Eyebrows are undeniably one of the most prominent features of our face. Nothing can compete with the way they accentuate our overall facial aesthetics when groomed adequately.
However, keeping your eyebrows in shape is no easy feat, especially when you’re looking to avoid the unnecessary hassle that comes with threading every other week.
If that’s the case with you, waxing your eyebrows might just be the thing to try your hand at!
Are you wondering what eyebrow waxing is and how it can be the ideal alternative to long, painful sessions at the salon?
If so, we suggest giving this article a read to get all your questions answered in one place!
What is Eyebrow Waxing?
Eyebrow waxing is a method of shaping your brows with cold or hot wax while removing unwanted hair. Simply put, cold wax strips are small pieces of ready-to-use, pre-waxed cellulose or muslin.
It is referred to as the ‘cold wax’ because it doesn’t need to be heated during the procedure before application. On the other hand, hot wax beans have to be heated into a liquid state beforehand.
The latter is applied in small patches and pulled opposite to the direction of the hair growth with a linen strip.
While using cold wax strips can be painful for individuals unaccustomed to facial wax, it’s still a way better method than holding your breath for long minutes due to the pain of getting your eyebrows threaded.
Furthermore, hot wax is comparatively less painful. Even though it is advisable to wax small patches of your eyebrows at a time in both cases, it still lets you off the hook within a minute at most.
The best part of waxing your eyebrows is that it takes minimal time to shape the brows while giving you results that last twice and even thrice as long as other methods, including threading and facial shaving.
While most people prefer to head to the salons to get their eyebrows waxed, several try their hands at home once they know how to do the job themselves.
You can take either of the approaches to wax your eyebrows as long as you’re adequately informed regarding what you’re doing instead of relying on guesswork.
Benefits of Waxing Your Eyebrows
Whether you’re looking to give your eyebrows a proper shape or regain control over hair growth, opting for the eyebrow waxing method can be incredibly beneficial for you either way.
Here are four reasons why waxing your eyebrows is considered a preferable technique among most individuals:
1- Longer Hair Regrowth Period
Unlike threading and shaving, waxing pulls the unwanted hair right from the root instead of cutting them partially at the edge from where the hair is at its thickest form.
This, in turn, allows you to reap the benefits of slower hair regrowth since the pulled-off hair takes significantly more time to grow back.
2- Instant Procedure
While the pain is unignorable in the first few seconds when you’re getting your eyebrows waxed, you can’t deny that it’s still the lesser of the necessary evils when it comes to shaping your brows.
That’s because, unlike waxing, threading and tweezing can take significantly more time to get the job done with constant pain throughout the procedure.
3- The Perfect Arch with Controlled Hair Growth
The red carpet-worthy arched eyebrows aren’t just for celebrities. It only involves one ten-minute appointment at the salon or home to wax your eyebrows and get the same results for at least the next three to four weeks.
Due to the controlled hair growth in a specific direction after waxing, no one can tell how much time it has been since your last salon trip.
4- Softer Hair Growth with Time
Lastly, waxing is the answer to softer hair regrowth. When you wax your hair, it grows back thinner, less dense, and at a rapidly slower pace.
Case in point, you’ll realize after only a few sessions that the trips you take to the salon for eyebrow waxing are getting far and fewer in between.
Which Is Better? Eyebrow Waxing or Threading?
Considering the benefits we listed under the previous heading, we can safely conclude that getting your eyebrows waxed is notably better than threading.
However, to summarize the establishing points, here’s what we learned from the superior advantages of waxing:
- While threading might be less painful, the overall process of getting your eyebrows threaded lasts much longer than waxing.
- The pain remains the same every time you get your eyebrows threaded. On the other hand, waxing gets less and less painful every time due to softer and controlled hair regrowth.
- Not to mention, you have to re-thread your eyebrows after a week to get them back into shape, while waxing frees your schedule for the next three to four weeks conveniently.
How to Wax Your Eyebrows at Home?
If you’ve been waxing your eyebrows yourself for a long time now, chances are you’ve already developed techniques that work the best for you.
However, if you’re new to waxing and need tips to give your eyebrow the perfect shape, it’s best to follow the standard procedure.
That said, we recommend going through the process step-by-step in your mind before letting the wax touch your skin so that there are no sudden mishaps or misunderstandings afterward.
The basic steps to follow when waxing your eyebrows are as follows:
Step 1 – Rid Your Eyebrows of All Makeup, Oil, and Dirt
The first step is to wash the area around your eyebrows so that there’s no oil, makeup, or dirt that could clog pores, preventing the wax from adhering to the skin.
Step 2 – Let the Hair Dry
Next, you should tap or air-dry your eyebrows until there’s no water on the skin or the hair.
Step 3 – Heat the Wax to Recommended Temperature
In the meantime, you can put your wax beans in the wax warmer and set the heat to 41 degrees Celsius.
If you’re using cold wax strips instead, you should rub them in between your palms until you feel them getting warm.
Step 4 – Comb Your Eyebrows
Now, comb your eyebrows with a brow brush or a toothbrush, following its natural shape to smooth and detangle the hair.
Step 5 – Determine and Trace the Desired Shape
Once you’ve brushed the eyebrows, you can easily distinguish which hair to remove. To make waxing easier on yourself, you can pick a bright shade of eyeliner and trace the shape you want to retain.
You can use that as a stencil while ensuring you’ve lined the same pattern for both eyebrows.
Step 6 – Use Toothpick to Part the Eyebrow
While this is not a mandatory step, using a toothpick to part your eyebrow hair that falls outside the stencil can help you achieve the perfect arch shape without encountering any trouble.
Step 7 – Apply Wax in Small Patches
Now, you can apply wax or wax strips in the same direction as your hair growth. It is advisable to cover small patches (one patch at a time) to avoid removing too much hair.
Step 8 – Remove the Wax Adequately
For Hard Wax:
If you’re using hard wax, you should leave the wax applied for several seconds so that it adheres to the hair proficiently.
After that, press a linen strip to the applied wax firmly and pull it in the opposite direction of your hair growth in one smooth movement while holding the skin taut with the other hand.
For Cold Wax Strips:
As for the cold wax strips, you can leave them pressed into the skin for a few seconds. Then jerk them in the opposite direction of the hair growth while holding the skin taut from the side using your other hand.
Step 9 – Repeat Steps 7 and 8 Until You Get the Desired Shape
Once you’ve removed the wax successfully, you can carry on by repeating steps 7 and 8 while making sure you don’t apply the wax or wax strips to the same area twice.
Step 10 – Use Tweezers for Plucking the Too Short or Stray Hair
The too short or straying area around your eyebrow can be easily plucked out with the help of a tweezer.
The reason behind not reapplying wax on the same spot is because it can result in unnecessary redness and irritation.
Step 11 – Clean the Wax Residue
Once you’ve waxed your eyebrows, you should clean the residue with the help of wet tissues, so it doesn’t clog your pores and cause ingrown hair.
Should You Do Cold Compression Before Waxing Your Eyebrows?
While it may sound like icing your skin prior to waxing would be a good idea to numb the area and reduce pain, it doesn’t work like that in reality.
Applying ice to your skin tightens your pores, which effectively makes it even more challenging to relax your muscles.
That’s why it is suggested to do a cold compression after your waxing session rather than before.
Is It Better to Wax Your Eyebrows Yourself or Frequent a Beauty Salon?
Heading to beauty salons for waxing appointments and waxing your eyebrows on your own at home, both practices have their own perks. It’s ultimately up to your preferences what you’d like better.
Salons offer eyebrow waxing at a very low price, and they have the professional’s expertise to make sure your eyebrows look perfect after each appointment.
Plus, they try their best to keep the pain at a minimum using their own techniques. However, perfecting your eyebrows at home gives you more room to experiment with different shapes while costing you significantly less in comparison.
Nevertheless, we would suggest to individuals who haven’t waxed their eyebrows before that they consider indulging in a few waxing appointments at the salon first.
That way, they would know how to implement the different techniques before attempting them on their own firsthand.
When Should You Avoid Waxing Your Eyebrows?
Eyebrow waxing should not be done if you have sunburned skin or healing cuts or blemishes around the to-be waxed area.
People with extremely pain-sensitive skin should also forego waxing altogether to avoid severe redness.
Plus, we would never recommend waxing your eyebrows on your own if you have unsteady hands and may accidentally wax your brows more than necessary.
What Can Be Done in Advance to Make Eyebrow Waxing Less Painful?
Here’s what you can do to make your eyebrow waxing session, either at home or a salon, as relaxing as possible:
- You can take an over-the-counter painkiller to keep your pain at bay. However, make sure to take it an hour earlier so that the medicine has time to kick in.
- You can also try applying a numbing gel to the area that needs to be waxed half an hour before waxing to minimize the pain and irritation.
- Lastly, it would also help to relax your facial muscles while removing the wax or wax strip from your eyebrows.
What’re the After-Care Measures to Prevent Irritation?
Below are the proper after-care measures you should take to avoid redness, soreness, and irritation on the waxed spots:
- Once you’re done waxing your eyebrows, you should do a cold compression to soothe the muscles and tighten your pores.
- Plus, it’s best to avoid putting on makeup near your eyebrows for the next seven hours after waxing to ensure there’s no irritation from beauty products.
- Similarly, it’s recommended not to use fragrant or alcohol-based products that might cause severe irritation and soreness to the waxed spot.
- Lastly, we would suggest not exposing the waxed skin to too much sweat for a few hours since that can also cause undesired soreness to the area.
Our Final Thoughts
Now that you know what eyebrow waxing is and how beneficial it could be, you can either head to a salon to get it done or do it yourself at home if you think you’ve got the expertise.
Taking this alternative rather than going through the long threading and tweezing procedures every other week might just be the thing to ease your hectic schedule.
The only way to find out whether that’s true is to give it a try yourself!