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Brow Shaping – Should you wax, pluck or thread?

15 February, 2017 - 10:49pm by - First Lady | 57 Comments

Article by BR Tabatha

"Why let someone else do for you what you can do yourself, except in the case of eyebrow maintenance."

Elle Woods - Legally Blonde

Eyebrows are the feature of your face to get right.  Whatever else is going on, be it breakouts or a bad choice of lippie colour, it's bad eyebrows people will notice first.  And even if everything else is going right with your makeup and overall look, bad eyebrow game will bring it down immediately.

Over plucked, under pluck, too sparse or unkempt are the main eyebrow faux pas, and unfortunately they are all very easily done by the amateur brow-scaper. 

So let's talk about how to step up your brow game by investigating the different options of maintenance.

Unless you incredibly blessed, your eyebrows will need some sort of shaping and as always there are several options to choose from.  Let's look at the most common options.

Waxing.

Waxing is quick and easy for a professional to do and it generally lasts for 3 to 4 weeks.  It's no more nor less painful than plucking and just how painful depends on your pain threshold.

It's going to set you back around $15 in the salon, but a trained technician and eye is invaluable.  You'll need about 1/4 inch growth though, so you could look a little bushy between appointments.  It's also important to note that waxing isn't for those with sensitive skin or those using retanoid products as it can cause the skin to tear.

You could DIY at home, but it's very easy to take too much off and very difficult to create even shapes by yourself.

Threading.

A trained threader will use a thin cotton to pull the hair out.  It's generally quite less painful, but it does depend on how good you are with pain.  Threading lasts around 3 - 4 weeks but you only need 1/16th inch of growth, so you're going to look less bushy between visits! There are no chemicals involved, so if you have sensitive skin this is a great option. 

Prices vary from $5 threads to $20+, but you might want to bear in mind you're probably going to get what you pay for - with an experienced threader the experience is going to be quick and more precise than waxing.

Plucking.

Hands up, who has plucked their own eyebrows? Yeap, that's what we thought!  Where would a woman be without her trusty tweezers?  Well dare we say it, they might be with better eyebrows!

Once you've bought yourself a pair of tweezers, plucking is the most economical way to maintain your brows.  But like scissors, tweezers have a quality scale.  A decent pair of tweezers are going to set you back around $25 - $35.  Don't scrimp!  Your tweezers should have a slanted tip and you might find it useful to have a pair of super pointy tweezers for ingrown or very short hairs.  Square tips may allow you to remove more hairs at once but this can lead to ingrown hairs.  The inside of your tweezer tips should be scuffed to help them grip the hair.  They should be matte coated on the outside so you can grip them lightly without them slipping.  

Plucking puts you in complete control of your brow shape, which is great if you're a control freak, but if you get carried away and over pluck, you might just end up cursing yourself! 

Shaping Guide.

There's a whole science behind shaping your eyebrows to suit your face shape and features - this is why seeing a professional, at least for an initial shaping is your best bet.   

But here's a general guide for all eyebrows: 

  • Hold your tweezers (or a pencil) vertically against the side of your nostril.  This is where your eyebrows should start.  In particular, don't pluck them shorter than this guide.  Just as you don't want a mono-brow, you don't want too-far apart brows either.
  • Hold your tweezers diagonally from your nostril to the outer corner of your eye.  Where the line intersects your eyebrow is where they should end.
  • Stare straight at the mirror.  Your arch should begin level with the far edge of your iris, right on the brow bone.

Dos and Don'ts of eyebrow shaping.

  • Do schedule your plucking sessions after a warm shower, the hair is more easily removed
  • Don't continue plucking if you've over plucked.  Stop!  Do not attempt to 'even' out the other one.  Grab your eyebrow kit, fill it in and wait for it to grow back!
  • Do use a white eye pencil to draw a guide line - stick to it!
  • Don't pluck from above your arch unless you have errant strays.
  • Do brush your brows to your advantage - upwards for sparse brows and to the side for thick brows.
  • Do trim ridiculously long hairs carefully with a pair of nail scissors

 

And there we have our guide to eyebrow maintenance and shaping. How do you maintain your eyebrows?  Have you had any disasters or do you always leave them in the hands of a pro?

 

 

 

 



Comments

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11th August, 2014

I get my brows waxed because i cannot be trusted to do them myself. My poor brows never really recovered after I overplucked them as a teenager. I seriously need to get myself a brow kit and have someone show me what to do with it! Another great article BR!

11th August, 2014

Im pretty lucky I have quite full brows and never went through a thin brow stage, I tend to get mine either waxed or threaded then pluck inbetween. I still tend to fill in my brows. Im pretty jelous of those who can completely pluck there eyebrows im positive if I tried theyd be well overplucled and completely uneven

11th August, 2014

What a great read and I can so relate to the mess up trying to correct my brows using a tweezers. So I do regularly go get mine threaded and she plucks out one or two stray ones. Sometimes I will grab the tweezers and pull out obvious ones if I have no time to go to the pro :) brows are so important !

11th August, 2014

I am one of the lucky ones with a great pair of eyebrows lol! Personally I like threading. I have been going to the same lady for the last 8 years and she knows exactly what, how much and when not too. It's great having someone that knows you well (just like my hair dresser). I'm not keen on waxing or plucking I find both of these painful, I am used to the pain from threading which is not really that painful. Great article by the way.

11th August, 2014

Im a fan of threading. I get my whole face done. I do it once a month. I pluck my eye brows in between . Cost me about $25 per session. i used to get my eye brows waxed when I was living in auckland it xost about $5 to seven dollars. But down here in Tauranga it cost about $20 for eye brow waxing. I prefer getting them done in a salon because they end up being perfectly shaped.

11th August, 2014

i pluck mine...to get the shape i drop little dots on the brows to make the shape of where to start, where to finish and where the arch should go...then i use my trusty ELF eyebrow stencils to pick my shape...works perfect every time! the only thing with me is i don't really have any eyebrows so what little hair i do have there i lightly shape and pluck then draw them on daily =(

11th August, 2014

Ive always plucked my own. Have had them waxed a few times. I brought my tweezers from the chemist around 10 years ago and am glad to see they are as you've described :-) I know my shape isn't perfect but it's what im used to and am scared to try anything different :-/ I'll admit that I could use some help with finding the perfect shape for my face

11th August, 2014

Actually yes! I get a stray that's wirey, and sticks, out.

Now I cut them. But I used to grab that one hair and pull and it would leave a space haha.

Mine have been plucked for years, before I was 25 sorta thing and now they kinda don't grow. They aren't pencil thin, but for today beautiful thick brow game. They aren't up to par. I wish I hasn't plucked them so much.

I also colour my hair darker then my light brows, so I have to colour them in haha

11th August, 2014

My eyebrows are thick curly black hairs, its a nightmare to maintain, I have to trim them very regularly! On the plus side I have a very high pain tolerance when it comes to hair removal (leg waxing? Pfft easy!) so I'm not at all bothered by plucking :)

10th August, 2014

I have also been blessed with good brows. Probably the only thing I don't have to maintain :-).

10th August, 2014

Im definitely a waxer, quick and easy, Threading to me personally hurts far to much, especially if you get a lower technician. In between waxes I just pluck stray hairs, to keep them looking tidy-ish :)

10th August, 2014

I have always done my brows which is highly noticeable I prefer to pluk not overly keen on waxing I am afraid I will hate the way they look after and I would kinda like to give threading a try.

sarahellaoverton
18th May, 2017

Your brows look great! The current trend for full natural brows makes for easier maintenance, I reckon.

rachaelsfun
11th August, 2014

never tried threading but notice some indian ladies often offer cheap threading but i was a lil shy of that bc of the pain level lol

Manda129
11th August, 2014

Don't get me wrong threading gives amazing results in regards to perfect shape, but yes your pain tolerance must be high haha :)

MAGPIEFI
11th August, 2014

Once I got my brows threaded omg I was in tears, oh It hurt.

Mira
16th August, 2014

Hi ladies, I wanted to add to this convo that if threading hurts, the lady is doing it wrong. It's meant to be less painful that waxing. I seriously feel no pain with my threader, as compared to waxing. Try someone new.

pintsize
21st April, 2017

I use to have mine threaded in the past, not as painful as waxing imo but my eyes do the whole involuntary watering thing anyway lol

Macs
16th February, 2017

Lucky girl

Julieal
16th February, 2017

looking at your photo you are wise as your eyebrows are really lovely.

JessB
16th February, 2017

I agree with Julieal - you have amazing eyebrows Macs!

Macs
16th February, 2017

Oh Thank you ladies :)

MareeB
16th February, 2017

That sounds pretty good Macs, but I'm scared of threading being painful.

Macs
16th February, 2017

It is painful Maree. I cry like a baby every time . My eyes stream down with tears lol I don't blame you for not wanting to give it a go. If I wasn't so damn hairy I wouldn't bother doing it lol

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