How to shape your eyebrows at home: A step-by-step guide to brow tweezing, tinting, trimming and waxing.

Hey, just checking in. How are your eyebrows going?

I know – now we’re all working from home and living in isolation to help keep Australians safe from the spread of COVID-19 (you can find out the most up-to-date coronavirus information here) for the near future, how your brows are looking isn’t the most urgent priority.

WATCH: How to do your eyebrows at home in a few easy steps. Post continues after video.

That doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to feel mildly concerned about what your eyebrows will look like in the coming weeks/months if you’re A) someone who has regular eyebrow tinting and shaping appointments or B) are at risk of over-plucking them out of sheer boredom in self-isolation.

The good news (for your brows) is you can absolutely do your eyebrows yourself at home… with some helpful advice from a person who does brows for a living, Benefit National Brow Artist Hannah Mutze.

Below, you’ll find a step-by-step guide on exactly how to tweeze, pluck, tint and wax your eyebrows to see you through until your next professional appointment, as well as the few things you probably shouldn’t do yourself to avoid finding yourself in this situation:

How to shape eyebrows.

First up, let's be realistic about what you can achieve DIY with zero to little eyebrow shaping experience.

Want a general tidy up of your existing shape? Go for it. Feel like shaping your eyebrows for the first time or want to change your shape entirely? Wait until you can book an appointment with a professional.

Now, onto how to maintain and tidy up your eyebrows at home. Here are the tools you'll need to shape your brows:

• Slanted tweezers - Benefit Cosmetics Brow Grooming Tweezer & Brush ($37), Tweezerman Slant Tweezers ($37.95) and Manicare Ultimate Slant Tweezers ($13.99) are all great.
• A spoolie brush - you can pick up a 50-pack of these mascara wands at the chemist from $8.
• Cosmetic nail scissors - any will do as long as they're small and sharp.
• An eyebrow pencil - use whichever eyebrow pencil you already have at home, or even an eyeliner pencil.

Why do you need this stuff? According to Hannah, the most unf*ckupable way to do any kind of eyebrow shaping (plucking and tweezing, waxing and trimming) is to start by drawing a brow map. Think of it as a template for the eyebrow shape that will best suit your face and a guide for where you're going to tweeze, trim or wax.

Here's how to do it (step-by-step images below):

1. To find the ideal brow start point (where you want the eyebrow to start in the middle of your face), hold your brow pencil up to your face vertically inline with your nostril. Where the top of your pencil hits your eyebrow is your start point - make a little mark there with your pencil. NOTE: Making your mark just above where the pencil and brow intersect will give you a wider margin a.k.a less chance of stuffing up.
2. To find the ideal brow arch point (where the highest point of your eyebrow should be), keep the pencil inline with your nostril and hold it at an angle that matches up with the inner edge of your iris. Where the top of your pencil hits your eyebrow is your arch point - make another mark there.
3. To find the ideal brow end point (where the brow should finish), move your brow pencil to the edge of your nose and angle it diagonally to the outer corner of the eye. Mark where the top of your pencil hits your eyebrow - that's your end point.
4. Repeat the process on the other side, then connect the marks on top of your brows with straight lines: start point to arch point, arch point to end point. Use your natural shape as a guide, and take the lines higher if you're unsure. NOTE: Keep the lines straight rather than curved.
5. Connect the marks under your brow in the same way: start point to arch point, arch point to end point.
6. Well done, take a break.

Yes, it's extra effort. But without it, you can very easily transgress from plucking a few stray hairs to stepping back from the mirror to find you've got tadpole brows (rounded, uneven brows that look like a sperm) or 90s Spice Girl brows.

How to pluck eyebrows.

Once you've drawn your brow map - and only then - Hannah will allow you to pick up the tweezers. (Look, she can't really stop you because, social distancing, but she is the expert.)

"All you need to do is remove all of the hairs that sit outside the lines of your brow map," she said.

Some other important plucking tips:

• Before doing anything, take your spoolie and brush your brows up so you can clearly see what you're working with.
• Always tweeze in the direction of the hair growth - pulling against it can damage the hair follicle, which means hair will no longer grow from that follicle (this is why your brows never grew back if you plucked them aggressively in the past).
• Go slow and remove hairs one at a time rather than in big chunks.
• Use your free hand to pull the skin near where you're plucking taught to make is easier to grab each hair with the tweezer, and far less painful.

How to trim eyebrows.

People with long eyebrows that stick up towards the heavens, good news! Hannah says trimming your brows "is surprisingly easy to DII if you proceed with caution." Here's how:

• Use small cosmetic scissors, preferably with a safety tip to avoid any accidents.
• ALWAYS brush your brow hairs up before you trim them.
• After brushing them up, only trim away excess length that sits outside of your brow map.
• Trim hairs one by one to avoid a blunt, block effect.
• Too nervous to trim? Just use a clear brow gel to brush and set your eyebrows into place. My favourites are the Rimmel Brow This Way Eyebrow Gel in Clear ($12.95) and Benefit 24-Hr Brow Setter Invisible Brow Gel ($45).

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Fresh #benefitbrows ❣️ Waxed, tweezed and tinted then groomed into place with BROWVO Conditioning Primer - it’s like a leave in conditioner for your brows. #brows #benefit #eyebrows #transformationtuesday

A post shared by  Hannah (@hannahmutze) on Nov 24, 2019 at 1:50pm PST

How to wax eyebrows.

Hannah's advice is to tweeze or trim over waxing because a lot more can go wrong when you put hot wax near your eyes.

If you insist on doing it, be extremely careful and 100 per cent do not try and wax your brows free-hand. Use your brow map, and choose a waxing product like a wax pen (the $15 Nads Hair Removal Gel Natural Facial Wand has great reviews) or small wax strips designed for the face.

Personally, I would leave waxing to the professionals.

How to tint your own eyebrows.

To end on a high, it's also pretty easy to tint your eyebrows at home. The best and most affordable option is the $20 1000 Hour Eyelash & Brow Dye Kit you can buy from most chemists. It comes in shades light brown, dark brown, brown black, black and blue black.

Unless you naturally have black hair or brows, keep black and brown black for your eyelashes (you can learn how to tint your eyelashes at home here).

Here is Hannah's advice for not ending up with brow tinting regret:

• Always read the instructions really carefully, and patch test the product on a small area of skin if you haven't used it before.
• Dye will stain your skin, so be precise with application and wipe off excess dye around your brows with a cotton tip as you go. You can also outline your brows with Vaseline or Paw Paw Ointment to protect the skin from staining.
• If in doubt, choose a lighter colour dye because you can always add more colour but you can't lighten your brows once they've been dyed dark.
• The box might say to leave the product on for three to five minutes, but pro tip: leave dye on for one minute and wipe off to check the colour, then repeat this process until you've got the shade you're after.
• An alternative to eyebrow tinting is using a tinted brow gel to fake a darker brow. The McoBeauty More Brows Brush On Fibre Gel ($14), Bourjois Brow Fiber Oh Oui ($23) and Benefit Gimme Brow+ Brow-Volumizing Fiber Gel ($45) are all brilliant.

OK, so all of this information is very helpful, but you might be wondering, why even bother?

The answer is, you don't have to. It comes down to how you feel.

Like washing your hair or applying skincare, taking 15 minutes (OK, 30 minutes) to groom your eyebrows is one act of self-care you can do in the safety of self-isolation to bring a bit of joy and calm to your day.

Feature image: Supplied/Hannah Mutze.

Do you have any great at-home beauty tips? Let us know in the comments below!

If you're after more content on doing your eyebrows, check out these:

• This is what Leigh Campbell says when people ask her about eyebrow microblading.
• "I gave myself a monobrow to achieve perfect beauty blogger brows."
• 27 irrational but legitimate thoughts every woman has after getting her eyebrows tinted.