Do you have an eyebrow shaping routine you swear by? Well, you might want to update that trusty routine of yours because you might just be committing some common eyebrow shaping mistakes.
Are you taking care of your eyebrow gaps properly? How short do you pluck your brows? Get to know the eyebrow mistakes everyone needs to avoid and read below.
Doing It All by Yourself
If you were that young little girl who was told to pluck her brows by her mother, then you probably have made a habit of doing your brows on your own. Though it’s alright to pluck your brows by yourself, it’s only good when you do it for maintenance. This is because a quick and easy way to ruin your eyebrows is never seeing a professional first. Even if you go to your favorite eyebrow professional just once or twice a year, they can make wonders in helping you find your natural brow shape and giving you great tips for your at-home eyebrow shaping routine.
Using Old Tweezers
If you’ve been plucking your eyebrow hair for quite a while now, then perhaps it’s time to get a new pair of tweezers. Long-time use of tweezers can make them dirty and rusty—not good for your eyebrows. What’s worse is that if they’re not pinching onto your strands right and making it difficult for you to tweeze, then it’s really time for a change. Just remember to clean your tweezers after every use with some alcohol to prevent bacteria build-up.
Trying to Perfectly Match Your Eyebrow Shapes
It’s quite understandable why you’d probably want both your brows to look perfectly alike. But that’s actually a big no-no. Your face isn’t totally symmetrical, so it only makes sense that your eyebrows are not exactly the same. You’ll end up over-plucking your brows if you try to match them and this could lead to permanent eyebrow loss. So don’t worry if your brows have slight differences, it’s perfectly fine. Instead of matching your brows, find out what eyebrow shape best suits your face and maintain it.
Matching Brows with Hair Color
Unless you have natural untouched dark hair that’s all in one shade, matching your brows with your hair color makes you look washed out or like a caveman. If you have highlights, using a light brow mascara to match your brows with those highlights will make your eyes pop. On the other hand, if you have blonde hair, you need to go a little bit darker.
Plucking Your Eyebrow Gap Too Much
Welcome the struggles when growing up with a unibrow. Sometimes, people are just born with it and it can be a little bit difficult to manage. Though it’s alright to avoid this by plucking your eyebrow gap, over-plucking is a no-no.
In fact, by plucking your eyebrow gap too much, you could end up with brows that look unnatural and unproportional to your face. To prevent yourself from over-plucking, line up your makeup brush or pencil vertically from the edge of your inner tear duct. That should be as far as you can pluck the gaps in your eyebrows.
Over-Tweezing the Top Edge
As previously mentioned, your top arch and your bottom arch should match for a perfectly-shaped brow. However, tweezing the top edge of your eyebrow too much can lead to unnatural and thin eyebrows. Moreover, you may also end up with eyebrow hair loss by over-tweezing, making you lose that natural arch altogether. If you feel like the top edge of your brow needs to be plucked, seek the help of a professional to avoid irreparable eyebrow mistakes.
Neglecting Your Natural Arch
You might think that your brows are as straight as a pencil, but all brows have natural arches. By plucking your brows to a rounded or straight line, you are hiding that natural arch and ruining your eyebrows. Find out where your natural arches are and define them. Just look for the bottom arch and the top arch and match them when plucking for a defined, fierce eyebrow shape.
Keeping Your Eyebrow Hair Sparse
Don’t get us started. There are so many reasons why keeping your eyebrow hair extra thin is bad. First, your brows are going to look messy and ruined. Second is permanent eyebrow loss. Although eyebrow restoration treatments are readily available, prevention is still better than cure.
Never pluck your eyebrows too much that the skin beneath them is clearly visible. Seek natural medical solution for thin eyebrows. Otherwise, fill your brows using the appropriate shade of eyebrow pencil. Spending a little bit extra on your brows is a great investment that can make you look stunning for a long time.
Plucking Brows Too Short
Perhaps you feel like you have long eyebrows and pluck them too short. We hate to break it to you dear, but short eyebrows mean unspeakable horrors for your face. Short eyebrows make your eyes and nose look bigger than it should be. Even women with beautifully large noses like Idina Menzel and Julia Roberts wouldn’t want to make their noses seem disproportionately large. Avoid this common eyebrow mistake by lining the makeup brush or pencil from the side of your nose to the outer corner of your eye. This should be where your eyebrows should end.
Keeping Brows Too Long
Just as it is nasty to keep short eyebrows, leaving your brows too long overpowers your entire face. Unless you’re a natural, classic beauty like Frida Kahlo or a modern one like Cara Delevingne, a long and powerful brow can make your eyes look smaller. Just use the same principle as when preventing yourself from over-plucking to keep your eyebrows in shape. If you’re unsure when plucking your brows, seeking the help of a professional is always a good choice to avoid big eyebrow mistakes.
Plucking Everywhere
Another huge eyebrow no-no when doing home maintenance. Plucking your brows carelessly can lead to thin and short eyebrows or worse, complete eyebrow loss. Stop yourself from ruining your eyebrows! If you must pluck, stick to tweezing under your brows. If you’re unsure where to use your trusty tweezers, have your brows taken care of and waxed or threaded by a professional. That’s better than getting eyebrow hair loss and scars.
Tweezing Before a Shower
Tweezing before taking a shower can hurt. It is also a big no-no because you force your hair follicles out, which could potentially mean damaging your skin and may lead to permanent eyebrow hair loss. Showering also loosens up the skin and more eyebrow hair can fall off because of this. The solution is simple ladies. If you’re going to take bath soon, leave those brows alone in the meantime. Do your tweezing after your bath instead.
Waxing When Using Anti-Aging Creams
If you’ve been using anti-aging retinoid creams for a while and decided to get your brows waxed, it can get pretty ugly. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use anti-aging creams all together, it’s just that retinoids make your skin thin and extra-sensitive. And since waxing involves painful tearing, you can just imagine what might happen next. Stick to plucking if you’re using anti-aging creams. If you’re planning on getting your eyebrows waxed, it’s best to wait at least six weeks after discontinuing the use of retinoids before booking an appointment.
Drawing Your Eyebrows Too Thick
Piling up thick eye makeup is a sure way to make your brows look so unnatural and obviously painted. It could also dominate your face rather than keep a balanced look. The reason for this is most probably because you do your brows before putting on most of your makeup. Which brings us to our next brow mistake.
Doing Brows Before the Rest of Your Makeup
Your complexion changes due to the foundation you put on. If you do your brows first, you end up drawing them too thick because your skin is much darker before putting on your foundation. To maintain naturally fuller eyebrows, draw your eyebrows at the later part of doing your makeup. To get fuller eyebrows in a few easy steps, you can also use light and short strokes instead of drawing down lines all across your eyebrows.
Now that you know some of the most common eyebrow shaping mistakes, you know better to avoid them altogether. Maintain your brows properly and avoid eyebrow hair loss for a long-lasting, gorgeous look.