With this year’s trend favouring fluffier, more natural brows, it has suddenly become more important to know how to get thicker eyebrows. Or at least fake it until you make it.
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However, even if you don’t care about trends, you may still be keen to know how to make eyebrows grow. Thinning eyebrows can age you prematurely, as can having the wrong eyebrow shape for your face and eye shape. You can read more about how to do eyebrows in our guide.
Below we’ve detailed five tips on how to get thicker eyebrows – either naturally or using the best brow products.
If you’ve got thinning eyebrows, or are worried about them thinning in the future, stop plucking and throw those tweezers away (or at least hide them!)
Stop waxing and threading too. Let your eyebrows breathe. It may be that you don’t know how much they can grow because you haven’t allowed them to reach their full potential.
Our hairs are all somewhat connected and by getting rid of some you believe may be ruining the shape of your brows, you could actually be stopping the hairs around them from growing, accidentally changing their whole natural shape.
FURTHER READING: How to do eyebrows: A quick, easy way to draw and fill in eyebrows like the pros
Maybelline Given the recent trends for big, youthful and thick eyebrows there are myriad eyebrow products on the market and many cost just a few quid.
We’re big fans of the Winky Lux Unibrow eyebrow pencil because its colour is universal enough to suit many hair colours, its angled applicator and soft formula are ideal for making subtle changes, and it has a spoolie brush on the other end helping you tame any unruly hairs.
Brow powders are another way of filling gaps in thinning eyebrows.
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This technique gives a softer, less long-lasting look but is quicker to do and requires little to no time, commitment or, importantly, skill.
Benefit is a market leader for affordable eyebrow products (it’s actually one of our favourite cheap makeup brands). While its Benefit’s Fool Proof Eyebrow Powder may be at the upper end of what we’d consider to be “budget”, the little kit includes everything you’d need for fuller eyebrows. It also lasts for up to 12 hours.
READ NEXT: A spotlight on Benefit – the OG eyebrow and makeup brand
There is a debate over hair growth serums with some experts bemoaning the price companies charge for them compared to the impact they actually have.
However, other experts swear by them so we’ll leave you to make up your own mind.
If you do want to give an eyebrow growth serum a go, even to rule it out, we recommend the Hi-Brow Growth and Conditioning Serum. It contains caffeine, which promotes hair growth, keratin which helps to strengthen the new follicles, and panthenol for hydration.
Given the criticism laid out to manufacturers, it’s worth noting that the majority of these serums are far from cheap.
As a cheap, home remedy alternative to expensive growth serums, we’re big fans of using coconut oil (£6.99).
You apply the oil on your eyebrows before bed to help soften and condition your brow hair, and it also hydrates the skin around them.
This means that when you apply powder or other makeup, it doesn’t stick to flaky or dry skin.
Olive oil does the same, and you can also apply castor oil or petroleum jelly, but they don’t smell quite as lovely and are a little greasier.
You’ll also need to apply the runny oils with a cotton ball to avoid dripping it all over your face.
That said, if you do get oil on your face, it will at least help with skin gritting!
Obviously, if you’re letting the hair follicles and skin around your eyes breathe, then adding chemicals or sitting through microblading may be contradictory.
The options below are more for people who want to at least enhance what they’ve got. Or those of us who want a more instant, semi-permanent result for a special occasion, for instance.
Tinting your eyebrows, which is effectively like dying your brow hair, can help them to look fuller, whether you’ve got dark or light colouring.
We recommend going to a professional for the first tint (or even the first couple) just to be safe, and to ensure you feel confident with how they’re looking and what you’re doing.
Once you feel more comfortable, there are high-street and online eyebrow products that go some way to achieving thicker eyebrows at home.
Eyelure is more commonly known for eyelashes but is an equally reliable brand when it comes to eyebrows.
Its Pro Brow Dye Kit comes in two shades; dark brown or black, but these colours can be adjusted depending on how long the product is left on for.
It simply requires brushing the provided spoolie (through the brows, leaving the product on for 20 minutes and then wiping away leaving you with fuller, darker brows for up to four weeks.
If you don’t know what a spoolie is, check out our guide to makeup brushes and what they do.
Eylure Maybelline also offers an easy-apply, peel away tint which doesn’t last as long if you’re worried about the commitment of a semi-permanent one.
If none of these suggestions takes your fancy, and you’re after a more permanent solution to getting thicker eyebrows. You could consider microblading.
This is essentially a non-permanent (but can last as long as 18 months) way of having the eyebrow thickness and shape of your dreams, but potentially at the expense of some pain.
READ NEXT: What is microblading?
It requires a very thin sterile blade drawing new hairs onto the brow area to give a natural and full look, almost like a semi-permanent tattoo. You can read more about the procedure in our What is microblading explainer.
Eyebrows can be sisters, cousins, step-brothers or not even something you consider as being worth thinking about.
Whether you’ve had traumatic tweezing experiences and ended up with tiny sticks above your eyes or if you’ve never touched them, we hope this guide will help you see the potential of a happier pair of brows, and more importantly, a more confident you.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
