Your eyebrows define your face. And while your go-to styling practices (shaping, tinting, product application) can help to enhance, a holistic brow care routine—aka treating the hair and skin with the same intentional attention you do the rest of your head—is a must for full and healthy brows. As with all hair, brow care comes down to attending to and nourishing the entire area, the better to foster luster and growth.
Everyone could benefit from bumping up their brow care routine, but the choice is particularly necessary for those struggling with damage from treatments like lamination, chronic overplucking, or standard product build-up. “Brow hair is a game of connecting the dots—it’s not like hair on your head where it grows all together,” explains brow artist Azi Sacks. “For those who’ve overdone their brows in any way, it really can take nine months to two years to see the maximum revival fullness and width.” Proper brow care can help expedite this process and allow you to pump up your existing brows in the meantime.
“I think of brow care as a three-step thing,” says Chanel brow artist Jimena Garcia. She simplifies the endeavor to exfoliation, stimulation, and conditioning, and encourages a thoughtful revision of your existing brow routine. Hormone health and skin conditions like eczema can affect brows, too, which makes a honed brow routine the first step in identifying your eyebrow needs—or simply helping them to look as naturally bold as possible.
Read on to learn how to best turn your commitment to hair and skin care toward your eyebrows.
Cleanse and Exfoliate
“You want to exfoliate the skin beneath your brow hair to open up the follicles and help brow growth,” says Garcia. “When you exfoliate the area, you’re able to receive nutrients from whatever products opt to apply to the brow.” Start with a quick and brow-concentrated cleanse, the better to remove any excess oil or product. (Though you can use any preferred facial cleanser for this step, Gracia recommends Cap Beauty cleanser for its soothing blend of aloe, coconut, and rose.)
Next comes exfoliation, which can be carried off with the help of a tool or a bespoke blend. Sacks relies on the MAC Cosmetics 204 Lash Brush to slough off dry skin trapped beneath the brow, while Garcia reaches for Buly’s Hard Bristle Toothbrush. If a homemade exfoliator is more your speed, try mixing finely ground Himalayan pink sea salt with your preferred facial oil. Exfoliate in circular motions from end to end before rinsing with warm water.
Massage for Circulation
Next comes a relaxing (and skin-sculpting) massage. “Massaging the brow stimulates circulation, bringing blood to the area and encouraging growth,” says Garcia. “Not only that but because the face has so many muscles, you’re giving yourself a brow lift—and it really works. It immediately opens up the eye.” Use a gua sha tool or your fingers to massage, drain, and depuff the area. “I’m a big believer in energy, so when you apply the heat and the energy from your fingers, it’s kind of like having a green thumb with a plant,” says Garcia. “You’re tending to the area and you’re loving that area—you’re giving it importance.”
Condition and Nourish
“Just like you condition your hair and moisturize your skin and face, eyebrows require the same moisture,” says Sacks. Her go-to product is Typology Eyelash and Eyebrow Serum, which many of her clients use 1 to 2 times daily for hydration and growth. ”It’s a water-based formulation that’s more like a milk than a greasy oil, and when you unscrew the cap it has a really firm spoolie.” Garcia prefers conditioning with Shiva Rose Luster Brow and Lash Serum or Chanel Sublimage La Crème Yeux. Easy remedies like rice water and almond oil are also worth considering. And finally, pure Bulgarian rosewater acts as something of an eyebrow toner. “It addresses the hair and the skin underneath,” says Sacks. “It hydrates the skin and plumps and softens the hair, which can be very coarse and unruly. It also makes the brow really shiny, so you’re able to style in a beautiful way.”
Bonus Step: Revise Your Existing Routine
Both Sacks and Garcia cite eyebrow tinting as the best way to upgrade color, definition, and texture sans damage, saving your brows from the daily disruption that comes with product application and removal. In cases of more serious hair loss, microblading can help, too. If you prefer product, gel options like Kosas Air Brow, Make Beauty Sculpting Brow Gel, Rose Inc Brow Renew, and Merit’s Brow Pomade boast formulas that are gentle without sacrificing in efficacy. But my favorite pro tip? “You can fluff up your brow with Aquaphor or rosebud salve, both of which offer a gel effect while conditioning the skin underneath,” says Sacks. “Two birds!”