How to Pluck Your Own Eyebrows

Many women would tell you they'd just as soon shave their heads than attempt to pluck their own eyebrows. For some reason, the common conception is that eyebrow artistry is something best left to the experts. But for $15 and up a pop, this might very well be something you would like to learn to do on your own. Don't worry; it's not as daunting or complicated as you might think, and no, you won't ruin your eyebrows in the attempt with this handy guide in hand.

First things first. Most terrible eyebrow accidents happen when women try to make their eyebrows look like somebody else's. If you're striving for beautiful elegant high arching eyebrows and you don't have any eyebrow hair growing up there, guess what? You're right-it's simply not going to work. You'll pluck your eyebrows into oblivion and end up looking like a fool if you attempt it.

The best bit of advice to keep in mind for shaping any set of eyebrows is to work with what you already have. Follow the natural lines, tidy them up and enhance them. Odds are the natural shapes of your eyebrows are best suited to complement the shape of your face and your eyes in the first place. Trust Mother Nature, and just give her a little help with the grooming. Less is almost always more.

Don't tweeze on top. Pulling hairs from the top line of your eyebrows will destroy the natural arc of your brows, and can also lead to a brow looking much too straight and "overdone."

Banish the unibrow. This is the one spot on your brow you can go crazy on. Get every possible hair that you can see (and even the ones that you can't, just to be safe). Work in an area with the brightest light possible, and with a magnified mirror to get all those annoying little hairs right in the middle of your brow.

Where to Start and Where to End? A general rule for where the brow should begin is just slightly inward from the inner corner of the eye. Too far apart, and you'll look perpetually surprised. If they begin too far towards the middle, people will avoid you because they'll think you're angry! The eyebrow should end at the outside wherever it naturally ends. Just pluck any stray hairs on the underside of your browline.

Clean up the bottom side of the brow. As for cleaning up the bottom of your brow line, always work from the center outwards. Pull the skin taut to minimize plucking pain, and work with precision-take your time, and be careful not to hurt your skin in the process. Work gradually, and check in the mirror often-even every few hairs if you're new to plucking your brows.

Thick or thin or In-Between? Either way, don't go for the extremes. Slightly thinner brows are best for women with small, delicate features, and slightly thicker brows look great on women with strong facial features.

Other important tips:

Invest in a good set of tweezers. They don't have to be uber-expensive, but make sure they're in good condition, slanted, and not dull. Dull or over-used tweezers make it difficult to pluck hairs. Try Tweezerman brand slanted tweezers-they're basically the gold standard.

DO NOT dig for hairs that are just under the surface of the skin. It'll just make your skin red and irritated, and you probably won't manage to rip it out anyway. Instead, try exfoliating and waiting a day. One teeny hair will look a lot better than the awful red spot that trying to extract an ingrown hair can cause.

Sterilize your tweezers before you pluck. Also wash your face before you pluck to make sure that your skin is clean and low in natural oils. Excessive facial oil can make it much more difficult to pluck with success.

Remember that you can fill in and enhance sparse eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil or powder that's just slightly lighter than your natural brow color. This can make a world of difference and is almost as important as a good shaping job.