Growing up comes with a fair share of firsts. First boyfriend, first apartment, first kiss. There is one first, however, which is repeated every week and still causes the same amount of anguish/regret as it did the first time. I’m talking about tweezing.
In my experience, this is not a task that should be executed unsupervised. The stakes are just too high. You might be under the impression that hair grows back — which it does, but never where you want it to. I have discovered that with a 50 per cent success rate, eyebrows take a century-and-a-half to get to where they were. This is not like weeding a yard. You can pluck and yank with a newfound sense of balance, and not stop till you create two tiny caterpillars with a sink full of hair that makes your stomach twinge.
My inexperienced years of youthful tweezing left me looking like Bozo the Clown right before a big family vacation (sorry about those holiday photos, mum) and my best friends eyebrows still hold a grudge and refuse to grow back. She locked herself in the bathroom wielding shiny new tweezers — which is the basic equivalent to letting a child play with scissors.
“They’ll grow back,” a friend said to me nonchalantly when I panic-called her post a tweezing session. She’s pencilling in her eyebrows as she says this, which makes me wonder: if eyebrows are supposed to grow back, what happened to hers?
Next time you tweeze with impunity, get some blocks of ice and a bottle of whiskey. Pour yourself a big drink once you ice your scabbed and tortured skin. Call a friend and prep yourself. Growing your eyebrows back is a lot like tending to a houseplant in a dark Florentine apartment, but it doesn’t have to be that way! There are a lot of little tricks to transition your eyebrows off the struggle bus.
First off, throw out your magnifying mirror. There is nothing worse than obsessing over the smallest detail which only you will notice. Let it breathe. Contrary to popular belief, keep all moisturisers, creams, and lotions away from the area. The only thing this very successfully does is block the hair follicles and delay the entire process.
Now for your new best friend, castor oil. Do an allergy spot test prior and apply it religiously with a spoolie. If you’re in the market for a splurge, get a lash growth serum and keep an eye out for Biotin in the ingredient list. Increase your omega intake and call it a day. Maybe bring a friend next time you decide to tweeze and keep her on eyebrow patrol duty. More anon.
saumya R chawla
@pixie.secrets
The writer loves to over-share, drink wine & watch period dramas