By Lucy Zender, creator and founder of Tweezerfile
There’s no question that eyebrows have become an obsession over recent years. Indeed, it seems beauty-conscious women cannot be seen out without the perfect brow.
A little harder two lockdowns in and with access to beauty professionals having been limited in between times. So, perhaps your brows are out of control or you just want to keep them as neat as possible until you can next get to an appointment.
Whatever your motivation, if you’re planning to do a DIY eyebrow tidy, you want to do it right and ensure you get the perfect brow. Here are my top tips for getting flawless eyebrows in the comfort of your own home.
Your equipment:
- Tweezers – If your eyebrows are particularly thick, I suggest you use straight tip tweezers, as they give a good firm grip, allowing you to grab more hair and remove it faster. If you need precision plucking, have to hand some pointed tip tweezers. Make sure all your tweezers are sharp – you’ll get a much better result, a lot more easily.
- Eyebrow pencils – Choose good quality but don’t be tempted to spend a fortune.
- Eyebrow scissors – If you are planning to trim your eyebrows get scissors specifically designed for the job. They should be thin with sharp blades.
- Eyebrow brush – If you don’t have one, a clean mascara brush or even a toothbrush can be used.
Photo by Pesce Huang on Unsplash
Before you start:
I recommend you pluck your eyebrows after a bath or shower, so your pores are open and your skin softer. If you don’t have time, hold a warm, damp flannel to your brows for a couple of minutes to achieve a similar effect. Make sure you are relaxed and have everything you need to hand. Most importantly, ensure your mirror is completely clean and fit for the job and that you have good light – but avoid magnifying mirrors and very bright lighting as that can lead to over-plucking.
Determine your eyebrow shape:
To pluck your natural line, you first need to determine the three vital points of your brows. Then you can pluck around these markers. These points are:
- Start – With your eyebrow pencil, hold it vertically against your ‘nasal wing’ (the fattest part of your nostril). Mark with your other pencil where it meets your eyebrow.
- Arch – this is the highest part of your eyebrow and can be determined by holding your pencil against your nasal wing again but this time at an angle so that it runs past the outer part of your pupil. Where this meets the eyebrow is your arch point. Again, this should be marked.
- End – With the pencil still on your nasal wing, turn it so it runs past the outward corner of your eye. Where it touches the brow, mark the end of your eyebrow.
Get plucking:
Work from the inside, over to the outside then underneath i.e. first pluck the hairs between your eyebrows, then pluck the hairs above your arch, to properly define it. Next, take out any hairs that are on the outside of your end mark. When you have done this, pluck under your brow. This is where you can determine how thick or thin your brows are. Be really careful to keep the plucking underneath consistent in both eyebrows!
To make your plucking most efficient, stretch your skin tight and pluck from as close to the root as you can get. This makes it far less likely that you’ll break a hair and leave it too short to grab with your tweezers. Also, pull the hair in the direction it grows, to make it easier to pluck.
Trimming stragglers:
Once you have your shape, you may want to just tidy up long hairs that have a nasty habit of pointing out at odd angles. Take your brow brush and brush your hairs up, then very carefully use your eyebrow scissors to trim them to the right length.
Finishing touches:
It’s likely the skin around your eyebrows will be inflamed and sore once you have finished, so have a soothing cream to hand. You can buy cortisone cream in the chemist or try some pure aloe gel.
Once they have calmed down you can go the extra mile with a couple of finishing touches.
- If you still have errant hairs, use a specially-designed transparent gel to smooth them into place and keep them there.
- If you did over-pluck or have small gaps in your eyebrow, use your eyebrow pencil to gently draw some tiny lines to replace the errant hairs.
Look after your Tweezers:
After a few times plucking your own brows, you’ll probably have got the hang of looking after them. However, don’t forget also to look after the tools of your trade, namely your tweezers.
Many people simply throw their tweezers back in their makeup bag when they have finished with them. The trouble with this is that they then come into contact with makeup residue, containing chemicals that really shouldn’t come into close contact with open follicles, as this can result in infection!
The other thing is that they are more likely to get the tips blunted and blunt tweezers are not effective.
So, when you have finished perfecting your brows, wipe your tweezers clean and store them either in a special storage pouch or point-up in a pot or other receptacle.
However well you look after them, they will blunt eventually and what do you do then? Well, most people simply throw them away and get a new pair. This is fair enough in a way, but it is a costly exercise and, as most of us are attempting to move away from a throwaway society, it seems somewhat un-planet-friendly! Look for a Tweezer file designed specifically for tweezers that is easy-to-use and will ensure your tweezers are always in tip top condition and will last and last!
I hope you’ve found these tips useful and that you can enjoy nice trim brows, whether this is a change for good or just until your favourite beautician is able safely reopen their doors!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucy Zender is the creator and founder of Tweezerfile, an award-winning and innovative new beauty product that allows you to sharpen your old blunt tweezers and bring them back to life. Hold your tweezers with the blades together, then slide the tweezer up and down the Tweezerfile, gently applying equal pressure on the top and bottom blade. After a few strokes, your tweezers will be back to their old glory, gripping even the shortest hair! Available in two beautiful colours, coral and petrol blue. Available via Tweezerfile.com and from Amazon.
Web: https://www.tweezerfile.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tweezerfile/
Beauty Awards:
- The Beauty Awards 2019 – Highly Commended
- Global Makeup Awards 2019 – Silver
- Pure Beauty Awards London 2019 – Bronze
