Ruby Hammer’s eyebrow tips and advice
What are this season’s trends?
What tips do you have for achieving great results?
Essential Do’s when waxing at home
Essential Don’ts when waxing at home
Are there any celebrity secrets?
What are the consequences of over-plucking?
Do you have any tips for first time waxers?
Do you have tips for more mature women?
Any male grooming tips?
Which celebrities have the best and worst eyebrows?
What are the eyebrow myths?
What are the advantages of waxing?
Do particular face shapes suit certain eyebrow shapes?
What are this season’s trends?
Brows are definitely in this season. The look is dark lips, eyeliner and an emphasis on brows. They should be given focus, and designers are certainly paying them a lot of attention.
At Prada we are seeing thicker brows, gelled back and then brushed upwards. At Loewe they are heavily penciled and shaped whilst at Valentino they are being shaded in a chestnut/reddish colour. The most extreme brows on the catwalk however are coming from Dries Van Noten. They are fierce this season. Just a short dark flash, like a slash from the beginning of the browline but then it stops and doesn’t continue.
I’m not saying everyone should now remove half their eyebrows! It’s all down to each person’s confidence and comfort level. But brows this season are definitely groomed and shaped, not thick and bushy à la Brooke Shields.
What tips do you have for achieving great results?
Brush up your eyebrows with an old toothbrush to see their exact shape. Then look straight into a mirror, and your arch should be midway – at the point directly above your iris.
All brows should have a beginning, a middle (the arch), and an end (when it tapers and thins out) Using a product such as Veet High Precision Facial Wax allows you to achieve precise results; by using the precision applicator tip and cutting the fabric strips to the shape you want.
You should always follow the product instructions. When using Veet High Precision Facial Wax, after warming the tube in hot water for one minute, apply the wax in the direction of the hair growth and then pull the strip away in one, clean, smooth motion away from the hairs.
Essential Do’s when waxing at home
Do brush up your eyebrows so you can see their natural shape
Do follow instructions on products such as Veet High Precision Facial Wax
Do remove hair gradually to ensure you achieve the precise shape you want
Essential Don’ts when waxing at home
Do not wax if you have added oily or greasy products to your skin such as moisturiser or serum
Do not wax after a hot bath as the skin will be more sensitive
Do not be too forceful and don’t rub or scrub. You have to be gentle
Do not wax in a rush
Do not wax when moving around such as in a car or on the bus
Always read and follow the instructions. I do find people have a tendency to ignore them. And remember that the hairs do need to be a decent length beforehand.
Are there any celebrity secrets?
The secret to a celebrity worthy eyebrow is continuous maintenance. They keep up a sustained grooming regime so their brows always look pristine and immaculate. You don’t see pictures of Cheryl Cole with unruly eyebrows one minute and then perfectly tamed ones the next – they upkeep them continuously. And they have to, as eyebrows are our faces natural frame.
What are the consequences of over-plucking?
Well first of all, it just isn’t fashionable, and secondly, if you over-pluck over a long period of time, and I’m talking years, eventually there will actually be no re-growth at all. It was fashionable for women in the 60’s to shave off their eyebrows and pencil them in instead. In due course, they found they were unable to grow hairs there when they then needed them. You just end up killing the follicle if you continuously over-pluck.
Do you have any tips for first time waxers?
Don’t do it in a rush. Have an idea of the shape you want to achieve and take your time. It may be a good idea to draw the shape you want with an eyebrow pencil or darken hairs you want to remove with a dark pencil or mascara. Veet High Precision Facial Wax is a wonderful way to achieve and maintain that shape. And of course, upload an image of yourself to this new eyebrowser tool to see what shape suits you best before you start.
Do you have tips for more mature women?
Skin does become more fragile the older we get so just be a bit more careful when waxing and treat the area with care. Older women do tend to find that hair growth is sparser although they may find the odd wiry, thicker hair, especially during the menopause, which needs removing. And of course, if there is the odd grey hair there is nothing wrong in removing this.
Any male grooming tips?
For men, it is not so much about re-shaping and re-doing a brow. An arch with a kick would just look too feminine on a man. It’s more about removing the odd hairs here and there, Perhaps he has a monobrow, or the odd bushy hair above or below the brow line. Veet High Precision Facial Wax is ideal for removing these rogue hairs. But men mustn’t overdo it.
Which celebrities have the best and worst eyebrows?
Angelina Jolie, Cindy Crawford and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley all have amazing eyebrows. And Kate Moss changes the shape and style of hers according to the fashion which is great to see.
What stands out as bad celeb eyebrows are those who have over-plucked and ended up with a tadpole shape, although they are very rare to see because most celebrities are lucky enough to have makeup artists who can disguise this faux pas with clever pencilling.
Other bad celeb eyebrows are on those who have had procedures such as facelifts or too much botox which interferes with the natural placement of the brow line or how it looks.
What are the eyebrow myths?
Believing that our eyebrows are symmetrical is false – just as faces aren’t, neither are eyebrows. When we remove hair from our brows what we are trying to do is give an illusion of as much symmetry as possible. You therefore should look at each brow individually and bit by bit. Do the beginning of one, and then the beginning of the other, then the arch of one and then the arch of the other, and so on. You should be constantly assessing and removing a little bit here and a little bit there.
Thinking you shouldn’t remove hairs from above the brow line is another common myth. If you have some up there and they bother you, then remove them.
It is the sample principle when it comes to thinking that removing hair too frequently will result in them growing back heavier and bushier. That too is a myth.
What are the advantages of waxing?
I believe waxing is another viable alternative to plucking or threading, with the advantages including slower hair re-growth, a quick alternative to plucking or visiting the salon. You can’t thread your own eyebrows and using tweezers can result in over-plucking. Veet High Precision Facial Wax offers convenience and is less time consuming. It also results in a slower re-growth rate compared to plucking.
Do particular face shapes suit certain eyebrow shapes?
That was the old-school way of thinking. It’s like saying someone with blue eyes shouldn’t wear blue eyeshadow – which just isn’t the case. The modern way to approach eyebrow shape is to look at the individual regardless of face shape. Of course everyone has a different shape face and you can argue that someone with a larger face and big hair can afford to remove a bit more brow that someone with a smaller face, but you have to access the state of the eyebrows at that particular time.
People only care about what looks good on them, so we can’t be as formulaic as we were in the past and squeeze people into these moulds. We have to look at the individual.