The Skinny Brow Is Back… And Why We Hate It
If you were around in the late 90s or early 2000s, you'll probably remember the eyebrow situation. The pencil-thin arches, the overplucking, and for some of us, the years spent trying to grow them back.
Well, apparently, they're back.
Our beauty therapist Taylor has noticed more girls coming into the salon lately asking for those super skinny, Y2K-inspired brows. And while we're all for experimenting with your look, this is one trend we'd really rather leave in the 2000s.
Not because thin brows can't look beautiful, but because the way you get them can have consequences long after the trend has disappeared.
The problem with following brow trends
Eyebrows have been through quite the journey over the last couple of decades. We went from barely-there pencil brows to the big, bold Instagram brows of the 2010s, and more recently, fluffy, brushed-up, laminated brows.
And now we're heading back towards skinny again.
The thing is, trends come and go much faster than your eyebrows can recover from them.
When someone asks us to take their brows significantly thinner, particularly when it means removing a lot of hair from their natural shape, we're always a little hesitant. It's easy enough to remove the hair, but getting it back isn't always so straightforward.
Can overplucking actually stop your eyebrows growing back?
Unfortunately, yes.
Repeatedly plucking or waxing the same hairs over a long period can damage the hair follicles. In some cases, that damage can affect how well the hair grows back, or whether it grows back at all.
It doesn't happen to everyone, and plucking a few stray hairs certainly isn't going to ruin your eyebrows overnight. But years of aggressively reshaping the same area can leave you with thinner, patchier brows than you started with.
We see this with women who spent their teenage years plucking their eyebrows into tiny arches, only to find that decades later, they wish they had their natural brows back.
And frustratingly, sometimes those hairs just aren't interested in returning.
There's also the fact that our brows can naturally become thinner as we age. So if you've already removed a lot of your natural fullness when you're young, you may have less to work with later on.
That's why Taylor and the team are so careful about making drastic changes to your natural brow shape.
Your natural brows are there for a reason
We're not saying everyone needs big, thick eyebrows. Some people naturally have fine, delicate brows, and they look absolutely beautiful.
What we do believe is that your brows should work with your face, not against it.
The right brow shape can make such a difference to how your eyes look, how balanced your features appear and even how much expression you have.
And that doesn't mean following a particular template.
A shape that looks incredible on someone else might not be the most flattering choice for your face. Your natural arch, hair growth, brow bone and facial proportions all play a part.
This is where having your brows professionally shaped makes a difference. Rather than simply taking hair away until we've recreated a photo from Pinterest, we're looking at what you already have and how we can make the most of it.
Want to change your brows? You don't have to remove half of them.
If you're feeling a little bored with your current brows, there are plenty of ways to change their appearance without committing to a shape you might regret in six months.
A professional brow shape can tidy up your natural arch and give your brows a more defined, polished appearance without taking away too much fullness.
Brow tinting can make lighter hairs more visible, add definition and help your brows look fuller and more even. It's particularly lovely if your brows have become a little sparse or faded.
And then there's brow lamination, which can help redirect and smooth the hairs into a more uniform shape. It doesn't have to mean those huge, brushed-straight-up brows you've seen all over social media either. Lamination can be soft and natural, giving you a tidier shape that's easier to manage at home.
Or do you want a a bolder, more defined brow? Hybrid tint colours both the brow hairs and the skin underneath, creating a fuller, more filled-in look, almost like a brow tattoo, but without the commitment.
The best part is that these options give you room to experiment without permanently changing your natural brow line.
So, are we refusing to do skinny brows?
Not necessarily. We're not here to tell you what you can and can't do with your own eyebrows.
But we are here to give you good advice, even when that means suggesting something a little different from the photo you've brought in.
If you're asking us to remove a significant amount of your natural brow, we'll talk you through what that could mean for future regrowth and whether there's another way to achieve a similar look. Sometimes a slightly slimmer, more refined version of your natural shape is all you need.
And if you're still determined to channel your inner 2002 Christina Aguilera? Well, at least you'll know exactly what you're signing up for 😉
Our advice? Don't sacrifice your brows for a trend.
We love seeing people experiment with beauty, and we're certainly not against trying something new. But there's a difference between changing your makeup and changing something that might not grow back.
If the skinny brow trend has taught us anything the first time around, it's that keeping your natural brow shape gives you options later.
So before you reach for the tweezers, come and have a chat with us.
At Indulge Beauty Therapy in Whakatāne, our team can help you find a brow shape that suits your face, your style and the amount of maintenance you're happy to do, whether that's a simple tidy-up, a tint or a brow lamination.
Because we'd much rather help you love the brows you've got than spend the next ten years trying to grow them back.
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