Who doesn’t love a brow? Fluffy brows, thick brows, skinny brows, microbladed brows, no brows, drawn on brows, high arched brows, the unibrow, brows, brows, brows. So what does it take to make the perfect brow? It’s definitely a subjective topic, and one that has changed drastically over the years. We have subjected our brows to every kind of trauma we could possibly think up. We have tweezed, waxed, threaded, shaved, dyed, tattooed and trimmed our brows in pursuit of the holy grail of brows.
People have very strong and differing opinions about their brows, and there is a trend for everyone at the moment. Some people have no brows, whether it’s from excessive plucking in the 90’s, very fair hair or through medical conditions don’t stress, there are solutions should you wish for fuller brows! Some people have luxurious and lush brows they feel need to be tamed; there are solutions for everyone.
Brow waxing:
This is not a new trend, we have been waxing our brows for years and there is a reason for that – it works. It can help give definition and arch where there was none and tidy up your unruly stray brows.
Brow threading:
It has much the same effect as waxing but is slightly gentler on your skin. Better go in wearing your waterproof mascara though because it hurts like hell and you are guaranteed to cry.
Brow tinting:
It’s a great first step in exploring your brows and most of it will wash out within a few weeks so if you’re a commitment phobe or absolutely HATE it, it’s not a forever commitment. This combined with a good wax has always been my preferred method of brow maintenance. Traditionally the golden rule has been to always make sure your brows were the same colour or darker than your hair, but as we continue to push the boundaries of beauty standards this is no longer the case and there has been an upsurge of brow bleaching recently. This obviously only works if you have brows to start with.
Microblading:
However if you are a ride-or-die kinda person then microblading might be your thing! It’s essentially tattooing your eyebrows on, but not in one solid block, in hair like strokes to make it look as natural as possible. It lasts 1-3 years depending on skin type and aftercare. I don’t know about you but I think I would want to take the person about to tattoo my face out to dinner to really get to know them before they went anywhere near my face with a needle. I guess that puts me in the commitment phobe category. While there will always be horror stories, there are plenty of reputable salons and freelancers out there doing incredible work. I have a few friends who have had it done and it looks fantastic.
If you don’t like the sound of either of those options there is always safe and reliable, makeup. It’s stood the test of time and always been there in your times of need, like the time you accidentally shaved off half your brow. At the moment we are inundated with different types of brow products from powders, pomades, pencils and gels. They each give a different look from natural to full coverage, you really can create any type of brow you like. There has been some questionable trends in the last few years, and while I am all for experimentation, I can say with all confidence that I won’t be leaving the house with a shoe shaped brow. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
As the years go on I’m sure that we will continue to make our brow sweat with the experiments we test on them. Want to learn the basics of brows so you can create your own new trend? Check out The Australian Academy of Cinemagraphic Makeup’s short course in Lash and Brows in Brisbane. You will learn brow shaping for different face and eye shapes, and how to achieve the best results with brow waxing and tweezing. You will also learn how to safely colour the eyelashes and eyebrows through lash and brow tinting.
Subscribe to our RSS-feed and follow us on Twitter to stay in touch.
