How to Restore Your Naturally Beautiful Eyebrows

When I was younger, I hated my eyebrows. I used to stare at the little hairs above my eyes as if they were cramping my style, whilst clenching a pair of tweezers with my right hand. A few minutes later, and about 50% of those hairs were deforested and I looked like 17% of the Amazon rainforest. After I had removed my precious eyebrow hairs, I began to realise I had made a huge mistake. I actually preferred the what I thought were bushes to the barely there shrubs.

I spent most of high school with a full side fringe trying to cover up my mistakes. After I graduated, I felt it was time to take a stand and make a change. With slight hesitation, I began the gruelling task of growing them out.

Now, some might ask, why didn’t I just grow them back underneath my fringe? Well, to be honest, I tried. The only issue was, every time I saw them growing, I impulsively picked up the tweezers and plucked them out. I couldn’t control it, it seemed too hard at the time. What I didn't know was that I needed to accept them and learn to love them the way they were meant to be: natural.

Here are 5 things you need to know before you embark on your journey to naturally beautiful brows.

1. Eyebrows are not meant to be high-maintenance

People often feel that eyebrows need attention on a daily basis, even incorporating brow maintenance as part of their makeup routine (I should know, I used to be one of those people). This is not the case at all. Eyebrows are in fact, meant to be low-maintenance. Let me share with you a little bit of the fun, sciency stuff to do with brows.

Phase One: Anagen (the Growth Phase)

This is the active growth phase of the hair follicles, during which the root of the hair divides rapidly and adds to the hair shaft. An unknown signal then causes the follicle to go into…

Phase Two: Catagen (the Intermediate Phase)

This is the intermediate or transition phase that occurs after the hair has fully grown, and ends the active growth of hair. Existing hairs transform into club hairs by attaching the hair follicle in contact with the lower portion of hair to the hair shaft.

Phase Three: Telogen (the Shedding Phase)

This is the final stage of the cycle, in which the hair follicle rests right before it sheds and repeats the whole cycle again.

Conlusion:

As you can see, eyebrows require a lot of time and effort to grow. On average, you should usually start to see new growth around the 3-week mark, and it takes approximately 4-7 months on average to complete a full hair growth cycle. So leave them to do all the dirty work, while you take a nice, 4-7 month long vacation! While you’re at it, it might be a good idea to hide, or even throw away, those tweezers (I’m serious)!

2. Eyebrows can never be perfect and are almost always assymetrical

If you’re like me, or many others, one of the reasons for over plucking is because we are trying to make both of our eyebrows exactly the same. Let me be frank. Eyebrows are almost always assymetrical. In reality, your eyebrows should look like sisters (or brothers), and definitely not twins. After you’ve experienced enough growth and you feel like you’re ready to make your move, remember this key point! It is important. Also, remember that your eyebrows will look the most perfect when there is more to work with.

3. It isn’t hard or even bad to grow your eyebrows out in stages

Personally, I found that growing my eyebrows out strategically was a lot better than letting them go like an uncontrollable wildfire. What helped me the most through this difficult time was my best friend: the eyebrow pencil. After about the 4-week mark, I could see a more natural shape forming and using an eyebrow pencil to fill-in sparse areas and gaps was a lifesaver! This way my eyebrows not only looked on fleek, but I could use the outline of my bold brows to tweeze any stray hairs that weren’t playing a major part in the beautiful swan lake performance.

4. Never, I repeat never, touch your eyebrows when you’re sad (and I mean it)

I feel that not many people are even aware of this valid point, at all. Brow maintenance requires a good frame of mind. Not only do you need to be 100% committed to growing out your natural brows, you need to be in the right frame of mind before you even think about touching them. Too many times have I been feeling under the weather and thought it would be a great idea to take it all out on my eyebrows, waking up the next day thinking what in the world have I done to all my hard work? Your eyebrows don’t deserve it, and neither do you. If you’re not sure if you are in the right mindset to go ahead and touch your brows, take this quiz and see if you get the green light. Anything above 60% and it’s a no-go zone!

5. Regardless of all the self-help guides on “finding the right brow shape for your face”, the best eyebrows on you are the ones you were born with

Sometimes we try a little too hard to change the things that may be better off left alone. The best eyebrows for your face will always be the ones you were born with, maybe in need of a little bit of maintenance, at most. You are beautiful and your eyebrows deserve to stand out! Learn to love and accept the eyebrows you were born with. I am sure they look browtastic.