Best Eyebrow Tweezers?

June 10, 2009 10:35 AM

Seeking your recommendation for best eyebrow tweezers.

I’m looking for eyebrow tweezers that work. Revlon and other drugstore-brand styles don’t seem to work for me; over time they become less “true,” and some even don’t work straight out of the package. I’d like to take a step up in quality and price range (say $20-$50?), but don’t know where to look.

My only real requirement is that they have tapered (or pointed) tips. Would be nice to have scissor-style grips, but will consider any pair that you’ve had success with. (If it matters, I have thick hair, which occasionally takes some tugging to extract.)

posted by dreamphone to clothing, beauty, & fashion (23 answers total)

Tweezerman

Aside from being available thru their site, they are sold at lots of drugstores and beauty supply stores. I love mine.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 10:38 AM on June 10, 2009 [3 favorites]

Seconding Tweezerman. I bought about five different cheapie brands trying to find a decent pair, then finally conceded that I might have to spend $20 on tweezers.
posted by heliotrope at 10:41 AM on June 10, 2009

Sephora has nice tweezers but they're upwards of $30-$40
posted by wongcorgi at 10:47 AM on June 10, 2009

A good pair of tweezers can be SO frickin' satisfying. Tweezerman seems to be the go-to brand, although personally I think that Rubis makes a superior product. I've linked to an Amazon page because the Rubis website is rubbish; a little clicking around should get you to their other shapes/sizes/models. I would never go back to Tweezerman now.
posted by bcwinters at 10:48 AM on June 10, 2009

I'm a fan of the Tweezerman automatic. I've had mine for years now. (Hmm, and they seem to be a lot cheaper than when I bought mine. Maybe I'll pick up a new one.)
posted by JoanArkham at 10:52 AM on June 10, 2009

I predict a thread full of people saying Tweezerman. Including me.
posted by HotToddy at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2009

My secret for the best tweezers (and I use them to occasionally 'trench' to get ingrown hairs out too, oooh, so satisfying) are Uncle Bill's Sliver Gripper Tweezers.

Just $6.95 at REI (or cheaper on ebay) these little fellows are designed to grip even the most slender tweezer- I've never had a problem with grippage on them and they perform on a par with my aunt's beauty store tweezers that wear out in a few years and cost $20-$35. Best of all, they're guaranteed for life- mine finally wore out and didn't grab every single hair after 8 years and REI replaced them.
posted by arnicae at 10:56 AM on June 10, 2009 [2 favorites]

Tweezerman slanted tip. You can buy them at Bed Bath and Beyond with the 20 percent off coupon. Or, you can find them at Sally Beauty Supply and I'm sure Ulta has them too.

Take extra good care of them. (Don't bend them are pull them apart of drop them) They are the best.

I have seen much more expensive tweezers but I find that Tweezerman grabs the tiniest of hairs so why pay more?

I am definitely going to try these tweezers arnicae speaks of.
posted by Fairchild at 11:06 AM on June 10, 2009

Nthing Tweezerman. I love mine, and they're pretty easy to find.
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:09 AM on June 10, 2009

2nding Rubis.

I started out using Tweezerman, and they are good tweezers, mind you. But when I got my first pair of Rubis tweezers, I was blown away by how much better they were! They're made in Germany and are machined so precisely that every single part of the gripping facet grips hard onto even a small tiny eyebrow and plucks it out.

They're available at beauty supply stores and also come in different sizes.
posted by choochoo at 11:10 AM on June 10, 2009

Goodness me, why oh why did I wait so long before asking this question? Thanks all!! And especial thanks to Fairchild for the tip on where to buy.
posted by dreamphone at 11:12 AM on June 10, 2009

Apparently the ones sold at Sephora are Rubis. So 3rding Rubis.
posted by wongcorgi at 11:17 AM on June 10, 2009

Another vote for Tweezerman.
posted by sperose at 11:19 AM on June 10, 2009

Tweezerman will sharpen them for free, too. Only I can't live without mine long enough to send them in, so I'm thinking about getting a second pair so I can alternate.
posted by padraigin at 11:19 AM on June 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was a HUGE fan of tweezerman until I offhandedly bought a random set of non-tweezerman tweezers at Marshalls (for like $4) to have as a backup pair. They are far, far more precise than even the needle nose tweezermans that I'd sworn by for years. I do not have them on me now, but I will check the label when I get home from work and let you know what they are. I love them.
posted by 8dot3 at 11:35 AM on June 10, 2009

I like the revlon diamond grip

and I don't remember paying as much for them as is listed in the link.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:50 PM on June 10, 2009

I don't like Tweezermans (Tweezermen!). The pinching power of Tweezermen is great, yes, so for fine hairs they may be ideal. But my eyebrows are very thick & dark, so even short stubble really shows, and I need to tweeze the hairs as soon as they appear above the skin- I can't really wait for them to grow out at all, as they're so visible. With Tweezerman, the prongs are too thick- the part that touches your eyelid is so thick that I can't get the grabby part close enough to my skin to grab short hairs. I need thinner pronged tweezers to get any leverage to raise my little eyebrow stubble into the tweezy part.

My favorite tweezers right now are from Sally Hansen. I just look at the tips when I'm buying- for me the tips should be as thin as possible to get right in at the base of short brow stubble.

Also, keep in mind that you can sharpen your tweezers yourself to improve their grip. Pinch them around a popsicle stick nail file and sort of massage them in a circle for 30 seconds or so. The nail file will grind the pinching part a bit so their grip on fine hairs becomes more precise.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:04 PM on June 10, 2009

Years ago I bought a $0.99 pair of Meijer store-brand, cheapie tweezers. They have been the best tweezers I've ever used, including Tweezerman.

If you live by a Meijer, see if you can pick up a pair--it's worth the dollar to find out if it's good enough for you.
posted by schroedinger at 1:46 PM on June 10, 2009

Seconding Uncle Bill's Sliver Gripper Tweezers. Very good. the price is right too at Lee Valley in Canada.
posted by Taurid at 1:57 PM on June 10, 2009

I have Tweezerman's, but I would like to add that I find the classic style tweezer much more precise for thich or short hairs than the scissor style.
posted by WeekendJen at 2:18 PM on June 10, 2009

To follow up on my above post: the brand of tweezers I love is called Esthetic Plus. The company website looks like it's MIA, so that would explain why I found them cheap at Marshalls.

I will say, in complete agreement with pseudostrabismus is that a pointy, sharp, needle-like tip is crucial. Slanted tips, no matter how finely honed, is still too wide of a tip to extract burgeoning brow hair. You need something pointy as hell. The point tip tweezermans are good, the Esthetic ones are better.
posted by 8dot3 at 6:37 PM on June 10, 2009

This will sound weird, but the little tweezers that come in a swiss army knife are the best thing I've ever found for tweezing hairs. The blades are extremely thin, so they can grip even really small hairs.
You don't even have to buy a while knife to get them--you can get replacement ones at a knife store for a few dollars!
posted by exceptinsects at 11:33 PM on June 10, 2009

"whole knife", I mean.
posted by exceptinsects at 11:33 PM on June 10, 2009