FAQ  on Eyebrow Grooming for Men

Trimming

1. How short should I trim the hairs?

The answer varies for everyone because brow hairs are different. Trimming a brow hair too short can mean the hair will not lie flat. Brow hairs that are fine can  be trimmed shorter than coarse thick brow hairs. The heaviness of a longer hair will help the hair lie flat. 
So what to do. 

For coarse hairs. Best to pick a single coarse hair and use it as a test. Trim it down a bit at a time. Note how long it is and yet still lies flat. Look closely at the length of this hair and keep all your brows this length.

For fine (soft) brow hairs. Brush the hair up from the bottom. Trim the length of the hair such that it is at least 3 - 5 millimeters above the top of the brow line.

No matter which option you pick - do one hair at a time. Go slowly. Trim a tiny bit and reassess. Plan on taking 5 minutes to do a good trimming job.

2. Will brow hair grow back?

If you simply trim the hair or shave the hair it should grow back. All the genetic information about length, thickness and color of the hair is in the root. Trimming and shaving will leave the root intact. Tweezing hairs removes them from the root.  Often hairs tweezed again and again will not grow back. Brow hair grows very slowly so it may take a while.

4. Does the stencil really help?

The stencil works as a template. Combing the hair through the template will shape the hair and brush it in the direction you want. Place the template over the brow hair. Use the brush side of the dual comb/brush and brush the hair back towards the end of the stencil. Brush in this direction. Hair at the top will be forced down and hair at the bottom will be forced up. The hair will also be spread evenly over the stencil area. 

5. Shaved too much away?  Here is a common letter

"I realized recently I had a unibrow. Without thinking , I grabbed my razor and shaved it away. Not only is the space in between my eyebrows now larger then I wanted, I have to shave it almost everyday to get rid of unwanted hair. I would like to regain some of the hair in between my eyebrows but at the same time wouldn't want anyone to notice.  Also, from shaving so often I now have another problem, ingrown hairs and skin irritation. Do you have any suggestions? "

Eyebrows are an odd thing in that they can make a very significant difference to our appearance and yet no one really does notice them. Once you start staring at your own eyebrow you see it very clearly but when others look at you they won't take it in. The problem with shaving brows is that the hair does indeed look really messy as it grows back in - but what you need to do is to 

1. Decide where you want hair and where you don't 

2. Leave the area alone where you want the hair to be. Herein lies the challenge because you will find yourself looking in the mirror with a razor in your hand. You will be looking critically at what will appear to be a mess. We recommend using a white pencil. With this you very clearly draw a line on your face that says - "Don't remove the hairs from here". Our deluxe kit has eyebrow stencils fashioned after images we will show of Tom Cruise, Sean Connery, Denzel Washington. If you use these templates they will act as guides - remove hair here - and not here. It does stop men from removing hair they need to let grow back in and it helps them plan quickly an acceptable shape for their brows.

Both the mens basic and men's deluxe kits have eyebrow razors. Eyebrow razors have one really big up on regular razors - in that they have a long handle and the blade is very easy to spot. This lets you be very precise on where you shave hair from. If you make a white line the razor can easily be controlled so that you only remove hairs that you exactly want. The precision helps control pressure used by the hand in removing the hair. It is irritation of the skin caused by too much pressure in this very delicate area that leads to ingrown hairs. What happens is the skin gets nicked even very slightly by a regular razor. The skin responds to let you know this is not okay. As it puffs and swells to heal itself the pore where the hair should come out puffs - preventing the hair from escaping up the shaft. We suggest you leave the area alone for a while. Keep an eye on the ingrown hairs as an infection can develop and this can then necessitate a trip to the doctor. In the future we suggest you use a brow razor for the eyebrow area and we also suggest you apply cold water or cold ice to the area after you shave to keep the skin soothed and prevent it from puffing. This is the same idea as applying an ice pack to a sports injured part of your body to keep the swelling down.

To deal with the appearance of messy regrowth women and some men use brow powder. It is a cosmetic and some men are not comfortable with applying a cosmetic but it does cover the mess and can assist in preventing people from removing messy regrowth. Brow powders are a popular cosmetic trick. Once you spot this you will notice it all the time but likely others won't if you select a brow color similar to your own brow hair. Generally people are taken aback on how they never noticed it before on famous faces, but it is common.

The only way to shave less frequently and get rid of the hair is to tweeze the hairs. This is painful but many people do it. Using tweezers removes the hair form the root. The hair will take a much longer time to grow back in. Tweezerman tweezers are excellent and most men who order them order the Tweezerman slant. 

6. I have no brow hair, will powder look natural?

If you have lost your brow hair than powder will be one of your best options. Brow powder offers the advantage of moving with your facial expressions. This is why women have drawn on their eyebrows for years. An eyebrow that has been attached to your forehead through adhesive will attract attention everytime you create facial expression. This is because people will notice it doesn't shift the way your expressions do. Powdered on brows will completely follow your facial expression.  Pencil makes brows look drawn on. They are harsh. Powder is much softer and will create a less noticeable effect. 
One secret to eyebrows is that no one looks specifically above your eyelids unless you somehow draw attention to them. This area can be touched up and many people won't notice. Makeup artists have known this for many years. Old images of celebrities show men with dramatically made up eyebrows that were never noticed in their day. Click on this image of Sean Connery and note the heavier eyebrow makeup. As long as it is soft and follows your expression it will be noticed by  you but not by others. To make it less noticeable select a thin small stencil shape. Brush powder over the area using a brow powder and a puff brush. Select a light brown powder if you are blonde and go one shade lighter than your hair  color if you are dark. 

Steps for using powder and stencil to create brows can be seen in this step by step example. 

All images in the men's catalog were created by using powder, the puff brush and stencil and then the comb side of the dual/comb brush was used to create hair like lines.