Facial frame: how to correct eyebrows

Sloppy and unkempt eyebrows instantly spoil the entire look, so it is important to pay special attention to them. At the very least, it’s difficult to imagine spectacular eye makeup next to over-plucked or overgrown eyebrows! Where should you start?

The most important thing in this difficult task is to build the ideal eyebrow shape based on the proportions of the face. In this case, you need to take into account the shape of the eyebrows (arched, horizontal, straight, curved or ascending), their location and boundaries, as well as natural thickness. It is necessary to highlight the natural arch of the eyebrows, and remove all excess - then the eyebrow will turn out thick, but clean and well-groomed.

Eyebrow correction tools

Before we tell you how to properly correct the shape of your eyebrows, let’s take a closer look at the tools that are needed for this.

Tweezers . There is no need to skimp on this tool, since high-quality tweezers are a one-time investment that will last for many years and will guarantee the beauty of your clients’ eyebrows. A good tweezers should be made of high quality steel, and all its elements fit tightly together. The consequences of working with bad tweezers: broken hairs and injury to the walls of the hair follicle, which can lead to redness, ingrown hairs and pimples.

Scissors . To correct your eyebrows, you will also need special small scissors. They can be straight or curved depending on your wishes. But even ordinary nail scissors can provide the proper result if you need to correct your eyebrows.

Eyebrow brush . Here you have two options. The first is a special brush, which is shaped like a toothbrush and consists of evenly trimmed bristles. Option two is a soft spiral brush. Many professional makeup artists consider the first option ideal for adding shape and volume to eyebrows, but it all depends on your convenience.

Wax and spatula . When working with very overgrown eyebrows, wax will be a real salvation, because with its help you can remove several hairs at once with just one movement. If the wax set does not include a wooden spatula, ordinary orange manicure sticks can replace it.

Correction pencil . It will help create the shape of the eyebrows and outline its boundaries. Choose a white or light pink pencil, and do not forget to shade it or remove it completely after completing your eyebrow correction. It can also be used to highlight the brow area during makeup.

How to correct eyebrows

To begin, comb your eyebrows upward with a brush. Using a corrective pencil, mark problem areas and the boundaries of the shape so that you understand where the eyebrow should begin and end. When correcting your eyebrows with tweezers, follow the rule “measure twice, cut once” and pluck hairs only individually. Grab the hair at its base and gently pull it out without any particularly sharp movements.

It is advisable to pluck your eyebrows not 10 minutes before makeup, but a couple of hours before it, since the area under the eyebrows may turn red and swell. Before starting the plucking procedure and upon completion, it is recommended to disinfect the skin with hydrogen peroxide or chlorhexidine solution to avoid unpleasant consequences. If the skin is red and appears inflamed, apply a soothing cream to the area to speed up the healing of micro-injuries.

If the hairs are too long, take scissors. Comb your eyebrows upward and trim the hairs, retreating 1.5-2 mm from the upper and lower borders of the shape. If the hairs do not protrude beyond two millimeters, they can be styled in an ideal shape without trimming.

If you have overgrown eyebrows or need to part with downy hair, you can use wax. But in this case you need to be extremely careful, because you will not have a second chance. Using a wooden spatula, scoop up some heated wax and spread it over the excess hairs in a thin layer. Apply the strip, wait a couple of seconds and sharply pull it against the hair growth. After depilation, the skin also needs to be disinfected.

Daria Shelest, makeup artist, make-up artist for television and cinema

Eyebrows are a very sensitive and not so simple topic. Eyebrow modeling is not just plucking out excess hairs. The shape, size and position of the eyebrows are responsible for the visual size of the eyes, nose, forehead and facial proportions. Using eyebrows alone, we can visually narrow the nose or reduce the forehead. Therefore, it is important for the client to choose a form not based on pictures, but to build it logically, guided by the proportions of the person’s face. Just because thick, model eyebrows are in fashion does not mean that they will suit every client.

As for correcting the shape with tweezers and scissors, there is no magic here. We pluck hairs as needed, while everyone’s growth period is different. We pull them out in the direction of growth. We trim only if there is a need for it: we comb the hairs in the opposite direction, and remove everything that is 2 mm higher than the shape.

If you are not 100% sure about a hair, carefully move it away with tweezers and see what happens. Even one rashly pulled hair can create a “hole” effect. As for vellus hair growing along the top line of the form, the issue is not fundamental. If you don't like it, get rid of it. And most importantly, stop yourself periodically and look at the client’s face in the mirror.