Shaping Eyebrows: Basic Tips for Beautiful Eyebrows in the Long Run
When it comes to shaping eyebrows, truth is you can only work with what you have. If you were blessed with thick, full eyebrows, you can pretty much create whatever shape you prefer. If not, you have to try to achieve the best shape possible that will compliment your features even after you take your makeup off.
After seeing many over-plucked eyebrows, the only advice I can give people is to be cautious. In absolutely every sense..
I'm personally not a fan of waxing; it might be a good alternative for men's eyebrow shaping, but it is terrible for sensitive, thin skin. Also, if it's done incorrectly, you can say bye-bye to beautiful brows for quite a while, and sometimes even permanently. Threading is a whole different story, but many people offering the service tend to get reckless while doing it because they're working too fast. Definitely inform yourself about whoever's offering the service before making an appointment.
The best tools you can have at home to shape your eyebrows are good quality tweezers, an eyebrow razor and eyebrow scissors.
Some of my favorites are:
- The good old Tweezerman Slant Tweezers - I must have at least 5 of these (tip: If you live in the U.S., I've seen them in Marshalls at a fraction of the price)
- Tweezerman Brow Shaping Scissors - very sharp and amaaaaazing at trimming eyebrow hairs
- Japonesque Touch Up Razor set or a more affordable alternative Tinkle Eyebrow Razor
Good tweezers can be seen as a lifetime investment and will get the job done better and faster.
Every time before I pluck an eyebrow hair I think to myself: Will I ever need this hair in a future eyebrow shape? 10, 30 years from now..? If so, I will use the razor; if not, I'll use the tweezers. Yes, I know that by razing off an eyebrow hair, it'll be back in a few days, but.. there will come a time when most of you will appreciate my advice. Most permanent makeup clients either have thin, sparse eyebrows or have been a result of the "Less is more 1990's Brows" fad. Keep in mind, while you can always take the hairs away, you cannot always grow them back.
Here's an example of eyebrow shaping. While I would make a slightly lower arch with permanent makeup, you have to work with whatever shape you have. She had very sparse hairs in the tail of the other eyebrow that's not shown. As a final touch, I have used a little bit of eyebrow gel to keep the hairs in place and an eyebrow pencil to fill in a few gaps, but more on that in another blog post.
The only time I would recommend working out of the shape of your eyebrows, or even just tweezing them off completely is when your natural eyebrows do not enhance and soften your features.
The best example I could find is:
Sviatoslav Otchenash is an amazing permanent makeup artist that can be found in Estonia.
As a last piece of advice, if you simply cannot or do not know how to shape your eyebrows, go see a professional. Keep the tools I've mentioned in the bathroom and check your eyebrows every few days to maintain the shape they've provided you with.
xo