How to deal with eyebrow hairs too short to pluck?

November 5, 2009 2:14 PM

Please tell me what to do about my "eyebrow stubble."

For years I didn't bother plucking my eyebrows on a regular basis, but I finally got tired of the bushy look. So lately I've been plucking them, but I'm really bothered by the hairs under the brow line that in the beginning stages of growth are too short to be tweezed- they look like stubble. All I can do is wait til they get long enough to tweeze.

I hate the way it looks- like a bunch of little black dots underneath my eyebrows. Should I be waxing or something else instead of plucking? I'm not really a girly-girl so I don't know much about these things.

posted by shelayna to clothing, beauty, & fashion (21 comments total)

Waxing will do it. Quick and easy and only hurts for a sec, usually only the first few times. Or, you could try some needle- tip tweezers. HTH
posted by pearlybob at 2:20 PM on November 5

Waxing is worse in the short/mid-term, because you have to let the hairs grow before you wax again.
In the very long term, your unwanted hairs will stop growing because the follicle just kinda gives up. This is a slooowww process but it does happen eventually.
In the meantime, if you really can't stand your little black dots, try gently squeezing them, like you're popping a zit. Sometime that'll help the hair come out just enough that you can pluck it.
posted by snoogles at 2:24 PM on November 5

What kind of tweezers do you have? A good pair of tweezers, like Tweezerman, can get short/fine hairs that cheaper tweezers can't grab.
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:24 PM on November 5 [2 favorites has favorites]

Waxing or threading is not going to solve the problem if you are in fact plucking the hairs out (as opposed to breaking them off). If you're not getting the whole hair, complete with the vaguely sticky nodule on the end from the follicle, then invest in a pair of Tweezerman tweezers (I prefer slant tips) and a magnifying mirror with a light. You may also want to lightly exfoliate to maximize the purchase your tweezers can get on new growth.
posted by vilthuril at 2:33 PM on November 5

Waxing pulls the hairs out. Tweezing pulls the hair out. It won't make any difference, the hair doesn't know how it was pulled out. The follicle giving up thing will happen the same regardless.

I'm with Metroid Baby, really good tweezers will pull tiny hairs. Also keep in mind that other people never get that close to you or pay that much attention, so likely you're the only one seeing these. Stand back a bit from the mirror, to the distance that a person would be in a normal conversation. Once they're long enough to be seen that way they're well long enough to get out with care, attention and really good tweezers (and before that they're not an issue anyway).

(FWIW I have thick black eyebrows and pale skin so mine also show early on. They're still removable as soon as they're seeable).
posted by shelleycat at 2:33 PM on November 5

Tweezerman tweezers, eh? I'll have to give them a try- until now I've been using some generic pair bought at the drugstore. Thanks for the advice, everyone!
posted by shelayna at 2:40 PM on November 5

My brow stubble shows too. I just put a little swipe of concealer on the area. This also serves to highlight my brow bones nicely.
posted by twistofrhyme at 3:08 PM on November 5

It's all about the tweezers. Expect to pay between $10 and $20 for a good pair. I have heard good things about the Tweezerman brand, but I don't actually own a pair.
posted by TooFewShoes at 3:11 PM on November 5

I think that threading will get the tiny stubbly hairs. Oh but if you thread or wax to begin with you shouldn't get those little stub dots. Generally I just say fuck it. I am a hairy beast of a woman.
posted by mokeydraws at 3:13 PM on November 5

As someone who said just 5 years ago, "I will NEVER wax my eyebrows!"....get them waxed. They are all pulled out at the same time, and will start to all grow in at the same time, and at that point, you're due for a wax anyway.

(I just go the cheapo route, nail salon on my block. It gets the job done.)
posted by AlisonM at 3:30 PM on November 5

Yes, good tweezers will help with this problem.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:56 PM on November 5

A little gentle exfoliation may make those little buggers easier to grab with a tweezer.
posted by 26.2 at 4:08 PM on November 5

Nthing tweezermen.
posted by nosila at 4:14 PM on November 5

definitely spring for the tweezermen tweezers. they'll get the stubblies.

and eventually you won't get those anymore. i've been plucking my eyebrows for 15+ years, and now most of my eyebrow hairs are really fine and i don't get that stubbly look anymore.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 5:03 PM on November 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

Nthing good tweezers. They can get anything.
posted by Nattie at 7:13 PM on November 5

searching AskMeFe under "tweezers" turns up a couple of questions about good ones
posted by Taurid at 11:25 PM on November 5

Tweezerman tweezers are the only tools for the job, but WARNING the points are sharp enough to tear up your skin if you go after too-short hairs with too much zeal. If you're the slightest bit compulsive about plucking, avoid magnifying mirrors and don't attempt cleanup more often than every three days or so unless you want your under-brow area to become a revolting mass of scabs.
posted by stuck on an island at 1:27 AM on November 6

In the very long term, your unwanted hairs will stop growing because the follicle just kinda gives up.
I have been plucking my eyebrows every day for 16 years and none of my unwanted hairs have given up yet. My grandmother plucked her eyebrows daily for decades and they didn't give up until they thinned simply due to age.

I have been able to get the stubbly hairs with Tweezerman tweezers, but they are still often too short to get without them breaking.
posted by ishotjr at 5:29 AM on November 6

I had an esthetician tell me that this can be caused by the hair breaking just below the skin. That I was breaking the hair without pulling out the root. This had to do with technique? I am not an expert. However, this may have been an attempt to get me to start waxing my eyebrows regularly.
posted by Gor-ella at 9:37 AM on November 6

I have been plucking my eyebrows every day for 16 years and none of my unwanted hairs have given up yet. My grandmother plucked her eyebrows daily for decades and they didn't give up until they thinned simply due to age.

I think this is one of those YMMV things. My mother hasn't had eyebrows since the 1960s because she overplucked as a young woman. She's been drawing them on ever since. This is why I was afraid to pluck my eyebrows for a long time.
posted by notashroom at 1:14 PM on November 6

Use good tweezers. Only pull out one hair at a time. Pull in the direction the the hair is growing.
posted by WeekendJen at 2:46 PM on November 6