This Is Exactly What To Do (& Not Do) If You've Over-Plucked Your Eyebrows

Considering brows come in all shapes and sizes, the term over-plucked brows has a different meaning for everyone: It can certainly refer to raw, pencil-thin wisps, yes, but it can also mean a few errant, uneven brow hairs. "Brows are all about proportion, so even removing just one wrong hair can completely throw off your angles," says esthetician René de la Garza, founder of Brow Down Studio.

First and foremost, put down your tools, and step away from the mirror. When you make a tweezer mistake, you may be itching to fix the problem by removing more and more hairs (If I just even out the tails...). Which, more often than not, creates a snowball effect for sparse, gappy brows. 

In case you didn't know: Brows do grow back, assuming you haven't completely damaged the hair follicles (which can happen with repeated pulling, like waxing or tweezing). Just don't expect to sprout new brow hairs overnight; as brow expert Joey Healy tells us, "Generally, four to six weeks is when you'll experience what most brow specialists refer to as a 'full regrowth'; however, there are people who tend to see growth in up to eight to 10 weeks... The majority of your regrowth will be seen in four to six weeks, sometimes eight."

Which brings us to our next point: If you'd like to encourage growth, experts recommend you reach for a brow serum, specifically one with castor oil or peptides1. While there's limited research that speaks to eyebrow growth, in particular, both of these ingredients contain nutrients that feed the delicate hairs and help combat free radical damage and inflammation (which, in turn, has been shown to help manage hair aging2 and hair loss).

We'll say it again: Tending to over-plucked brows takes patience and gentle care. But while you're waiting for brand-new brow hairs to make their appearance, you can, of course, fill in sparser areas to even them out.   

First, says de la Garza, comb the brows upward to gain a sense of your eyebrow shape. Use a brow pencil (like his Precision Brow Pencil, which is infused with vitamin C—more antioxidants to protect the hairs from free radicals!) and use light, upward strokes to create wisps of hair in gappy areas.