How To Pluck And Shape Eyebrows

Learn which tools and techniques to use in order to pluck and shape your eyebrows.

Before you begin plucking your eyebrows, you should take a few precautions to make sure that the process goes as smoothly as possible.First, you should wash your face so that it is free of any bacteria.Clearing away bacteria is important so that the bacterium does not get into the hair follicles while plucking.This should help prevent ingrown hair and infection.Next, make sure that your face is well-moisturized.Plucking hair from dry skin can be very painful.In addition, you may want to soak a washcloth in warm water and then hold it on your eyebrows for a minute or two to open up the hair follicles.This will make the plucking experience less painful.

In order to pluck your eyebrows, you will need the following: a good mirror, slanted-edged tweezers, an eyebrow brush, a marking device like eye liner or an eyebrow pencil, and eyebrow scissors.All of these supplies can be located in the health and beauty departments of most drugstores.Choose a mirror that magnifies your reflection so that you can see all stray hairs on your eyebrows.Oddly enough, rearview mirrors in cars are a great place to check your eyebrows for stray hairs after you have already plucked.

If possible, go to an area that has natural light when plucking.Natural light is the best light for plucking, but if it is late or you cannot find a good place with natural lighting, use a bright indoor light.

Before plucking, you will want to make marks along your brow line so that you can identify where your eyebrows should begin, arch, and end.To make the first mark, where the eyebrow should begin, hold a pencil upright from the point where your nostril meets your face to the inside corner of your eye.This will create a vertical line; make your first mark on the inside of where the tip of the pencil rests.Any stray hairs past this line (toward the middle of your face) should be plucked.

Next, keep the pencil at the base of the nostril, but move the tip outward so that it follows your brow line.When the pencil crosses your pupil when you are looking forward, stop.Make a mark at the tip of the pencil.This is where your brow should arch.Brush your eyebrows upward and work from the bottom to pluck stray hairs from underneath the arch.Be careful to not pluck too much!Thin eyebrows do not frame the face as well as well-groomed, thicker eyebrows.Your eyebrow will already have some sort of natural shape; your job is to define this shape so that it looks solid and frames your face.

When you have shaped the arch of your brow, again place the pencil to the base of your nostril.This time, let the tip follow your brow line until the middle of the pencil reaches the outer corner of your eye.Make a mark at the tip of the pencil.This is where your eyebrows should end.Pluck any stray hairs beyond this point, and pluck the eyebrows in between the arch and the end of the eyebrow so that they gently taper.You have now shaped your eyebrows!Wash your face to remove any bacteria that may have been introduced to your face via your hands or utensils, and also to remove the marks on your eyebrows.

If your eyebrows look a bit bare or bald in spots, use an eyebrow pencil to fill these in.Many companies now make pencil made exclusively for the eyebrows.Choose a shade of pencil that is slightly lighter than the color of your eyebrows so that the strokes of the pencil do not stand out.Fill in the bald or bare spots with the pencil, making sure to blend the strokes well.

You will need to maintain your eyebrows regularly.Plucking stray hairs during the week helps, but try to do a complete maintenance every one to two weeks.

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