Eyebrows serve as the natural frame for the face. Well-maintained brows can enhance your overall appearance, even when your makeup isn’t at its best. Given their significance as a critical facial feature, eyebrows can make or break your look. Unfortunately, various pitfalls can occur when defining your eyebrows for a glamorous appearance, leading to significant brow-related challenges. Addressing these common eyebrow issues that may have been causing you distress is crucial. This article explores why your eyebrows may not meet your expectations and provide foolproof solutions to rectify them.
The Real Eyebrow Scenario
Do you think that all eyebrow blunders are somehow related to the habit of years of overplucking? Well, though it is one of the most common brow concerns worldwide, it is not the only one. Many women are worried about their uneven, unruly, patchy, or shapeless eyebrows. Too thin or too fair eyebrows are also very frequent among people. While regular grooming of eyebrows is a must for most ladies, some are not bothered about their unshapely face framers. They neither visit professionals nor opt for DIY tweezing. Many do not even wear any product on their eyebrows for maintenance. In short, grooming eyebrows is an individual choice with specific challenges. (1)
How to Fix 8 Common Eyebrow Issues
Whatever difficulty you face in handling your eyebrows can be managed quickly and effectively. All you need to do is follow simple grooming techniques or makeup hacks. Check them out below:
1. Archless Brows
Nothing can be more annoying than a pair of archless brows. When you have no arch, your face looks expressionless all the time. We give you the perfect solution:
- Find the ideal arch for your brow by lining the brow pencil up with the external edge of your iris. Then, it would be best to start shaping from below this arch point.
- Determine the shape of your brows naturally. If they are far from the eyelids, maintain a fuller look by pulling hair toward their growth individually. If they are closer, pull their hair out carefully.
- If it is your first time, go to a professional to determine the natural shape of your eyebrows and prevent overplucking.
Also Read – Dry Skin Between Eyebrows: Causes And Remedies To Get Rid Of It
2. Sparse / Patchy Brows
Having sparse/patchy/uneven eyebrows is one of the most common issues, and you can get rid of this slender, ‘overplucked’ glance with a few simple tricks. Here is how to get full, lush brows in minutes:
- Take an angled brush and a brow powder that matches the color of your brow hair. Using the wide part of the brush, apply quick strokes to fill the uneven areas of the brows. Also, define the tails of the brows with the angled tip of the brush.
- If you use an eyebrow pencil, make sure it is a light formula built up slowly and blended easily for a natural look. Apply small strokes with a soft hand instead of drawing a straight line and build it up slowly. Do not press the pencil too hard against the skin. It might pull out some more hair to increase your patchiness further.
- Draw a decent outline using the stenciling trick and fill it with the brow color to create an excellent structure.
3. Too Short (Far Apart) Brows
If you lack the tiny hairs that stick up right at the starting point of the eyebrows, it is time to give them a makeover. Know how to make your brows look interesting quickly:
- Find the ideal starting point for your brow by lining up from the edge of your nose and creating light, feathery strokes with a soft, fine-tip brow pencil. Then, blend the flicks nicely with a spoolie.
- Do not forget to add a little flick to the tails of your brows, too. An eyebrow powder of the same color can also help you fill the gaps between them and create a more natural appearance.
- For extremely short brows, opt for brow extensions to get a permanent solution.
Also Read – Eyebrow Tattoo: How it Works, Benefits & Risks Of Eyebrow Tattoo
4. Too Long (Elongated) Brows
When the eyebrows have long tails, the entire face looks droopy. Therefore, it is crucial to figure out the right ending point of the brows to shape them accordingly. Here is the way:
- Hold a pencil along your nose and move it diagonally at your nostril. As you line it up with your eyebrow, it reaches your temple. Consider this as the ideal ending point of your brow. Now, groom it the right way.
5. Thin and Flat Brows
Thin, flat eyebrows look dull, especially these days when fuller brows are totally in fashion. So, make them appear thick, lush, and volumized with the following tricks:
- Backcomb your brow hair with a small brush and apply a volumizing fiber gel (designed explicitly for eyebrows) toward the hair growth, starting right at the tails.
- You can also use eyebrow pencil/brow powder/eye shadow (a shade similar to your brow hair) to fill your brows in and add a definition.
6. Bushy / Unruly Brows
Though thick, randomly hairy eyebrows are a blessing, they can be bushy and unruly due to flyaway hair and cowlicks. If you want to get rid of the mess, check out the ways here:
- The thick formula of a tinted brow gel can immediately define your brows. It will also give them subtle color while taming the little hairs down.
- Find a clear gel mascara and use it in layers to get the spread-out brow hairs back to their places.
- Spritz a little hairspray onto the bristles of a soft toothbrush and brush your brow hairs with it.
- Brush your brow hairs straight up with a spoolie / brow brush (a toothbrush will also do) and trim the heads of the elongated ones along your natural brow line.
Also Read – Pros And Cons Of Eyebrow Bleaching – with Procedure and Side Effects
7. Scarred (with Gaps) Brows
Women with scarred eyebrows (having gaps or bald spots in brows) find getting a perfectly normal look quite challenging. Well, it has a straightforward fix:
- Apply an eyebrow gel to the hair in your brows by using small light strokes. It will fill the gaps and add volume while defining the edges of the brows beautifully.
- Find a gel pencil intended for eyebrows and strategically hide the blank spaces by sealing the hairs in place with more color deposits.
8. Too Light Brows
If your hair is naturally blonde, the chances are that your eyebrows are also a little light in color. Here is what you can do to make them look natural and defined:
- Tint your eyebrows slightly to match your complexion the right way. However, trying this at home may be overwhelming, and the tint may turn too heavy. Hence, it is always good to visit a professional for this purpose.
Thin eyebrows can be the result of severe eyebrow hair loss. Sometimes we lose our brow hair significantly because of infection, skin conditions, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal changes, physical trauma, emotional stress, or an overactive immune system. (2)
Best Eyebrow Grooming Tips to Follow
As we know, prevention is always better than cure. So, how about learning some simple eyebrow grooming tips to help you avoid all the hassles of fixing the brow dilemma? Well, know how to make your eyebrows look their best by grooming them in a complementary way (3):
- If you are a beginner, visit a professional for advice on where and how to start. This will help you avoid creating unnatural and unflattering brow shapes.
- Always use a regular mirror for grooming eyebrows at home. Using the magnifying mirror may make you overzealous with brow hair removal.
- While shaping your brows at home, make sure that you start the arches in the right spots. To find them out, hold a pencil along the bridge of your nose and bend it to an angle across your pupil.
- Stay away from the obsession of having identical eyebrows. Otherwise, you will end up ruining your brows by overplucking them.
- Let your overplucked brows grow back and become fuller again. After that, you can continually reshape them to your desire.
- Whether applying makeup to your eyebrows or not, set all the hairs in the same direction with a clear eyebrow gel.
- Do not use eyebrow stencils that are not right for your face.
Using an eyebrow gel is essential for keeping your eyebrows in place throughout the day. It gives a beautiful polished look and hence, even a pair of unruly brows also appear to be neatly groomed.
Also Read – No More Grey Hairs In Eyebrows! Know The Reasons And The Best Remedies
Makeup Tips for the Most Flattering Eyebrows
Finally, improve your brow makeup to achieve the most flattering eyebrows ever. Given below are some simple yet powerful tips that can take the appearance of your eyebrows to a whole new level:
- Choose a brow filler one shade lighter than your natural hair color. It will give you the most natural look ever without causing harshness.
- When it comes to applying brow makeup, blending is the key. Also, follow short, feathery, upward strokes to diffuse makeup into your brows.
- Use a double-ended brush and a spoolie to get the job done right.
- A little product always goes a long way. Use the angled tip of your brow brush to apply the right product.
- Do not go overboard with the contouring and highlighting of your brow bones. Applying a lighter shade of concealer to the arch will do the trick.
Summary:
Eyebrows are the natural farmers of the face. But the wrong way of grooming and maintaining brows may ruin your appearance completely. Your eyebrows can look uneven, too thin, overplucked, too long, too light, scarred, bushy, and even archless based on their natural growth characteristics. However, with professional grooming techniques and simple makeup tricks, you can fix all those issues and achieve the most flattering eyebrows easily. Also, follow some proven eyebrow grooming tips in order to keep your brows in shape always.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why Are My Eyebrows Sparse at the Front?
Eyebrows can thin out and look sparse due to aging and hormonal imbalances that cause the hair follicles to age.
Why are My Eyebrows so Spread Out?
If either or both of your eyebrows are placed too far, they look spread out naturally.
Can You Regrow Eyebrows?
Yes, you can. Based on your age, health, and normal hair cycle, the hairs in your eyebrows may take 8 to 13 weeks to grow back naturally. You can also try using castor oil to speed up your eyebrow growth.
What is the Gap Between Your Eyebrows Called?
The gap between two eyebrows is known as glabella.
Does Olive Oil Increase Eyebrow Growth?
Being rich in vitamins A and E, olive oil helps make eyebrows thicker and darker. Massaging the brows with warm olive oil for 5 minutes daily will also make them grow faster.
References:
- “The Most Common Brow Concerns, According to 50,000 Women“, HarpersBazaar.com
- “12 Common Eyebrow Mistakes You’re Probably Making“, GoodHouseKeeping.com
- “Eyebrow Loss: Clinical Review,” PubMed.NCBI.nlm.nih.gov
