How to Trim Your Own Eyebrows
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We all know the importance of keeping up our brows. And while most things are best left to the pros, it's sometimes necessary to do your own maintenance in-between appointments. Yes, you read that right, every now and then we have to trust our own hands to tweeze and trim our brows.
While trimming your brows may seem like an intimidating move, it's actually easier than it seems — so no need to freak out. And, of course, because we're here to help, we spoke to three celebrity brow artists break down how to do it so your arches look clean and refined year-round.
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How Often Should You Trim Your Eyebrows?
It ultimately depends on how quickly your brow hairs grow. Joey Healy, a Manhattan-based celebrity brow artist, says that as a rule of thumb, he wouldn't trim more than once a week. But adds that some people can get away with doing it once every eight.
What's the Best Way to Trim Your Eyebrows?
Cleanse your skin. This may sound out of place, but Healy says that this will help get rid of product buildup, such as sunscreen and brow gel, as this can weigh brow hairs down. Plus, this'll get rid of any excess oil, which could make getting a precise cut trickier.
Pick the right tools. Pick up a spoolie and a pair of scissors made for trimming brow. "You need high-quality, sharp scissors because even a millimeter can mean the difference between a perfect trim and a gap," explains Anastasia Soare, CEO and Founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills. (We recommend Joey Healy's Precision Brow Trimmer, which has an ergonomic grip for total control, and ABH's Brow Trimming Scissors.)
Brush them up and to the side. Tonya Crooks, founder of TheBrowGal, says that a common mistake people make is combing all the hairs in an upward direction, as this can result in unexpected dips and sparse areas when combed back into their natural direction. Instead, just brush the sections closest to the center of your face up, and the others in an angled, upward position toward the outer sides of the face.
Trim one hair at a time at a downward angle. "Don't give your brows a crew cut, which means don't trim them across in a straight line," says Healy. "Instead, cut one hair at a time in a downward angle. This keeps the edges of them looking fringy and feathery, which is more of the natural line of the eyebrow."
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What Are Some Mistakes People Make When Trimming Their Eyebrows?
One of the most common mishaps Soare's sees are people who over-groom their brows and shape them into arches that don't suit their faces, as she says the most flattering eyebrow shape is going to be tailored to the individual's bone structure. "The key to unlocking your personalized perfect brow is the ABH Golden Ratio Shaping Technique, which relies on three measurements: Brows should begin directly above the middle of your nostrils, should end where the corner of the nostril connects with the outer corner of the eye, and the highest point of the arch should connect the middle of the tip of the nose with the middle of the iris," she shares. (Can't figure it out? There's a TikTok filter for that!)
Healy says that some of the most common mistakes he sees, apart from people giving their brows crew cuts, are people who use magnifying mirrors to trim their brows. "Sometimes you overwork it and they get really short," he explains. "If you do it in a normal mirror with normal lighting, you'll have a better sense of where you're going as you style them with the scissors."