So you shaved your eyebrows. Maybe it was recently, maybe a long time ago, or maybe–gasp–somebody shaved them (worst prank ever). Or maybe you’re just considering it as a cheap option for brow management or somebody told you it’s a trick to grow in brows thicker and darker (not true).
Don’t feel bad: almost everyone has shaved their eyebrows at some point.
Let’s talk about solutions. Here’s what to do next:
Shaved eyebrows aren’t a great look on anyone.
Eyebrows help frame your face: they create structure for the rest of your face to fit into. If you shave them off, you’re going to look a little..well.. peculiar.
Shaving as a Brow-Shaping Alternative
Shaving could be considered a cheap, do-it-yourself alternative to brow waxing, threading or plucking. Albeit, it’s fast. But let’s dig in a little deeper to some issues with shaving your eyebrows.
1. Forget about precision
It’s almost impossible to be precise with a razor. Brows are fickle: pluck one too many hairs and the shape is out of whack. The average razor is about 2 inches wide. Forget about getting precise with that margin of error.
2. Once they’re gone, they’re gone–but just for now
Your brows can take anywhere from 8-16 weeks to grow back in fully, depending on your age and metabolism. That being said, it should be a bit faster when you shave, because you just cut the hair, not the follicle. Additionally, shaving shouldn’t cause the same trauma to the hair follicle that plucking, waxing or threading would. It doesn’t remove the brow hair at the base of the follicle, it simply cuts the hair at the skin. In this way, shaving can be “safer” for guaranteed brow regrowth. That doesn’t mean it’s a good alternative.
3. They’ll start to grow back, but it won’t be pretty
The brow hairs are cut at the skin, not removed at the base of the follicle. This means, much like your legs or armpits, the hair is going to start poking through the skin again in a few days but it’s going to look weird. Like, really weird. Your brow hairs will be short and blunt. They will appear “spiky” and may be rough to the touch. They will be impossible to shape.
4. They won’t actually grow in thicker and darker
We all believe it, right? Your hair will grow in thicker and darker if you shave it. We’ve seen it first-hand on our legs. Right.. right?!
Wrong.
What you’re seeing is the blunt edge of the hair as opposed to the tapered natural end of your hair. You continue to shave your leg hair, barely allowing it the luxury of growing back in. Your brow hair, however, will shed and regrow in at some point. Your eyebrows shed a lot faster than your head hair. They also go through the stages of regrowth a lot faster.
So while you won’t have thicker or darker brow hair permanently, you might have to illusion of darker brow hair for a few weeks to months.
But I already shaved them.. What now?
If you already shaved your eyebrows, you have no choice but to let them grow in and skip the razor next time. You shouldn’t cause any permanent damage to your eyebrows by shaving them, though again, they might appear thicker or darker for a short period of time because you have cut the blunt edge of the hair.
We suggest reading up on brows and next time either doing the plucking yourself, or enlisting an expert.
We also suggest filling in your brows with a fine-tipped brow pencil, like Anastasia Beverly Hill’s Brow Wiz. This type of pencil is so fine, you can redraw in the hairs lightly. Download our Brow Bible for full tips on filling in your brows.
Ready for Additional “Brows”ing?
Click any of the links below to keep reading:
1. How to Grow Out Brows Fast – A Day by Day Guide
2. How Long does it Take for Eyebrows to Grow Back?
3. Everything Brows in our Free E-book: The Amalie Brow Bible (below)
Get tips on regrowing, shaping and filling brows with our free E-book: The Amalie Brow Bible
