Are you looking forward to plucking your eyebrows for the first time? You will feel a slight pinch, but using the right technique will minimize the pain. Learn to pluck your brows and draw them like a pro.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Using the Right Technique
Step 1. Get a good pair of tweezers
Use clean, fine-tipped tweezers to do this job. If the tweezers you use are too dull or difficult to handle, it will take you much longer than necessary to shave, hurting you without needing to. You have to be able to grab hairs individually and pull them out effortlessly.
Step 2. Soften the skin near the eyebrows
When the skin is soft and supple, the hair comes off much easier. Shaving hard and dry skin makes the experience much more painful.
- Plan to pluck your eyebrows immediately after taking a shower. The hot water and steam will have made your skin soft and supple.
- If you need to shave at another time of the day, wash your face with hot water and pat it dry to dry. You can also take a small towel and place it under hot water, and then leave it on the eyebrows for 2 minutes. This will open the pores, making hair removal easier.
- Put some moisturizer on your brows to make them softer and easier to shave.
Step 3. Identify the direction in which your eyebrow hair grows
For most people, hair grows outward, from the nose to the hair. In some cases, the eyebrows can grow in more than one direction. Be careful, because the hair should be pulled in the direction of its growth when you shave it; this helps to extract them more easily.
Step 4. Hold the tweezers in your hand as you would hold a pencil
The open part should be on top. Squeeze them a couple of times to get dexterity with the movement you need to do to pluck your eyebrows.
Step 5. Place the tip of the tweezers at the root of the hair you want to remove (follow the directions below to understand which hairs you should remove)
Place them as close to the root of the hair as possible and pull, always pulling in the direction of hair growth and keeping the tweezers at an angle as close to your skin as possible.
- Continue until you have finished plucking one eyebrow, then repeat on the other side.
- If you have to stop and take breaks, that's fine. Resume shaving when you are ready.
- Sometimes plucking your eyebrows makes your eyes water and your nose tickle. This is perfectly normal; it just continues until finished.
Method 2 of 3: Understanding Where to Shave
Step 1. Identify where your brows should start
This varies from face to face, but the same technique can be used to identify anyone's brow line. Take an eyebrow pencil or other long object, and align it from the inner corner of the eye to the side of the nose. Use a white pencil to mark where it crosses your eyebrows. This is where the eyebrow should start. Repeat with the other side.
- Feel free to move this point a little further or further back. This technique shows you the approximate point where your brows should start, but take your personal preferences into account as well.
- Make sure that the object you use to identify the beginning of the eyebrows is very thin. Using something thick, it will slightly change the optimal position.
Step 2. Identify where to raise your eyebrows
Well-groomed eyebrows curve over the eye, and the point where they arch can make a big difference to the final result. Take the same object you used to identify the previous point, and this time align it between the outer edge of the nostril and the outer edge of the iris. Mark the point where it crosses the eyebrow, and repeat on the other side.
Step 3. Mark where the eyebrow should end
This time align the tool from the outer edge of the nostril to the outer corner of your eye. Mark the intersection point with the eyebrow. This is where the eyebrow should naturally end; repeat on the other side.
Step 4. Calculate the thickness of the eyebrows
There is no "perfect" thickness for the eyebrows; it all depends on the shape of your face and the style you prefer. You should start by having in mind the thickness you want to achieve by shaving, so as to avoid shaving too much or too little. Keep the following points in mind:
- The shape of your eyes. If you have very large eyes, you should compensate for them with thicker brows. If you have small eyes, compensate for them with thinner brows.
- The space between your eyebrows and your eyes. If your brows are high on the forehead, you may want to choose to have thicker brows to help frame the eyes. If you have a very low forehead that ends just above the eyes, choose thinner brows so they don't look too heavy on your eyes.
Method 3 of 3: Shape the Brows
Step 1. Use an eyebrow comb to brush the hair upwards
Brush them lightly in the direction they grow. You will immediately notice some particularly long and unruly hair that needs to be removed.
Step 2. Remove the hairs that are beyond the points you marked
Carefully remove one hair at a time, outlining the eyebrows according to the pattern you made.
- Remove the hairs that are closer to your nose than the points you marked above the inside of the eyebrows.
- Draw the shape of the arch by removing some hairs near the arch to give them a more outlined shape.
- Remove the hairs that are closer to your temples than the points you marked at the end of the eyebrows.
- Remove more hair from the bottom of your brows to make them the thickness of your choice.
Step 3. Do not shave excessively
When you are outlining your brows, proceed with caution. Step away and look in the mirror every couple of minutes to check your progress. Make sure you don't shave them too much. Eyebrow hair can take up to 6 weeks to grow back, and sometimes it doesn't grow back at all.
Step 4. Finish with an eyebrow gel
Comb your brows in the direction of their growth and apply some brow gel (or hair gel) to keep them in place.
Step 5. Finished
Advice
- The best time to pluck your brows is IMMEDIATELY after taking a shower. It will be less painful.
- Do not finish one eyebrow completely before starting the other. It will be easier to achieve a balanced effect on both sides by removing a few hairs on one side and then alternating from one eye to the other.
- When removing hair make sure you follow the shape or contour of your facial structure, it really makes a big difference.
- If your skin turns red while shaving, simply use a little aloe vera gel or tea tree oil to remove the irritation.
- Shorten your brows for a perfect finishing touch. Comb the eyebrows upwards. Very long hairs will immediately catch the eye. Use a pair of scissors to shorten the tips that protrude beyond the thickest part of the eyebrows. Repeat by combing them down and shortening the tips that sprout beyond the thickest part of the eyebrow to the bottom as well. Finish by combing them upwards again.
- Try dabbing your eyebrows with a desensitizing cream, this will numb the part and eliminate the pain.
- You can apply ice to the area to reduce swelling and redness.
- Apply lotion to the skin around the eyebrows to relieve possible pain and redness.
Warnings
- Repeatedly removing a hair can destroy the follicle and prevent it from growing. Make sure you don't shave excessively.
- The angle of the tweezers is important for painless removal and to avoid ingrown hair and irritation. Pull in the direction of hair growth at a very small angle (at an angle less than 45 °), but never tear straight vertically.
