Over-plucking and Over-tweezing Eyebrows: Here are the Dangers

Tweezing is an easy and effective way to remove stray hairs and tend to your brow shape. But if you overdo it (and it’s so easy to overindulge in plucking or tweezing), you risk damaging your brows.

In this article, we’ll explain the dangers of over-plucking or over-tweezing eyebrows, whether plucking eyebrows is bad, and how much plucking is too much. And if you stick with us through the end, you’ll get some tips on how to avoid over-tweezing.

What Happens When You Over-pluck or Over-tweeze Your Brows?

Whilst plucking eyebrows can give you a clean and precise brow look, here are the consequences when you take things too far:

Damage the follicles underneath the hairs

If you pluck your brows too often or too aggressively, you can damage the hair follicles.

The hair follicles’ main job is to grow your hair. So, damage to the hair follicles slows down hair regrowth. But what’s worse is that too much trauma to the hair follicles can lead to scarring, which means over-plucked eyebrows that won’t grow back.

Brows can become thin and unattractive

Over-tweezed eyebrows can lead to thin, sparse brows that are hard to fill in or shape. That happens when you remove more hair than you’re supposed to. Can over-plucked eyebrows regrow? Yes, your brow hairs will eventually grow back, but how fast they grow will depend on your individual hair growth rate.

So if you remove too much hair, you have to put up with it for weeks. Before you despair, rely on a brow pencil or powder until your hair grows back. A brow lamination on over-plucked brows is another solution, too, talk to one of our brow professionals to know more.

Ingrown hairs

Ingrown hairs or commonly known as “razor bumps” are common when plucking eyebrows with tweezers.

They are hairs that have curled up or grown back under the skin. They occur when the hair is not pulled cleanly out and then breaks off very close to or under the skin. Ingrown hairs often appear as red bumps.

You can reduce the risk of getting ingrown hairs by plucking as close to the hair root as possible and in the direction of the hair growth.

Infection

Bacteria can sometimes get inside plucked eyebrows and cause an infection. This usually happens when you use unsanitised tweezers. So, your safest bet is to disinfect your tweezers by washing them with warm water and soap (rubbing alcohol will do, too).

Uneven look

It happens often: we spend ages trying to make our eyebrows look exactly the same, and the next thing we know, we’re left with a set of uneven brows. Over-tweezing eyebrows takes away too much hair, which creates uneven length, shape, and even empty patches.

First, remember that eyebrows are sisters and not twins. So, yes, it is perfectly fine if they don’t look symmetrical. Make your eyebrows look similar instead, and balance them out using brow products.

Is Plucking Bad For Your Brows?

Now, let’s settle this question here about whether plucking eyebrows is totally bad. Well, tweezing or plucking eyebrows isn’t completely bad; overdoing it is.

Again, it is an easy and effective way to do minor brow maintenance. But what you have to be careful of is over-plucking or over-tweezing eyebrows. When you pluck too much hair or too often, you risk damage to your brows, including follicle damage and uneven brow shape.

So, how do we know that plucking or tweezing is already too much? Let’s go over the next section.

How Much Plucking Is Too Much?

Brow hairs grow at a different pace, but we can be sure that tweezing them every day is a bad idea. If you pluck your brow hairs daily, they will start growing at different rates, so they will look uneven.

It’s totally fine if you don’t eliminate every single brow hair that grows back (no one will notice anyway!). Depending on the rate of your hair growth, you can pluck stray hairs every one to three weeks, that will be your safest bet.

Tips To Avoid Over-plucking and Over-tweezing

Here are some tips to avoid over-plucked eyebrows.

Fight the urge to over-tweeze

You’re probably saying, “Now that’s easier said than done.” Believe us when we say we know. So, how do you do it?

Tweezing less is a good start, which means, don’t pick up the tweezers every day. Tweeze every one to three weeks, and just remove the stray hairs as needed to keep your brows looking natural.

Practise safer habits

Having safer habits can help you avoid the horrors of over-plucked eyebrows. And these include sanitising the tweezers from time to time, replacing the tweezers you’ve been using forever (because they become blunt), and tweezing in the direction of hair growth.

Visit an expert for brow shaping

If you can’t keep your hands off the tweezers and you’re tired of making big brow mishaps, it’s time to seek out a brow professional. Your brow expert can clean them up for you and make sure the shape of your brows is kept in place.

Here at Ardour Brows and Lashes, our brow experts have the skills and experience to shape and groom your brows. Book your appointment here.

Takeaway

Whilst tweezing is not totally bad for your brows, and is a great way to keep your brow shape in place, sometimes you can overdo it. Over-plucking or over-tweezing eyebrows has consequences including damage to the hair follicles, thinning or sparse brows, ingrown hairs, and infection.

Too much trauma to the hair follicles can affect hair regrowth, and even lead to permanent hair loss. Over-tweezed eyebrows can look thin and uneven. Not to mention, the ingrown hairs and infections that can sometimes come when you don’t tweeze your brows right.

So, the tips? Tweeze less, sanitise your tweezers, and if you’re not confident with your tweezing skills, seek out a professional.

If you’re weary of messing up your brow shape with the tweezers, book a call with one of our brow experts, and we’ll take it from there.