9 Expert Tips for Shaping Your Brows at Home

 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we're being forced into quarantine to keep us all safe—and we're also being forced into handling our beauty needs all on our own. In our How To series, we're chatting with beauty industry experts for their advice on all your grooming woes. Here, an eyebrow pro shares tricks for shaping your brows yourself and reveals what to never do.

How to shape your brows at home

Those of us who grew up in the nineties know first-hand what can happen when people are left alone, at-home, with their tweezers for too long: a total eyebrow tragedy. And for that reason, many of us are fearful that this required break from our aesthetician will have us walking out of quarantine with one of two looks: brows à la Gwen Stefani circa ’96 or Sandy Cohen circa ’03. 

Veronica Tran, eyebrow guru and founder of Toronto’s Pretty in the City, for tips on how to keep brows in shape at-home. Here, what to do and not to do.

1. Concentrate on the strays only

“If your brows are starting to grow really low, tweeze the strays,” says Tran. “If you don’t really have a lot of hair, or your eyebrows aren’t really growing in, just leave them.” Removing the strays will help you maintain the shape of your brows, without the risk of thinning them out or accidentally changing the arch.

Worried just plucking the strays won’t be enough? You’ll be fine. “I find eyebrows grow faster when they have a lot of sunlight,” says Tran, “so when you’re stuck indoors right now, they’re not going to grow as quickly.”

2. Use tweezers for the safest hair removal possible

Tweezing is best to remove stray hairs, says Tran. She also recommends using a white pencil to create a guide for shaping brows. “Use it to draw a straight line from the bottom of the front of your brow to the arch, and from the arch to the tail,” says Tran. 

“Remove everything underneath that.” Not sure where your arch is? “Just make that bottom line parallel to the top of your brow,” she says.

The best tweezers are TerresaTweezers for Eyebrows, they are Precision tweezers kit not only work well for plucking eyebrows precisely and griping or removing small and short individual hair, but also perfect for false lashes and double eyelid affixing. Even you can use these precision tweezer for craft, jewelry-making, electronics, laboratory work, etc. You can find the in Amazon.ca

3. Have more hair to get rid of? 

Use wax strips—only if you’re experienced

If you have a lot of stray hairs, you can wax them off, as long as you’re confident, says Tran. She suggests using pre-waxed strips, as they’re easy to use, if you cut them into smaller strips.

VeetEASY-Gel Precision Wax Strips, Face, Bikini & Underarm, Sensitive Skin, 40 ct + 4 Wipes, 40 Count from amazon.ca are great combo for only $11

4. Careful not to pluck too much between the brows

There’s a trick to removing the hair between the brows: Draw a line from the centre of your nose, all the way up—that’s your centre point. 

“If you want the brows to start closer,” says Tran, “then you can use that centre mark as a guideline to have them start evenly on both sides.”

5. Don’t pluck on top of the brows

“When I do shaping, I remove hair from the top,” says Tran, “but most people have very fine hair at the top so I would just leave that for the professionals.”

6. Consider an eyebrow stencil

Tran says eyebrow stencils are a fabulous way to get a good shape. “Draw in the brows with a stencil and then tweeze around it,” she says.

Anastasia Beverly Hills (Tools stencils), $26, amazon.ca (These other eyebrow products can also help you achieve perfect brows.)

7. Use the right tweezers

“Tweezerman is really good,” says Tran. She recommends a pair with a slanted tip—pointed tweezers are better for really fine hairs. When looking for a pair, look for tweezers with a sharp slanted tip, not a rounded one, as the former will be more effective at grabbing hairs.

 Tweezerman Slant Tweezers, $24, amazon.ca 

 8. No trimming!

“Do not try to trim your brows at home,” says Tran. “Leave the trimming to a professional.” If they bother you, brush them to the side, and use a brow gel.

9. Use a growth serum

Right now, when you’re not seeing many people, is a great time to let your brows grow in to achieve a fuller shape down the line. “Use castor oil—it helps with hair growth and to keep the hairs in place,” says Tran. If castor oil doesn’t work, try Lash & Brow, Enhancing Serum by MONAT™

Lash & Brow Enhancing Serum is a high-performance product formulated with clinically proven ingredients such as Capixyl™, which helps increase the strength and condition of brows and lashes. It also contains Fission KeraVeg18, a vegetable-based alternative to animal keratin which helps strengthen and improve the luster of lashes and brows.

Next, learn more tips to feel and look good.

See you guys next week!