If you’ve missed one too many brow-shaping appointments at your salon, you’re probably stressed about their current status. Within two weeks of being at home, we’ve all been scrambling to find a fix to our overgrown brows and hairy upper lip situation. We reached out to brow artist to celebrities Suman Jalaf of Brows By Suman to give us her fail-safe methods.
The talent behind Deepika Padukone’s and Kate Moss’ statement arches recommends it’s best to thread your brows right after a shower: “Your pores are open and it’ll allow hair to glide out easily.” For coarser hair that’s uncomfortable to remove, she suggests gliding an ice cube on the area for five minutes before you get started to make it numb.
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Suman breaks down her threading technique and easy tips to groom your brows below. If you get this method right, you can easily work on your upper lip moustache as well.
– Start with clean hands, and wipe the area with alcohol wipes or micellar water. If you’re a beginner, stick to working on the area between your brows (that’s if you don’t like a mono brow) and the part below. Leave the area above the brows to the professionals—you risk ruining their shape.
– You will need an 11-inch long piece of brow thread (my trick: measure the thread from the tip of your finger to the crease of your elbow). Then tie the thread in a knot to make a loop. Insert two fingers from both hands into the loop, and keep the knot close to your hands.
– Twist the fingers on one hand to make an ‘X’. Then keep twisting the same fingers about 8 times more. Now, place your index finger and thumb inside the loop. If you lose the shape of the loop, just repeat this step.
– Keep the fingers of one hand pinched together while you open and close the fingers of the other hand. This will slide the twisted part of the thread over, and it’s this movement that will grip the hair in the twisted thread. Once it’s caught in the thread, pull the hair in the opposite direction of the way it grows.
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Suman’s golden rule: “Practice this movement first–alternating between opening one hand then the other. You can rehearse pulling out the hair on your or your partner’s leg hair before attempting the brow. If you don’t practice first, you may end up with very oddly shaped eyebrows.”
– When you’re ready, place one hand above your brow and the other below. The hand you use to move the twisted part of the thread will be the hand below the brows. This part is tricky so it’s better if you get someone to help stretch your bottom lid or you can raise your brows upwards (as if you’re surprised) to stretch the skin. I know it’s starting to sound weird, but trust me practice makes better.
– Keep the thread taut and flat against your skin. Place the hair you want to pull out in the open ‘V’ part of the thread. Open fingers on hand below the brow to move the twist over the hair. Once the hair gets caught in the twist pull it out. Once you get faster, it’ll be easier and more painless.
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– Open the fingers of the other hand to place the twist back in the middle—and keep it away from your skin to avoid getting any hair stuck. Then you can repeat the previous step over again.
– Soak a cotton pad with your favourite after care: ice cold water to close the pores, aloe vera, witch hazel or my most favourite pure rose water.
If you’re growing them out, Suman couldn’t agree more. “As we’re isolated I say leave them to grow and camouflage your brows with a concealer and blend it in till you see you brow artist. Or just tweeze the unwanted ones not connecting the brows at all. Here’s my trick. You can use also use castor oil at night to moisturise the brows and stimulate growth.
Photos: Brows By Suman (Instagram)
