9 Expert Tips for Shaping Your Brows at Home
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.
So we reached out to 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.
(Related: How to give yourself a spa-worthy at-home facial.)
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 plucking only 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.
(Also, here’s how to trim your hair at home.)
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.
Veet Wax Strips Sensitive Formula (20-pack), $9, walmart.ca
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.”
(Related: How to touch up your roots at home.)
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 great way to get a good shape. “Draw in the brows with a stencil and then tweeze around it,” she says.
Anastasia Beverly Hills, Classic Stencils (set of 5), $27, sephora.com
(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 shopping 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, $27, 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 Revitalash.
RevitaLash RevitaBrow Advanced Eyebrow Conditioner, $58, nordstrom.com
Next, learn about the noninvasive eyebrow procedure that’ll give you perfect brows.
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