Before the pandemic, I had a consistent routine of getting my eyebrows threaded once every two weeks to keep them in the shape I like and get rid of those annoying stray hairs. The lady who threaded my brows always did a great job, and at the time, I couldn’t imagine doing my eyebrows myself. When the pandemic came, I was nervous when I realized that I would have to learn to tweeze my eyebrows. However, I faced my fear and learned that tweezing my brows wasn’t so scary. By this point, I have been tweezing my eyebrows by myself for almost 10 months now. Even though salons have re-opened, I now enjoy tweezing my eyebrows, and I don’t plan on spending money to get them professionally done at a salon again. Here are some tips for how to succeed at tweezing your eyebrows.
Watch tutorials first.
I made sure to do my research before I even touched a pair of tweezers. All you have to do is go on YouTube and type “how to tweeze your eyebrows,” and you’ll see plenty of videos giving you instructions to help guide you through the process. Some videos will show you more advanced techniques that involve other products such as grooming scissors, but if you’re looking to simply clean up your brows, you can ignore those steps because your tweezers alone will do the trick.
Make sure you’re comfortable with the tweezers you’ll be using.
My mom gave me the tweezers I use for my eyebrows, but there are plenty of different types of tweezers out there. Some stores even sell tweezers specifically for eyebrows, which may be helpful for some people. It’s a good idea to practice just holding them in your hand and see how they feel before you start tweezing.
Get close to the mirror you’ll be using.
Make sure to use a mirror that will allow you to get close enough to see all the stray hairs you’ll be tweezing. I recommend that you watch yourself put your tweezers close to your stray hairs without actually tweezing them before you start so you can get used to how the process will look.
Clean your tweezers before using them.
Every time I’m going to tweeze my eyebrows, I clean my tweezers first to stay sanitary. I do this by putting rubbing alcohol on some cotton balls and rubbing those cotton balls on my tweezers to kill any potential germs. Then, once my tweezers are dry, I start tweezing my brows. If you want to use different methods for cleaning your tweezers, you can try going online and looking up “how to clean your tweezers” for more specific cleaning instructions.
Push your eyebrow hairs up before you pluck the bottom stray hairs and push them down before you pluck the stray hairs at the top.
Pushing all your brow hairs up will help more clearly distinguish and isolate the stray hairs at the bottom of your brows that you’ll want to get rid of so you can tweeze them more easily. Many videos will recommend using a spoolie brush to do this, but I have no problems with just using my fingers. There will typically be fewer stray hairs to get rid of at the tops of your brows (at least that’s how it is for me anyway), and some people may not have to do any tweezing at the tops of their brows. But if you do tweeze the tops of your brows, pushing all your brow hairs down will help you isolate those stray hairs on top so you can get rid of them.
Put your index and middle fingers on your forehead above the brow you’re tweezing and gently pull up as you tweeze.
I learned this tip back when I used to get my brows threaded because the lady who threaded my brows told me to do this before she would start threading. This gentle pulling helps when tweezing too because it allows you to more clearly see the stray brow hairs and makes it easier to grasp them with the tweezers.
Start with the bottom or top section of your brows, and finish the area you started before switching to the next.
Since I recommend pushing your hairs up before tweezing the bottom and down before tweezing the top, it’s best to do either the top or the bottom first and finish that section instead of switching between the top and bottom because that can get confusing.
Always keep the shapes of your brows in mind when tweezing.
If you’re used to getting your brows threaded (like I was) or waxed, you can follow the pre-existing shape and tweeze any stray hairs that exist outside the general shape of your brows. If you’ve never gotten your brows done before, I’d recommend starting by just removing the stray hairs to clean up your brows instead of trying to achieve any advanced shaping on your own. However, if you’ve never gotten your brows done before and you want to shape your brows on your own, some stores and websites sell eyebrow stencils for different brow shapes ranging from round to arched. I’ve never used these stencils before, but I believe you hold them up to your brows and tweeze any stray hairs that don’t stay inside the stencil’s shape. As always, do your research and watch tutorials before using these products.
Try to pull the hairs out in the direction that they already grow.
For example, if your brow hair naturally points to the right, use your tweezers to pull it out in that direction instead of trying to force it out in another direction. Going with the flow and pulling stray hairs out in their natural direction will hurt less.
Don’t over-tweeze!
I can’t stress this point enough, because getting rid of too many brow hairs can seriously mess up the shape of your brows. If you can’t decide whether or not you should tweeze a brow hair, it’s best to just leave it when in doubt. You can always go back and take off more hair later, but once a piece of hair from your brows is gone, it’ll stay gone until it grows back.
Focus on making your brows look good instead of following trends.
I’ve noticed that brow trends come and go, from full brows to thin brows to arched to round. The problem with these trends is that everyone has different facial features, and some eyebrow shapes and thicknesses look better on some faces than others. For this reason, I think it’s best to avoid worrying about these trends and focus more on tweezing your brow hairs whichever way you think will make you look and feel your best.
Don’t panic if you nip your skin a little bit.
It’s normal to make a mistake and accidentally grab your skin with your tweezers when you miss a stray hair when tweezing your brows. It may hurt a little bit when this happens, but threading and waxing can hurt as well, so don’t worry if you nip your skin a little bit when tweezing.
Take your time.
Never rush when tweezing your brows. Make sure to be slow and steady to get the best results.
Pick a consistent time to tweeze your brows and stick to that schedule.
While it may be tempting to tweeze any stray hairs that pop up as soon as they grow back, it’s best to have a consistent schedule for how often you’ll tweeze your brows to avoid causing the hairs to grow back inconsistently. Touching up your brows off-schedule once in a while for special occasions is completely understandable, but it’s best to be consistent for the most part. As for me, I tweeze my brows once every other Saturday because I know that my stray hairs tend to have grown back after two weeks. It’s a good idea to find a time that works for you and try your best to stick with it.
I usually leave my brows as-is once I finish tweezing them, but many people enjoy using gels and fillers to further define their brows, so these options may be fun to explore for some people as well. Also, remember that successfully tweezing your brows will take practice, and you shouldn’t expect perfect results. Even professionals miss stray hairs occasionally, and any mistakes you may make when tweezing will probably be a lot more noticeable to you than to anyone else. Don’t feel pressured to tweeze your brows if you know you’re not comfortable with the idea, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results as long as you follow these suggestions. Maybe you’ll end up regularly tweezing your brows and saving a bunch of money that you would’ve spent at a salon!