four tips for growing out your eyebrows

i'd like to begin by mentioning that i am well aware that my brows are far from perfect, however if you read my eyebrow journey post back in may you'll know that my brows have been on a very interesting journey since i began messing around with them back in late 2011, and i'd like to think that they've come out of the whole ordeal in a much better place. i'm still working on thickening my brows up a little and growing the inner hairs so i don't need to rely so much on powder to give them the illusion of thickness, and below i'll be sharing the tips that've gotten my brows to how they are now, and how i intend to try and further grow them til they look how i desire them to.

one: swap your pencil for a powder

using a pencil to fill in my eyebrows was what led to me slowly plucking them all away. although it's not how they're intended to be used, it's easy to draw your brows in too heavily using a pencil, leading to extremely thick, dark and unnatural looking brows, which obviously then pushes you to pluck them away until filling them in then leaves them looking an acceptable thickness, which in turn leaves you with scraggly, barely there natural brows (which probably isn't a good luck for anybody.) it's a vicious cycle.

swapping to a powder was the best thing i did for my brows because it helped me get used to a more subtle, natural looking brow that relied on thicker natural brows rather than resented them, and slowly but surely i got used to my brows looking naturally thicker. it's also wise to invest in a good, small angled brush to fill your brows in with because it'll help you to fill them in perfectly and avoid going ott as you once did with your brow pencil. i'm currently using the real techniques detailer brush with the b. vivid eyeshadow in cinnamon to fill my brows in and they do the job wonderfully.

two: gradually reduce your plucking 

if you're as obsessed with plucking your brows as i was when mine were at their most sparse, i understand that it's hard to let them grow out and go wild for a little while, but it's totally necessary if you're to grow them back to their former selves. i began by restricting myself to plucking once a week, then twice a week and so on until now where i only really pluck them when there are nasty, thick stragglers hanging around way below my brow.

as a rule i tend to not pluck the inner corners or above my brow at all, but exceptions are made if i'm starting to grow a slight monobrow. to keep my inner corner hairs at bay, i tend to brush them upwards and give them a quick snip with some small scissors to stop them getting completely out of control and attempt to keep some kind of uniform shape to them. 

three: invest in a brow gel with a brush

picking up a brow gel with a brush completely changed the way i filled, plucked and felt about my brows. previous to using a brush gel, i used vaseline over my brows to set them in place for the rest of the day – meaning the hairs were then pushed to follow the shape of my brow, in a sort of 45 degree angle – and meant i was still somewhat obsessed with the 'drawn on' eyebrow look, but introducing a brow gel into my routine helped me to embrace the natural, bushy brow look, which in turn helped me to embrace my (what would've previously been unruly) brow growth. the brow gel i've been used is the e.l.f. treat & tame and it's been fantastic; it also comes in four shades so there's probably something to suit everyone!

four: make a brow wand your best friend

following on from point number three, an eyebrow wand can come in just as handy as a brush gel in helping you embrace the natural brow look. brushing through your brows with your fingers isn't quite as precise as using a brush, so giving your brows a good brush through before applying any products helps you to realise your natural shape and so comes in handy for shaping and grooming as well as enhancing them. i currently use the e.l.f. eyelash and brow wand and give my brows a good brush through morning and night to check up on their growth progress and whether or not they're growing a little out of shape and may need a little taming.

my eyebrows have become an important part of my beauty routine, and as such i probably feel a little too strongly about their wellbeing nowadays, but i thought it'd be nice to nip by and share the love just in case some of you guys were trying to grow your way out of a nasty eyebrow rut (and boy, don't i understand how nasty they can be!) as always, if you have any cruelty free eyebrow product recommendations or some helpful tips or advice, please feel free to drop them below in the comments!

tweet me @xrobynm  |  follow me via bloglovin