeup spoolie and comb all your brow hairs straight up.
- Use a pair of small scissors or (preferably) eyebrow scissors, and trim all the hairs pointing up.
You must be careful during this step because you don’t want to take off a huge chunk of your brows. However, we don’t think it’s a step that should be skipped either. It might seem a bit nerve-racking at first, but trust us, it’s much easier than it sounds.
Get Your Face Clean
No matter what you’re doing with your face, you should ensure it’s nice and clean beforehand. If your face has a day’s worth of dirt and bacteria on it, the last thing you want is to spread all around your hands, neck, and the rest of your body. Plus, a dirty and oily face can cause unwanted acne and blemishes.
First, you can wash your face with soap and cold water; this wash is to get your skin squeaky clean, but for the second rinse, you’ll want to use no soap and lukewarm water.
The warm water will relax the face and help loosen up the hair follicles, helping with the removal process. Make sure you pat dry your face to remove any moisture that could cause your tweezers to slip around.
Mark the Hairs You Want To Remove
This hack is great at making sure you don’t overpluck or miss any hairs.
You want to take a white eyeliner pencil and mark the top and bottoms of the brow. Make sure you get all the hairs you want to pluck. We know this step might seem a bit unnecessary but trust us, you’ll thank us later.
Start With Your Arches
Starting with the arch will ensure your shape will turn out strong and noticeable. Make sure you pull the skin back tight before going in with your tweezers; loose skin can easily get pinched.
You can start with the thicker dark hairs first and worry about the thinner ones later on. You can go back over your brows as much as you want. They’ll rarely look perfect on the first try.
The Top Brow
This is where a lot of the mistakes are made. Suppose you see someone with over-plucked brows nowadays. In that case, it’s probably because they overdid it when they were plucking their top brow.
The top brow traditionally won’t get too overgrown, so you shouldn’t have to give it too much attention during this process. Of course, there are probably a few sparse hairs that need to go, but don’t expect a majority of your time to be spent on the top brow.
In the Middle
Ahhh, the unibrow, one of the most annoying things when it comes to your brows. If you have thick dark hair, you know the struggle of the unibrow and how annoying it can get, constantly plucking and shaving it.
Make sure you take your time on this section. We know it can feel a bit overwhelming when you see all those hairs, but stay patient.
Using a tweezer for this part is suggested as it offers you a lot more control. Still, if you feel like ditching the plucking and using a precision eyebrow razor instead, then we say go for it. It’ll make this part of the process go much quicker.
Just take your time. Razors are great, but they definitely don’t offer you as much precision as tweezers do. It’s much easier to make a mistake.
Zoom Out
Before you do any more tweezing, we suggest taking a step back and seeing how everything looks. You want to make sure your brows are still the same shapes and that they aren’t looking too thin. This will help you see any hairs you’ve missed you sections you want to go back over.
Final Clean Up
Now that you can clearly see what has to be done to get your brows looking perfect, you’ll want to go through the last final tweezes.
Make sure you remove any hairs that make your brows look a little wonky or uneven, and go ahead and pluck all those super thin tiny hairs you missed before.
Admire Your Work
Now that you’ve spent a good 20 mins plucking your brows, it’s time to wipe away any tears you shed and admire your work. Your new brows probably look killer, and we bet you’re just itching to do your makeup tomorrow. Nothing looks better than freshly plucked filled in brows.
Don’t forget to finish everything off with some of our Ultra Defining Brow Gel or the Ultra Hold Brow Gel!
Safety Tips for Tweezing Your Brows
While tweezing might not be the most comfortable form of eyebrow grooming, it is one of the most effective. Tweezing your hair removes it at the root, which prevents the hair from growing back up to six weeks.
We never want you to think that just because tweezing can be a bit painful, it isn’t safe to do. Of course, like any form of hair removal, there are certain precautions you should always take.
Here are a few helpful tips and tricks that will keep your brows and skin safe during your plucking process.
Leave Broken Hairs
If you notice a few hairs broke off before you were able to remove them from the root, then we suggest leaving them until they’re long enough to easily tweeze out. Digging out or picking at these hairs can cause irritation or infection.
Sterilize Your Tweezers
It’s a good idea to take a few minutes to sterilize your tweezers before you start. This will prevent any unwanted irritation or infections from starting.
Follow the Grain of the Hair
You want to pluck your eyebrow hair at an angle, always going with the grain of the hair as opposed to against it. This will reduce the chances of ingrown hairs, and breakage. It is possibly less damaging to the hair follicles as well.
It’s important to remember that tweezing isn’t a permanent fix like laser hair removal. The hairs will definitely grow back, and most likely at different paces. It’s always a good idea to keep up with random hairs so they don’t get out of hand.
Yes, plucked hairs should take around six weeks to grow back completely, but we suggest you take a tweezer to the brow area at least once a week. This will keep your brows looking on point and extra groomed at all times.
In Conclusion
While sometimes you’re trying to grow your brows thicker, there are other times you’re ready to groom them down to your desired shape and style. Have thick and full brows is one thing, but you don’t want them to look totally wild and overgrown. You can definitely have healthy eyebrows while keeping them clean-cut and professional-looking.
There are so many forms of eyebrow grooming nowadays. Microblading and waxing are the two most popular, but we think that tweezing is totally underrated. It’s simple, easy, and way cheaper than your alternatives.
Yes, it can be a bit uncomfortable, but so are most things that have to do with hair removal. We think a little bit of discomfort is a small price to pay for having on-point brows.
Sources:
How to Pluck Eyebrows- Professional Tips & Techniques | Byrdie
Eyebrow shapes: How to find your eyebrow shape | Good Housekeeping