Do you shape your eyebrows? If not, you are missing out on an excellent beauty technique. Shaping the brows isn’t all about having razor sharp edges, it’s about framing the face and giving it a solid form. So many women opt to visit a professional to shape their brows. The biggest issue when faithfully going to a professional is cost. The average brow service costs about 15 dollars, and most women visit their esthetician every two weeks. It may not seem that expensive since the payments are so widespread, but at the end of a year you end up spending $360.00, and that is if you don’t tip. The $360.00 you spend on your brows could go toward a new designer bag or a weekend getaway, you just have to shape your brows yourself, at home.

How to fill in your eyebrows

Why should I shape my brows?

As discussed earlier, the main reason for shaping the brows is to give your face a definite shape. There are tons of pictures floating around the net involving a single model wearing a variety of brow shapes. These posts have become so popular because the difference in the way she looks in each picture is uncanny. Depending on which shape you choose you could end up looking older, younger, bigger, or slimmer than you really are.

Over-tweezing seems to be an enormous issue for some women. Many do it because growing their brows back after becoming a slave to a bad fad is a lengthy process. Thin eyebrows can cause the eyes to appear puffy. Most people’s brow bone protrudes out, and if you remove hair from the brow bone, it becomes a part of your eyelid which isn’t a pleasant sight. Having thin eyebrows can also cause oily skin since the brows and lashes catch the oil that secretes from the forehead.

Some people remove so much hair that they have to use a pencil to fake sections of their brow. Having an eyebrow that stops short can cause your face to look heavy, and your eyes may appear rounded. In order to look your best, there is a certain length the brow should be, but we will get into that later.

Letting your brows grow naturally may not look bad but shaping them can give you a more polished look. You don’t have to give them a high arch or have edges like a Hollywood actress, but you should perform a little maintenance.

I’ve never shaped my brows at home, how do I do it?

There are three ways to shape your eyebrows at home:

1. Tweezing

Tweezing

One of the first methods of hair removal was tweezing. Tweezing consists of pulling each hair from the follicle one by one with a pair of tweezers. Slanted tweezers are the best type to use but if you have ingrown hairs or hairs that are short, a pointed tweezer may grab them better.

Believe it or not, there is a technique when tweezing the brows. Take your index finger and thumb, then stretch the skin around the hair you are going to pull. This technique helps to open the hair follicle, so you endure less pain while tweezing. Second, grab the hair with your tweezer as far down on the shaft as possible because grabbing and pulling your hair from the tip can cause the hair to break. When you pull the hair, you should pull in the direction of hair growth so you can slide the bulb directly out. To prevent skin injury, moisten your skin with a toner before tweezing and then soothe and disinfect with tea tree oil once you are done.

2. Waxing

When people visit a professional, they are most likely going to a waxing service. Waxing is a technique that uses a sticky wax to remove your hair. The wax comes in a plethora of formulas, most of which are categorized by skintype. The wax gets warmed either in a wax pot or the microwave and is applied to the skin. A wax strip is placed on top of the wax and is tugged away from the skin. Your hair gets caught inside of the wax as it dries, so it is removed from the follicle when the wax strip is pulled. People like waxing because it leaves the skin feeling silky smooth and last much longer than shaving.

You may need to practice a bit before waxing yourself. Start in an area that is tough to do incorrectly, like the legs. Warm the wax and then take a stick to spread it across an area of your skin. You want to spread the wax in the direction of hair growth so pay attention to your growth pattern. Immediatelyplace a wax strip over the area and rub it for about 5 seconds. Take your non-dominant hand and put it on the skin near the top of the wax strip (be careful not to touch the actual strip). Then, firmly press down and pull the skin back. At the same time pull the wax strip in an upward motion away from the direction of hair growth. To prevent injury moisten the skin with toner and disinfect with tea tree oil.

3. Shaving

You could always shape your brows with a razor. Eyebrow razors are small blades that fit in small nooks and crannies allowing you to get detailed. To prevent ingrown hairs, stroke your blade in the direction of hair growth. It may help to hold your brow skin taut while shaving, so you get a clean and crisp line. You should moisten your skin with toner before you begin and soothe with tea tree upon conclusion.

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Additional tools for success

If you are still a little leery about shaping your brows at home, there are a few tools that can make it easier;

• Brow pencils allow you to add color and length to your brows, they can also be used to make them appear cleaner.
• Stencils are great for someone that can’t eyeball even eyebrows.
• A brow gel will help keep unruly hairs in place.
• You should map out your brow shape before removing any hair. Take a pencil and measure from the corner of your nose to the corner of your eye, this is where your brow should end. Then, measure from the corner of the nose to the pupil, this is where your arch should be. Lastly, measure from the corner of your nose to the inner corner of your eye, this is where your brow should begin.

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