October 02, 2023
Everyone’s eyebrow maintenance routine is different, but one way to keep your eyebrows looking great is to give them the occasional trim. Whether your eyebrow makeup arsenal consists of gels, pomades, pens or pencils, you need a groomed base to work with for the best results. Which brings us to our most pressing eyebrow question to date: How do you trim your own eyebrows?
In celebration of National Brow Day, which falls on October 2, we tapped brow expert Joey Healy to walk us through the process. If there’s one person you can trust to get you the naturally full and sculpted eyebrows of your dreams, it’s Healy. With a long list of celebrity clients and a brow salon in New York City — not to mention his own set of perfectly groomed eyebrows — it’s safe to say he knows what he’s talking about in this arena. When Healy’s not doing touch-ups himself, he’s empowering people to learn to style their brows at home through his complete collection of eyebrow grooming products.
Sure, you’ve probably seen some beauty influencer or makeup artist trim eyebrows before — or maybe you’ve even taken a stab at trimming your own brows — but do you really know the best technique to get the job done? Ahead, Healy walks us through the best way to cut your eyebrows, plus mistakes to avoid and the tools you’ll need.
Why Should You Trim Your Eyebrows?
“Trimming allows you to have a ‘maybe’ moment,” says Healy. “Sometimes, when you’re doing your own hair removal, it’s yes or no — yes, you keep the hair, no, you tweeze it away — but you can have a ‘maybe’ moment when you trim.” In other words, trimming your eyebrows can be a less extreme approach to brow grooming, since with trimming, the hair follicle remains undamaged.
“If your eyebrows are curly, [trimming your brows] helps you make them look more groomed and it helps you go longer between professional shapings,” he adds. “Trimming just tidies them up.” Additionally, once you learn how to trim your brows correctly, the hairs will lie down flat better and cover up any gaps you may have.
How to Trim Your Eyebrows
Follow these three simple steps to trim your eyebrows like a pro.
Step 1: Brush Your Brows
“First, brush your eyebrows up with a spoolie like the Joey Healy Duo Brow Brush,” explains Healy.
Step 2: Begin Trimming the Longest Hairs
When it comes to choosing the right scissor, be sure you opt for a precise, sharp option without a curve. This means you should stay away from cuticle or manicure scissors. “Comb the brows up and trim one hair at a time, downward at an angle,” says Healy. “Never trim more than one hair at a time and don’t trim straight across. You don’t want to make them blunt.”
Step 3: Stop and Assess Your Work
Healy recommends that you start by only cutting the longest hairs, since you can always trim more, but you can’t put the hair back once you’ve snipped it. “Maybe trim each hair 20 percent and then you can go back and do more, nice and slow,” he says. “I advise trimming more in the first half of the brow and less on the tails because you need that length at the end to not have gaps.”
Mistakes to Avoid When Trimming Your Eyebrows
According to Healy, one of the biggest mistakes you can make when trimming your eyebrows is cutting in a straight line without paying attention to the individual hairs. He notes that people often think that trimming their brows isn’t a permanent commitment because the hairs will grow back, but this is not always the case. “Your brows grow, rest and then shed,” he says. “Without even knowing it, you could be trimming rested brows that are done growing.” Then, you’re stuck waiting for that hair to shed and a new one to grow in.
Finally, be sure not to trim all the way down to the base of the hair — stick to the tip. “If your brow curls, trim it at the elbow where it curves, don’t trim it much lower,” advises Healy.
Other Tips for Flawless Brows
“Embrace your products — everybody should have clear brow gel,” advises Healy. “It helps you manipulate your length, and you want to befriend your length.” He also suggests that you stick to tweezing and stay away from waxing and threading, since the former allows you to be more precise and focus on one hair at a time.
“If you’re a brow novice, use a powder to fill in your brows, if you’re more of a pro, use a pomade, and if you’re on-the-go, use a tinted gel because we know it can do multiple things,” says Healy.
Above all, don’t go overboard with the tweezing or trimming. “Embrace the flaws to look flawless!”
The Best Products to Use When Trimming Your Eyebrows
Joey Healy Duo Brow Brush
This double-ended brow brush from Healy’s product line has a spoolie brush on one side for combing your brows into place and an angled brush on the other for filling them in with makeup. Use the spoolie end to prep your brows for trimming.
