Eyebrows Only
Eyebrows frame the face. This is why the shape and appearance of your eyebrows is so essential to how you look. Even a minor adjustment to eyebrows can cause a major change in your appearance. So lets start with the basics.
Eyebrows 101
The safe rule for any eyebrow to look good is to start the eyebrow at the corner of the eye (Diagram A), place the arch at the side of the iris (Diagram B), and end the brow at the corner of the eye (Diagram C). The goal is to get an eye’s width between the two eyes, and to have nothing hanging over the outer edge of the eye. For those who love numbers, from point A to B=60% of the total length. From point B-C=40% of the total length. This is the way a normal eyebrow will look most flattering on most people.
Of course there are always exceptions. Some people have wide set eyes or close set eyes. Some eyes droop, or some brows are very heavy and strong. In all these cases the above brow will look good, but there are other tricks that a good brow designer will use to frame the face better. Quite frankly, these cases are why most people entrust their brows to someone like me.
As many of my devoted eyebrow fans know I have a very unique philosophy on eyebrows. Not everyone will agree with me, but those who don’t I send to someone else who can make them happy. For me eyebrows are one of the most important features of the face, and to make them look their best I think you have to follow a few simple rules.
Eyebrows are sisters not twins.
Your face isn’t perfectly symmetrical, so why would you want your eyebrows to be perfectly symmetrical? Your eyebrows should, like sisters, look very similar to one another, but they aren’t supposed to be mirror images of each other. By trying to make them mirror images you are just exaggerating your features’ asymmetrical flaws.
You are not J-Lo a.k.a. Stick with your natural shape
People laugh when I say this, but the number one thing I hear from a new client is “Here’s a picture of the eyebrows I want”. And invariably the picture is of J-Lo! I am not kidding. I couldn’t make this up if I tried. I sometimes wonder if Jennifer Lopez knows her eyebrows are in such high demand…
Your face has it’s own shape, and your brow bones have their own natural structure. If you don’t look like J-Lo I can guarantee that even if I could get your brows the exact shape as hers, they still wouldn’t look that way on you. Bone structure, features, face shape, and eyebrow hair growth all factor into your own, ideal, natural brow shape. I know there are places out there that tell you to pick a template and then shape your brows to it, but those brows always look unnatural and separate from the features of the people wearing them. It’s like trying to make an Andy Warhol painting look good in the same frame as a Raphael painting. The two artist just aren’t the same and therefore they each need a different look.
Train Don’t Trim
You’ve seen these around, heck this might be you! There are many people who feel that eyebrows need to be trimmed super close to the face. They feel that if they have any length to the hair it will go wild and get out of place. BAH! Trimming here and there is necessary especially if you have curly or bone straight brows. But over trimming brows not only makes them look messy as they grow in, but can leave gaping holes, and thin spot in the brows. This is why I teach my clients to train their eyebrows!
Eyebrows are just hair. They can be trained just like the hair on your head. It takes about 3 month of persistence, but it works. Ask any one of my clients. They can each tell you that training takes time, but is worth it. Not only does training your brows keep your brow shape longer, it makes it appear more natural, and can even fix problems you have with your brow shape.
Let them grow!
Most people have a tendency to over pluck. They get into the mindset that just one more hair will make the sides perfect images of each other (please remember my 1st rule!). This leads to people taking off too much hair. Also people don’t know how to create a good brow shape so they just blindly tweeze away. Too thin brows can’t frame the face. I am not saying you need Brooke Sheilds size brows, but quite frankly those look better on most people than pencil thin!
Creating good brows is often a time consuming and annoying process. Often you have to walk around for a couple of months with eyebrows that don’t look their best as you grow hair back in. You have to learn to love the new “look” you have, even if it’s totally different from what you’ve been wearing for the past 10 years. I don’t know how many times someone has left me worried that they look “like a freak” because we took out 5 hairs on each side of the inner brow. “It looks so big!” they always say. I tell them to try it out until the next wax and see what people say. “Give yourself time to get used to it. It’s not any different than getting a new haircut. You need time.” Is what I always reply. 9 out of 10 times the person is happy in 2 weeks when I see them again. If they aren’t, guess what, those 10 hairs will grow back if you just don’t touch them!
It’s weird to think about, but as an esthetician I have to go to an esthetician to get facials. As I tell all my clients, you just can’t give yourself a good facial. You can’t successfully and safely extract on yourself, and you can’t give yourself a proper massage either.