Are Your Eyebrows Aging You?

You slather creams around your eyes, touch up your grays, and do time on the treadmill—but what have you done for your eyebrows lately? If you've never given much thought to your arches beyond the occasional tweezing, now is probably a good time to start. "Like your skin and hair, your brows can start to show their age," says brow expert Anastasia Soare, owner of Anastasia Beverly Hills Salon. "They can thin out, become coarse and unruly, or turn gray." And just as a new hairstyle can trim away the years, a well-groomed, well-defined brow can lend your face a years-younger look.

Whether yours are thinning, fading, or graying, we help you get them in shape!

Your Arch Enemy: Vanishing Brows

he Problem: "Like thinning hair, sparse brows come with age, so they make you look older than you are," says Eliza Petrescu, owner of Eliza's Eyes in New York City.

The Solution: Use a brow powder to fill in patchy spots and make your arches look thicker. 

The Brow Fix:

1. Start by gently pulling your skin taut with one hand to create a smooth surface.

2. With a stiff, angled brow brush, dust on the powder in the same direction your hairs grow, using light, feathery strokes. Concentrate on sparse areas, says Kristie Streicher, eyebrow expert at Warren-Tricomi Salon in Los Angeles.

3. When you're finished, brush the hairs up and out with a spoolie (it's like a clean mascara wand); this blends and softens the powder so it looks more natural and removes any excess powder.

Your Arch Enemy: Disappearing Tails

The Problem: Brows naturally thin at the outer edges (by your temples) first, but a fast fade can also be the result of overplucking. "The tail of the brow is the part that sets off the arch, which makes eyes look youthful and sexy," says Petrescu. "Without it, eyes seem droopy and tired."

The Solution: Lengthen your brow tails with a pencil. 

The Brow Fix:

1. First, determine where the tail of your brow should end by holding a pencil diagonally from the outside corner of your nostril to the outer corner of your eye. The spot where the pencil intersects with your brow is your target.

2. Extend your brows to that point by using the brow pencil to sketch light, feathery strokes in the same direction your hairs grow.

3. Set the pencil—and blend the penciled-in tails with the rest of your hairs—by stroking a tinted brow gel over the entire length of your eyebrows.

Your Arch Enemy: Graying Brows

he Problem: "From afar, gray or white brows disappear completely, which makes your features look unbalanced," explains Petrescu.

The Solution: Camouflage colorless hairs using the right technique, which depends on the number of grays you have. 

The Fix:

1. Hide a few strays with a brow marker that matches your eyebrow color; the felt-tip point lets you paint hairs precisely with a natural-looking color.

2. If you have a significant number of grays, color them temporarily by brushing on a tinted brow gel that's slightly lighter than the nongray hairs.

3. If your brows are mostly gray, dyeing them is the best fix. Ask your stylist if your salon offers the service (it's often free when you get your hair colored), or have it done at a spa. "Even if the hair on your head is silver or gray hair, I suggest dyeing brows light brown," says Petrescu. "It creates a frame for your eyes that sharpens your features for a more youthful look."

Your Arch Enemy: Overgrown Brows

The Problem: Bushy brows can make eyes look smaller. And longer, coarser hairs (which appear with age) may overhang at the outer edges, making lids look droopy, says Streicher.

The Solution: Trim, tweeze, and set hairs in place for arches that are under control. 

The Fix:

1. Brush all the hairs up with a spoolie, then use brow scissors to cut the tips of hairs that extend above the top edge of the brow line, one at a time. (Cutting them all with one snip across leaves a straight edge that looks unnatural.)

2. Next, use slant-tip tweezers to pluck stray hairs that grow outside the swath of hair that defines your natural brow shape. "This can be tricky, so I recommend going to a pro," says Petrescu.

3. Finish with clear brow gel to set hairs in place without darkening them.