Last week I looked at how to map your eyebrows and determine your perfect eye brow shape. Today, I share a few quick fixes to the most common eyebrow issues women over 40 have.
The problem: Vanishing Brows
Is thinning hair or sparse brows making you look older than you are?
The Solution: Use a brow powder or eyebrow pencil to fill in patchy spots and make your arches look thicker.
Steps
- Start by gently pulling your skin taut with one hand to create a smooth surface.
- With a pencil, draw or with an angled brow brush, dust on the powder in the same direction your hairs grow, using light, feathery strokes. Concentrate on sparse areas.
- When you’re finished, brush the hairs up and out with a brow brush or comb (it’s like a clean mascara wand); this blends and softens the powder so it looks more natural and removes any excess powder or colour.
Must-Have Products
- Tarte Amazonian brow pencil
- Too Faced brow quickie
- Bobbi Brown brow shaper
- Bobbi Brown brow pencil
- Benefit brow kit
The problem: Disappearing Tails
Your eye brows are naturally thin at the tail end. This can be the result of overplucking.
The Solution: Lengthen your brow tails with a pencil.
Steps
- First, determine where the tail of your brow should end by holding a pencil diagonally from the outside corner of your nostril to the outer corner of your eye. The spot where the pencil intersects with your brow is your target.
- Extend your brows to that point by using the brow pencil to sketch light, feathery strokes in the same direction your hairs grow.
- Dust some translucent powder over the pencil to set—and blend the penciled-in tails with the rest of your hairs—by stroking a tinted brow gel over the entire length of your eyebrows.
Must-Have Products
The problem: Greying Brows – Grey or white brows creating havoc with your features.
The Solution: Camouflage colorless hairs using the right technique, which depends on the number of greys you have.
Steps
Few to a Significant Number of Stray Hairs
- Hide a few strays with waterproof mascara or brow wands that match your eyebrow color. Simply comb the strands with the wand for instant results.
- If you have a significant number of greys, color them temporarily by brushing on a tinted brow gel that’s slightly lighter than the non-grey hairs.
Mostly Grey Hairs
- If your brows are mostly grey, dyeing them is the best fix. Ask your hairstylist if your salon offers the service (it’s often free when you get your hair colored), or have it done at a spa.
Tip: Even if the hair on your head is silver or grey hair, I suggest dyeing brows light brown as It creates a frame for your eyes that sharpens your features for a more youthful look.
Must-Have Products
The Problem: Overgrown Brows
Bushy brows can make eyes look smaller. And longer, coarser hairs may overhang at the outer edges, making lids look droopy.
The Solution: Trim, tweeze, and set hairs in place for arches that are under control.
Steps
- Groom your brows in the comfort of your own home or head to the nearest professional to put your mind at ease.
Do you have any issues with your eye brows? How do you solve it and which are you favorite products?
Kelly is 40+Style’s contributing makeup and grooming expert writer. She is a professional makeup artist currently residing in Singapore.
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I have absolutely no arch to my eyebrows. To add to that problem, they slant downward on the outer end, making my face look even droopier. At 68, can I resolve this problem with makeup or should I concentrate more on new eyeglasses?
I used to have the most perfect eyebrow powder (Trucco by Sebastian) and the discontinued it… aagghh. I still have to find a new brand as my last one is really finished. Perhaps Bobby Brown then, but slightly lighter than the one suggested in this post.
I recently discovered Tarte Amazonian Clay brow mousse and it is an eyebrow miracle. I wasn’t having much luck using just pencil or many of the techniques mentioned above. It’s not cheap but you use very little at a time, and it comes with a special brush for application. It took a few tries to get the technique down, but now I’m getting compliments almost daily. No one mentions the brows specifically, it’s usually “Wow – you look great! What’s different?” Fellow readers who struggle with this issue may want to try it.
I love the instructional posts! This and the last eyebrow post are very helpful. Does anyone have advice about coloring disappearing/fading eyebrows?
In a similar vein, I’d love either an instructional post from a hair stylist or perhaps just a more chat-oriented post about hair, because I’m sure your readers have tons of experience.
Actually, I’ll just go ahead and lay out my problem. I’ve reached the point where my greys are a problem, but don’t know enough about hair color to really know what the options are. I’ve always liked having highlights — just occasional when I wanted to brighten my look, no really rigorous upkeep schedule. But I’ve begun greying and coincidentally have moved, and since I don’t have a stylist I can rely on yet, for the past few months I’ve just been using box color.
How does color maintenance work, with highlighting? If I get all-over color with highlights, do I then just do root color for several months until the stylist does the whole thing — color and highlights — again? So, waiting till the highlights are a couple inches grown out? It doesn’t seem like there could be a way to do color with highlights just on the roots.
Also, how often can I get away with at-home root maintenance? (Right now it’s all at-home, but I’d like it to look better than it looks right now.)
I’m just at a loss about how to have nice highlighted hair now that I’m greying. I’m really hoping I don’t have to resign myself to single-color hair, but I can’t figure out how a nice highlighted look — i.e., not half-grown-out highlights — is routinely achievable, apart from spending a small fortune every other month.
Hi Terry. I have highlights and have my roots colored every month. Hairdressers know to do that well and it looks very natural. Every 3 to 6 months I redo the highlights. There is also another article on this topic here: https://40plusstyle.com/how-to-dye-your-hair-roots-yourself/ There is also a great discussion here on the topic of grey hair. https://40plusstyle.com/to-grey-or-not-to-grey/
Thank you for this posting. The format of problem/solution is very helpful. I currently use a brow pencil to address greying eyebrows and have tried dying in the past. I will definitely try one of the recommended colored gel products.
Great tips, thanks so much.
Super blog