Ahhh, the elusive technique of shaping eyebrows. We tend to spend time, gas and money going to expensive salons and trust that the technician is knowledgeable enough to wax, cut and shape our eyebrows. But, I’m here to tell you that you can do it at home for a fraction of the time and money. Here are the essential tips to shaping perfect eyebrows.

First, relax! You can do this and do it well!

Actually the first tip is to accept the natural shape of your eyebrows and work with what you have. Of course, you can always use pencil to make your brows look fuller or wax hair away to make brows thinner. However you can not instantly grow brows in order to look like your favorite movie star.

The next step in shaping your brows is to TRIM first. Most people forget to trim their brows, which can cause you to take more hair out during the waxing or plucking process. To trim your brows, use a fine tooth comb or eyebrow brush and brush your brows upward. If there are any hairs above the natural curve of your brows, they need to be trimmed. I recommend investing in a pair of eyebrow scissors as they are made just for this process.

Next, draw an imaginary line from the inner corner of your eye up to the eyebrow. This is where the eyebrow should begin. *If you have wide set eyes, leave a few hairs beyond this point to make your eyes look closer. If you have narrow set eyes, go in a bit further from that imaginary line as this will make your eye look further apart.

Properly arching your eyebrow: The highest point of the brow should align with the outer rim of your iris while you are looking forward. To do this, use a pencil and place one end on the tip of your nose and the other end should align with the outer rim of the iris.

In determining the end point of the eyebrow, place one end of the pencil at the bridge of your nose and align it with the corner of the eye. This is where the eyebrow should end. Now, if your hair does not go to this point (typically due to over plucking or a bad wax job), use eyebrow pencil until the hair grows back.

On to the actual waxing or plucking part. I recommend either using a eyebrow pencil to make a dot where each shape should start. You can use concealer to fill in the area that needs waxing or plucking. Only do the area that needs waxing! If there are no stray hairs in one area, leave it alone as you could make a mistake in a section of the brow that was just fine previously.