The dos and don’ts of skinny eyebrows
It’s arguably Hollywood’s most masterful rebrand. Pamela Anderson, who attended the Couture shows in Paris last week, has been anointed fashion’s new darling – at the tender age of 57.
The Baywatch actress and former Playboy playmate who stunned critics in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, has reimagined herself as a barefaced Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy for the 2025s, retiring the amorphous hair and outlined lips for make-up free skin and streamlined silhouettes.
The one constant in Anderson’s armoury is the pencil thin eyebrows. Her skinny arches that, let’s be honest, have been out of favour for decades are suddenly being adopted by a gaggle of fashion influencers from Doja Cat to models Bella Hadid and Gabriette.
Ordinarily, approval from a handful of early adopters shouldn’t disrupt your brow game, but thanks (or not) to social media, beauty trends trickle up from Gen Zers to Gen Xers at lightning speed these days. Not to mention, with skinny denim being touted for a comeback, thin eyebrows are a mighty fashion flex.
The end of laminating and other such methods of fashioning brows into caterpillars will please some for whom eyebrow hair growth has been impossible to muster. Especially if you overplucked in the Nineties.
Or if (sigh) you are in the menopause transition when eyebrow and eyelash hairs so often shed. And of course, heavy set brows don’t suit every eye shape, particularly women with hooded lids for whom a pair of Brooke Shields eyebrows would overpower deep set eyes.
Regardless of trends, groomed brows have great power to transform the face. The question is, should you thin out? And if you go too far, how can you correct? We’ve consulted our experts and the answers may surprise you.
How to know if skinny eyebrows will suit you
Eyebrow expert, Nez Hasan, says you must consider your facial features before you take tweezers to your brows. She explains: “If you have strong features – a striking jawline, high cheekbones and pronounced brow muscle with little lid showing (i.e. Angelina Jolie) – then you can get away with a thin eyebrow shape.”
As can those with an oval, heart shaped or diamond face shape. However, she says, a round or square face shape combined with soft features is better suited to thicker brows. For women over 50, Hasan prefers a rounder shape that helps to lift the eye area without over emphasising the arch – which “will give you an angry look.” Not too thin, not too thick or long (drags the face down) tends to win when age is a concern.
How to pluck your eyebrows without ruining the shape
If you are game for slimming down your eyebrows yourself, then eyebrow queen Daxita Vaghela says heed with caution: “Begin by drawing the shape you want with a brow pencil first. Then proceed by removing the hairs outside of the shape you’ve drawn.” Using good quality tweezers (she likes Tweezerman), begin at the inside corner where the brow is thickest and finish at the tail, tweezing one line of hairs at a time, standing back to look in the mirror, and repeating on the other side. Moving from one brow to the other in a measured way helps to keep eyebrows symmetrical.
Her top tip? “If you are right handed begin with the left eyebrow and vice versa if you are left handed,” she advises. “This will help to slow the process down and give you more control.”
How to grow back hairs when you’ve overplucked
Hasan warns against overplucking, which can “kill the follicle when repeated too often”. In ordinary circumstances, however, good brow care can encourage the hairs to regrow. She recommends using natural products such as Hairgredients Miracle Kit, £57, which includes the brand’s hero Hair and Brow Mask containing 7 oils, including castor and vitamin E with anti-inflammatory aloe vera and biotin to promote keratin production. The kit comes with an anti-bacterial spray and dermaroller to help the ingredients penetrate better and speed up hair growth. “Derma rollers have been scientifically proven to regrow hair,” says Hasan. The mask is also available to buy separately.
Microblading: The low-down
Microblading is a semi-permanent way to correct brow hair loss, particularly if you’re in menopause or have lost your brows due to illness. Moreover, creating your best shape via the natural looking cosmetic procedure saves you hours of threading, waxing or teasing eyebrow hairs in the long run. Microblading works by depositing pigment below the skin using a needle-like pen that the practitioner uses to draw life-like strokes of hair where yours are missing.
You may or may not require numbing cream depending on your pain threshold. The skin will be red and tolerably sore for a day or so afterwards and the pigment will intensify briefly before it fades back to its intended shade two to three days later. The initial treatment is performed over two sessions spaced one month apart.
Results last between 18-30 months and may need topping up every six to 12 months if desired. Eventually the pigment will fade should you wish to return to your natural brows. Vaghela works out of Atherton Cox in Marylebone London. The first session costs £490 for two treatments and £300 for yearly top ups.
