Eyebrow Shaping at home

What is the best way to shape eyebrows at home?

With 3 lockdowns under my belt, I can safely say that brows pose the biggest beauty challenge when the salons are closed!

You might feel stuck between a rock and a hard place; leave your brows alone and risk the dreaded bushy look, or have a go yourself and ruin all the hard work you’ve put in to achieving perfect salon brows….

I can’t have you in this dilemma, so if you decide to have a go at home, here are some simple rules to follow. Don’t go too mad – stick to just the bushy bits and we’ll sort the rest out in the salon as soon as we can.

** Before we start

here’s what you’ll need:

• Face cleanser, micellar water or similar, and a cotton pad
• Spoolie brush, brow comb, or an old mascara wand
• Stork scissors or similar from your sewing or first aid kit
• A good dark brow pencil, well-sharpened
• Some cotton thread, any colour, or a wooden cuticle stick (even a kebab stick would work!)
• Clean, sharp tweezers

Cleanse the whole brow area to remove any oil or dirt, then give brows a good comb through. Very carefully trim any long wiry ones with the scissors – not down to the root, just so the length blends in with the other hairs.

Once tinted, we’re ready to begin!

Step 1

Golden Rule 1 – Measure first, pluck later

We’re going to measure 3 critical points on the brows to get that perfect shape.

Point A

Grab your thread and pencil. First, we measure point A, the point where the brows start, or ‘bulb’ to give it the proper name. Your line should be straight across. Mark this point with your pencil.

Notice on this picture that the model’s brows aren’t exactly matching – this is completely normal and we’ll come to that in step 2.

Point B

Next, we’re going to create the Arch ‘zone’. Measure two lines here – shown in green on the diagram.

First, place a pencil mark at the top of a vertical line running to the outer edge of the eye.

Look straight ahead, then take another parallel line at the edge of your iris, and mark the top of that line too.

The area between these lines is your Arch Zone. You can place your arch anywhere within the zone, so work with your natural brow shape and personal preference. Once you decide where to place it, mark with a pencil and erase the other two marks, so you’re left with just one…. Avoiding confusion!

Point C

Lastly, we’re going to mark where your brow should finish… the tail. Follow the pink line on the diagram and take a straight line from the side of your nose, right through the last lash on your eyelid. Where this line meets the brow is the ‘ideal’ endpoint – mark this too.

Step 2

Now we’ve marked up our 3 critical points, it’s time for a symmetry check.

This is the part where it often goes wrong at home. It’s almost impossible to achieve perfect symmetry by looking in the mirror because whatever hand you’re using to tweeze, blocks your light AND your sight so you can only ever really see one eye perfectly.

By marking and measuring BEFORE you tweeze, we avoid the pitfalls of taking too much off one side then having to go back and take more off the other side, etc etc.

Two lines to check here;

Take your thread or stick and measure it horizontally from the lower point of the bulb you marked in step 1. Make sure both brows are lined up and adjust your marks if needed.

Sticking with this blue line, also check the tails are not lower than the bulbs.

[this is another of the golden rules… by keeping the tails high, it keeps eyes looking lifted, avoiding the droopy effect when brows have grown out]

Next, check the uppermost part of the brow, the tip of the arches, and make sure they line up. Notice on the diagram that this face has one brow higher than the other, so we’ll need to bring the left side down and the right side up when we tweeze – shown with arrows. Adjust your marks if needed.

Step 3 – Mark up and Tweeze

Now you’ve measured, checked symmetry and marked, it’s a good idea to add a dotted line to join up your marks and give you a guide to work from before picking up your tweezers.

If you have symmetry to correct, I’d also suggest adding arrows like I’ve done in the diagram, to remind yourself where you need to focus on removing hairs. In the diagram, you can see the blue arrows show where we need to pluck from underneath the brow, as this side naturally sits lower on the face, but the green arrow shows where we are going to bring down the too-high arch.

Check your lines, grab your tweezers, and remove the hairs that are sitting OUTSIDE the lines you’ve drawn. Don’t be tempted to take more, trust the process J

Remember to always s-t-r-e-t-c-h the skin when tweezing; gentle pressure on the skin reduces that plucky sensation and helps the hairs slip out more easily.

Once you’ve finished tweezing, grab your cleanser again, and with a fresh cotton pad, wipe away all your marks and lines.… and admire your new brows!

Got any questions or need some more help? Book an online virtual consultation with one of the team and we can talk you through it. 

You can also watch me doing a very quick Facebook LIVE of this method here: