Think twice about ultra-thin brows — plus growth serums, overplucking, and fake brows
Bella Hadid walks the runway at the Max Mara fashion show during the Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2022/2023
The late 1990s are very present in fashion — twentieth birthdays often gild old trends. You may have seen some hair scrunchies or a pair of those platform trainers as once worn by Baby Spice, and you might have spotted some scant eyebrows. Ultra-thin brows are a thing again, but are they yours?
Some old-school brow advice is tosh. Shaving your brows won’t prevent regrowth or make them grow back abnormally, for example (see Debunking Medical Myths: The Eyebrow Shaving Myth, , Vol.1, Issue 2, April 2015, if only for the authors’ wonderful descriptions of brows, including “supraorbital arched eminences of hair-bearing skin”).
Overplucking does not always create permanent loss, and the same is true of waxing and threading mistakes.
However, advice from older women in your own family can be useful because bone structure and hair growth patterns are genetic. Old family photos are worth a look.
Plucking mistakes do not mean you’ll never see the hairs again unless you’ve damaged their follicles. Always pull the hair out at an angle, gently going with its grain, and avoid denuding large areas. Do not dig tweezers into your skin and never pluck in-grown hairs, they are especially vulnerable to infection and scarring. Bleeding anywhere is a signal to stop.
Your brows’ anagen (growth) phase is like but significantly shorter than that of the hair on your head. The duration of anagen dictates hair length, and while it is a plus that we don’t have brows growing into our eyes we do have to be patient about brow regrowth. The brows have a far greater number of hairs in the telogen (resting) phase of growth than your head, further increasing the wait time.
Some sources trace this trend to Rihanna’s September 2018 cover. Fans of Rihanna and Vogue know that (i) she didn’t keep those brows and (ii) the magazine always 'Vogue-ifies' cover stars with their own people, making a subject look less like themselves. This process is unique. Artist Isamaya Ffrench declined to explain how she created the brows to vogue.co.uk. We know Rihanna got rid of them fast (a cover shoot happens months before publication, the brow change would have made news), suggesting they weren’t real.
Make-up department head David Williams used the Anastasia Beverly Hills Perfect Brow Pencil, €28 at brownthomas.com, to lightly draw each brow for placement, before glueing on a set of hand-sewn lace pieces.
Makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin shaped the 1990s’ skinny 'power brows' of Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford and others. According to 2017 documentary , Carole Lombard inspired him to remove all but a fine line of hair. Maintaining this highly artificial look is a commitment and may get expensive if you need professional help.
As discussed, brow growth is like hair growth and there are myriad products claiming to promote growth in both areas. The only legal, independently proven ingredient for hair growth from the scalp is minoxidil (though even this does not work for everyone), sold under the brand name Regaine in Ireland, and this ingredient has also proven effective in some tests on brow hair. However, the brands that sell it do not recommend it for use on brows and it is a potential irritant to skin anywhere on the body.
Further, minoxidil tends to cause hair loss initially (while your body adjusts to it), and the same thing may happen to brows. I do not recommend any of the many brow growth products available because I have neither personal anecdotal nor independent scientific evidence that any work.
If you want growth after thinning your brows, I recommend getting comfortable with the stubbly phase or concealing it until your hair returns. at selected pharmacies, and , come in multiple natural-looking shades.
, is a nice filler if you’re not keen on pencil. Charlotte herself recommends going with your natural brow shade or one lighter and has described the thin look as “ageing and very hard".
Thick brows will be back. All it takes is the image of a celebrity with burly naturals going viral or an influential makeup artist who likes them and we’ll be encouraged to bush out again. The only way to protect your body from the cosmetic industry’s volatility is to reject it and cultivate your own beauty. Look up to the women in your family. Get a brow shape from someone you trust and remember that brows frame your face. Makeup artist, Lisa Eldridge, recommends keeping them as thick as your polished natural look allows.
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