How I groom my eyebrows: a tutorial

I have decided to try and tackle the most popular questions I seem to get asked on this blog and give you clear, concise answers. So coming in at number two is: "How do you do your eyebrows?" (see this post for my answer to the number one most popular question, which is "How do you get that clean line at the bottom of you nails?").

So today I'm showing you my complete eyebrow regimen, from beginning to end. In other words:

The single most important beauty tip I ever received was from my dear ol' mom. In junior high she told me, "Don't ever over-tweeze your eyebrows, honey." And like a good daughter, I ignored her advice and did just that. So to those of you in your teens or early twenties: DON'T EVER OVER-TWEEZE YOUR EYEBROWS! Even if skinny brows are all the rage, DON'T DO IT. Take it from me: they never, ever grow back quite the same (if they grow back at all).

When I was 14, I wanted to look just like this:

Lady Gaga? Nope. Gwen Stefani? Nope. This is Dale Bozzio, the lead singer of the band Missing Persons. Dale Bozzio was rocking this look in the early 1980s, long before Gaga was born and about a decade or so before Gwen Stefani hit the scene with No Doubt. Though it's clear that both singers were heavily influenced by the style of Ms. Bozzio and so was I (well, at least my eyebrows were). OK, sorry, end of music history lesson for the day. The moral of this story is: if you tweeze your brows to look like a rock star, they'll never be the same again. I am living proof.

So in an effort to show you exactly how I groom my brows, I had to actually let my brows grow out to a completely unacceptable length (you can thank me later for that. No really. Please thank me. This sucked.)

Here are all the tools I require in order to get the job done:

First and most importantly, I had to find an at-home waxing kit that I actually like (this can require some trial and error). I personally like this Sally Hansen kit, and you can see a more detailed review of this exact kit here).

Second, you need baby powder (more on that later), a good pair of tweezers and clear brow gel (I use the Anastasia tweezers and clear brow gel that I reviewed for WeHeartThis because they rock, but they're not cheap, let me tell you). For a more affordable alternative, try Tweezerman tweezers and one of the various drugstore clear brow gels, or better yet, clear mascara, which tends to not cake or flake as much as some drugstore clear brow gels.

Next, I require my Holy Grail eyebrow pencil, Maybelline Define-A-Brow Eyebrow Pencil in "Dark Blonde" (I do adore the Anastasia eyebrow pencil but again, it's not in my budget). And finally, a micro hair trimmer. There are tons of micro hair trimmers on the market, but I always end up going back to the original Micro Touch trimmer, which is available at CVS in the "As Seen on TV" section. This one's pretty powerful and it tends to last longer for me than the other cheapies on the market.

So here's what I do:

(I have embarrassed myself in so many ways on this blog it's starting to be laughable! First I show you my dark under-eye circles, then I show you my puffy just-got-done-crying eyes, and now this. Have I NO shame?)

If you're going to use an at-home waxing kit, it's essential to apply baby powder to the area first. This helps make it easier for the wax to grab on to your hair. I love the scent of Johnson's Lavender and Chamomile baby powder, so that's what I use. I just pour a little bit of powder onto a Q-tip and then apply it that way.

OK, so after I apply the baby power, I apply the wax as directed. No matter what anyone tells you, at-home waxing kits are messy, so just be prepared for that. You can kind of see, on my left eye, that the wax leaves little strings everywhere, and I took the wax down a little bit too low on my lid. I'm personally used to the pain of waxing, so this doesn't freak me out. But if you're a first-time at-home waxer, just try to be more precise during application and you shouldn't have any problems.

Let me stop right here and say this: I STRONGLY advise you to get your brows shaped by a pro before you ever attempt to wax your brows at home. Why? Because a pro will be able to shape your brows in a way that truly fits the shape of your face. You can try to do this yourself, but trust me: it's essential to have a professional do it for you, even if it's only one time. Why? Because what you think fits your face shape may not TRULY be the most flattering shape for you. In my opinion, you need someone objective, who is skilled in this very art, to tell you what works.

Finding a good brow technician isn't easy, I will admit. In fact, when I wrote the Anastasia review for WHT, I had not yet found a brow technician that really understood me and my needs. I had tried several brow technicians at hair salons, nail salons, etc., but it wasn't until I visited a fancy-shmancy "brow bar" in La Jolla (La Jolla = expen$sive if you're not from California) that I got the brow shape that I love. The day after I got my brows shaped correctly by this woman, everyone--and I do mean everyone--noticed a significant, positive change in my appearance. I got everything from, "Wow, you look so thin!" to, "You look so fresh and awake!". So believe me, even though it takes research, time, and $50 or more for a pro to shape your brows, it's worth every penny.

And then you can be cheap like me, and just follow the shape they gave you and do it yourself from there on out!

OK, back to my process. Now, as you can see in the collage above, the wax doesn't catch and remove every hair. That's to be expected. But what you CANNOT see in those pictures is the very fine, light hairs that it DID remove. Those fine, light hairs are the KEY to having a well-groomed brow, and removing them makes ALL the difference.

I know a lot of you swear by tweezing and tweezing alone. I get it. I was just like you, for decades even. But once I got my brows waxed, and saw the effect of having all of those tiny, almost imperceptible little fine hairs removed, I became a believer. The overall look is so much cleaner, and best of all, your makeup will apply 1000 times more smoothly. Your eyeshadow will look better than you ever could have imagined. I promise you that.

Now the next steps in my process:

After tweezing any stray hairs left behind after waxing, it's time to apply the Finishing Oil that comes with the kit. I apply this with a Q-tip, and I swear it feels soooo good to apply it after waxing. It immediately removes the redness and swelling from my brows, so I like to leave it on for about 15 minutes.

Then, I cleanse my face with my regular facial cleanser, apply my moisturizer and then apply my makeup, including my eyebrow pencil.

After that's done, I look for any weird, stray hairs (sadly, I have some stragglers that grow in all sorts of weird directions and even with the help of brow gel, they do not lay flat). So for any unruly hairs that I see, I use my micro trimmer, but I'm telling you, the precision of a surgeon is required if you're going to use this tool. One wrong move with a micro trimmer and you'll end up like Vanilla Ice circa 1991:

So if you're not good with a micro trimmer, you should probably just use a tiny pair of scissors. The goal is just to trim unruly hairs--not remove them completely. If you remove those hairs completely, you could be left with a bald spot, and you don't want that. After that, I apply clear brow gel to lock my brows into place for the day.

And I'm done! That's literally....

I hope this tutorial helps some of you out a bit. Like I said before, I highly advise you to get your brows shaped by a pro first (read reviews on Yelp.com before you book an appointment!). Invest it in once, and you can just follow that shape on your own for a lot less money. Of course if you can afford the luxury of having your brows done professionally every time you need it, that's awesome! I'm just showing you my method for doing it at home (and saving serious money in the process).

Do you do your own brows or do you get them waxed, threaded, tweezed, etc. by a professional? If you do it at home, what method do you use? As always, I'd love to hear from you!

Disclosure: All of the items mentioned in this post were purchased with my own funds, with the exception of the Anastasia products, which were given to me by the owners of weheartthis.com for a previous review on their website.