For all pluckers and threaders, please be careful because at 60 they do not grow back. At least, that is my experience. I had a unibrow as a child and started plucking the bridge of my nose about 8th grade when a girl made fun of me. Then in the 80's and 90's I think I plucked them too thin. Now, I have thin outer edges but the hair that does grow, grows in like old man brows. You know, the ones that you can comb up and over your forehead. I trim those because I am afraid if I pluck them out I will not have any eyebrows left by the time I am 70. I do pluck the few strays that show up under my brow and between my nose. I also use the Tarte pencil because you do not have to sharpen it and set my brows with a clear gel.

1. my natural brows. I was a tow head with dark brows. Weird, I know.
2. about 1989
3. Now, my glasses hide my brows, mostly.

Irene:
That's why I don't like those places! I saw your eyebrows in one of your pictures, and the arch does look plucked, you should give them a break if you want them to fill out :0 just my opinion though.

Deb:
Cuteness overload!
Great advise, my mother doesn't pluck her eyebrows either and they're in great shape at 51.

I love these stories you're sharing, specially with photos, it's so interesting to see someone story through eyebrow timeline.

Dixie, what do you mean by sprouts? As I mentioned this is just-done look -- they grow out from there for sure. At 2-3 mark they are ideal. At 4 week mark, they are starting to look unruly and like a bad combover job. Even gel won't keep them from wanting to curl and spike in all directions rather than over. Especially in the humidity. So keeping them a bit on the shorter side keeps them tamed.

She really only removes a tiny bit of hairs under the arch -- plus these really bizarre & errant handful of dark hairs that grow ON my eyelid. Near the crease. That's what I meant by, I turned 40 and suddenly my eyebrows sank downward. I mean that literally -- odd hairs growing where they aren't meant to grow. And she cleans up the blonde fuzz between my eyes, above the eyebrow, and on my eyelid. Though it's only blonde fuzz, that fuzz clean-up makes a huge difference, in the way the light shines on my skin-- which means no need for highlighter under the brow.

Shiny, your eyebrows frame your face beautifully. By sprouts I meant those feathered hairs at the beginning of your eyebrow. They're really cute and is like a "thing" right now to not cut them (with all this craze for full eyebrows).

http://cdn.smoothfm.com.au/sit.....k=b37uD4av

It's a matter of personal preference, after all.

I get my brows threaded. I use to have them waxed but heard it was but for your skin. When I was younger I plucked them myself. I never overdid it and now I am glad I was careful. I am pretty happy with my brows! Wow. I am actually satisfied with some part of my body. They are light brown/blonde because I am naturally blonde. Sometimes I put dark brown makeup on them but it looks "intense".

You just reminded me I need to pluck! I have thick--but short brows. They have lightened as I have aged. I don't use a pencil on them. I resisted plucking my brows thin through the nineties--I'd heard that they might not grow back and I didn't like the sound of that--plus it was painful.
I shape them using the pencil trick and only ever pluck underneath--I do go into the brows proper once in a while to pluck out those "grandpa" hairs. They showed up only in the last five years or so. (I'm fifty.)
My glasses give my face a lot of definition so my brows aren't as crucial to my appearance as they would be if I didn't wear them.

This picture is from this summer when I was trying out frames. These are not my current ones, but the picture does show my brows really well.

I'm had them threaded a few times, but after a few mishaps with wax strips myself (half brows, hard to hide until they grow back), I got my DH to pluck them for me when they need it, just cleaning up stray hairs under the arch.

I occasionally brush them into shape with some product, or add a little bit of very narrow pencil if the outer rim hairs are looking sparse. It works. I don't know why it's only half as painful when he tweezes them versus when I do, but it really is.

I get my brows professionally waxed every month and a half or two. I had been seeing the same gal for almost a decade, and I tell you I cried very real tears of terror when she retired It took me a while to find a new gal (so in the meantime I did it myself but I despise doing it myself), and happily found a new gal eventually. I leave the shape at its natural and just get cleanup, really. My brows are very dark and a nice width-weight, and they used to be much thicker in volume before I had thyroid issues in mid 20s. The ends have since thinned, but there's still plenty there. Getting my brows done is a bigger pick-me-up than getting my hair cut updated!

LOL.. Dixie, I didn't know those have a name!

I am about 4 weeks out since my last threading job, and two weeks away until my next haircut + threading session. The sprouts right now are sticking straight up, all spiky, and sideways toward the bridge of my nose... similar to that photo ... except that my eyebrows ---though each individual hair is long (my trimmers are in my suitcase)--- are still quite sparse and do not look *anything* like that model. If I let them grow and do not trim, they could literally be an inch long... if you extend the dang curl!

What's more I just plucked about 20 of those dang errant eyelid hairs, which were the reason I started with the threading 9 years ago. It's kind of fun to time how long it takes my eyelid skin to bounce back... *still waiting*...

As I was scrutinizing the situation, another thing that annoys me is that the base of each eyebrow hair is white/blonde; the tips are dark and coarse and curly. So that when they grow out, it looks like my eyebrows are weirdly floating and lifting off my skin. In photos often this looks like a halo or something. Or weird smear of foundation or moisturizer or powder. But it's the actual hair roots. The roots are blonde. Pretty sure they aren't white or gray yet... those hairs grow in coarse, not fine. I know because I get the odd one or two of those now.

Needless to say, I'm totally sympathetic and now understand why women in their 80s on up sometimes have no eyebrows left, and may choose to paint them on instead.

I am cringing in horror at the memories of my aunties with their crayon brows. The redheads in my family have really blonde eyebrows. Mine are thick but so light that they seem to disappear, worse in the summer. But the trauma of the aunties has always made me run away from product. I finally found something that wasn't too harsh a contrast earlier this summer. But I don't think there are photos from the 3 times I remembered to use it

I get mine threaded every four weeks, just a tidy up really. I am pretty happy with my brows, they are a good shape. I darken them occasionally for a party but mostly leave them alone between visits.
Pic taken at a Mad Men party we had, hair is also done by the hairdresser. Hence the pearls and brooch

The YLFers have some styley brows .....

I have sparse but long eyebrows, so they need to be maintained in order not to look unkempt. I used to have them done professionally in my early 20s, but I've been doing them pretty much myself for the last 10 years or so, with occasional trips to a professional for rare occasions, like weddings and such. I trim and pluck. A few months ago, totally by coincidence, I came across a wonderfully helpful sales lady at the cosmetics counter, who turned to be a professional makeup artist. She not only helped me find the best color for an eyebrow pencil, but also showed me the correct method to apply - you don't actually draw, but go against the grain and basically fill in the space with a relatively dull pencil. I've been super happy, except for the fact that my husband does not like darkened eyebrows so once I'm finished I need to go over my brows with a makeup pad and brush away the excess.

So many beautiful ladies and eyebrows. I think I have eyebrow envy!

I didn't see anyone mention this but did you know that sparse eyebrows, esp. on the outer edges is often a sign of hypothyroidism? I think sparse eyebrows in general can also be a sign of other mineral deficiencies like iron. Mine are better but about 15 years ago they were getting kind of sparse on the edges before I started taking my thyroid medication.

I have light hair and eyebrows kind of like Suz - I sometimes use a light blonde/taupe eyebrow pencil (Origins for me) to ever so slightly darken them and a mascara type brush to brush them up and outward. I esp. do this if I'm dressing up more, not so much on a daily basis. I never get mine done by someone else as I wouldn't trust them at all (bad experiences early in life). I trim them carefully by first brushing the hairs either all upward or downard. I don't really pluck much except for the rare stray hairs that are so fine it probably doesn't matter. I prefer a fuller eyebrow and wish mine were fuller. I may have to try that castor oil trick. It is an amazing oil that can be used for all sorts of things from what I've read.

And I just read recently about how eyebrows can do more to de-age an aging face than even a facelift in some cases!

My daughter has beautiful Brooke Shields-like eyebrows, and I took her to the Anastasia lady at Nordies starting when she was about fifteen. Genie taught her what to do and most importantly, what NOT to pluck, and she has stencils so she can keep up with them on her own at college. She gets them done a couple times a year but she does a good job on her own. I overplucked in the 80s so they don't come as far toward the bridge of my nose as they really should, and I've lost a lot of the tail due to thyroid disease, but I do my best with Sephora brow powder, a Trish McEvoy brush, and Cover Girl clear mascara as brow gel. Brow gel would be my desert-island beauty product.

Lots of ladies here with great eyebrows! Dixie, your eyebrows are amazing - they are thick, the shape and arch frames your face beautifully. I would not change a thing.

My natural brow shape is thick and heavy, and they suit my facial features which are not dainty. I waxed them once back in high school, and some of the wax dripped on hairs that I had not intend to remove. It took a long time for the hairs to grow back, and unfortunately some never did. Now I just tweeze the strays above and below my natural brow shape and that's about it. Be sure to tweeze in the direction of the hair growth though, because I have noticed that some of the hairs grew back in weird directions.

I get a brow tint and tweeze about every 6-8 weeks. I never do waxing as my skin is too sensitive, and I think there is more precision with a tweezers. I am finding my brows are getting a bit more unruly with age. Not thicker, just some hairs with cowlicks.

Alana, you're beautiful, it's the first time I see a close up of you. Your eyebrows look fine.

Aida, you're so lucky to have found an eyebrow specialist that you trusted. I've never been completely satisfied with a hairstylist or eyebrow plucker, so those are tricky things for me.

Shiny, Why are the base of the hairs light? Do you dye them?

Kiwigal, you look super chic and pretty.

You're all really beautiful. For all the gals who get stressed out because they that have sparced and light hairs, I think the thing now is to embrace the natural shape. Paltrow looks a million times better with her fair eyebrows (2) than with the pencil ones (3).

This is a really interesting topic and I'm thrilled, eyebrow care is a personal thing, I feel like I know you better. Culture, family, personal story, etc. is involved in this process. It would be really interesting to see how people all over the world do it, right?