Simple tips for taming bushy eyebrows
What dates, best friends and colleagues may not tell you
In our business image and dress for success seminars, we’re often asked to cover personal grooming issues that many men don’t seem to notice. Management and HR don’t want to address these personal issues. So you need to monitor your own grooming and eyebrows.
Yes, I trim mine
Guys, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I trim my eyebrows. Most men do or should, because they get unruly and other people notice when you don’t. It’s usually women who notice, women customers, colleagues, bosses and your dates. They will rarely tell you how much grooming issues turn them off. They will just pass you over. (For some reason Joanne isn’t afraid to let me know. Spouses are like that. I take it as a sign she loves me.)
So if you want to make a good impression we’ve got some eyebrow tips and advice below.
What did you say? Sorry, I was looking at your eyebrows
When you think about bushy eyebrows Andy Rooney comes to mind. Andy just passed away. (Click here to watch a nice tribute.) He was a great guy and a terrific commentator but he was also notorious for having unruly eyebrows that he refused to trim. Click here to watch a video clip of him actually talking about his eyebrows and other image issues.
Do people notice? Oh yeah
There are thousands of web comments on Andy’s eyebrows and even the positive ones have a negative spin, for example – Should Andy Rooney trim his eyebrows? … Nope… at 90 years old you are allowed to look like an unkept old man… (I believe they meant unkempt, but if you look unkempt you might have trouble finding anyone to “kept” you. BTW how do you get to be a kept man?)
You don’t need a lawn mower
The point is untrimmed eyebrows on a man are a distraction that turn off other people. None of us wants to be perceived as an unkempt old man, no matter what our age. Many hair stylists will trim your eye brows for you, just ask them. (Tip – If they offer to trim your eyebows, that’s a hint that you need a trimming.) If you want to do it yourself I’ve included a good short video from YouTube on how to trim your eyebrows.
Trim don’t pluck
Note – be careful about plucking eyebrows. Plucked eyebrows rarely grow back, so you may end up with bare spots. Better to trim them and only pluck from areas where you definitely don’t want hair to grow, like between your brows. Trimming is easy and it might just improve your job prospects and your love life.Grooming is part of your dress for success.
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Hey there.. A couple year ago I stupidly shaved my unibrow. My eyebrows are natural very thick and dense in a curve over the eyes. I noticed that the hair grew back so bristly and thick. I started cutting the har between my eyebrows every couple days leaving back blac stubs were the hair was cut. It was so bristly. I recently got a bad habit of ripping hair between my eyebrows out with my fingernails. There are patches now, and the hair is EVEN MORE bristly and hard. You can see small rough hairs every where. My eyebrows are black by the way…
Hi Mike,
I’m a science fiction fan and that is Freddie Jones, an excellent British character actor (with some false eyebrows) as Thufir Hawat in the movie Dune (1984). Not a bad movie from an excellent book by Frank Herbert. About Freddie Jones – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0428086/
Who is man in pic ,, looks familar
David, Heads you win, tails you lose. Ask those “every girls” if they think your eyebrows need trimming. If you don’t trim them they get unruly and if you trim them they may get more unruly but at least you’re trimming them.
Wow I have been thinking about trimming my eyebrows for years. Every girl that I talked to about this can never me a straight answer. So will trimming your brows makes it grows out faster and wilder? I don’t want this to be a weekly thing and I sure dont want the new growth of hair growing out all crazy long and curly lol.
Peter, that sounds a tad drastic. I’m a non-smoker and prefer to keep flames way from my hair or face. 🙂 BTW trimming and the hair wax Fred suggested seems to work for me.
I prefer to use a ciggarett lighter. just light em up but always be close to water and a good mirror 🙂
I trim mine. People notice. Also, do those nose hairs too, guys. It is really gross to look at snotty nose hairs hanging down when you are trying to talk to a buddy and you keep thumbing your nose hoping he will get the hint (never works-just makes the other person nervous)!
I hear you, Fred. As we guys get older, our eyebrows do change. I’ve got a a few that are quite bristly and unruly, almost angling straight out. I may have to weave them back into the more ruly ones (spell check doesn’t like ruly but the opposite of unruly should be ruly). 🙂 I’m going to try your bed head hair wax tip. Thanks for the tips and comment. Us guys have to stick together.
I don’t like my bushy eyebrows! But I don’t like trimming them to control them! My eyebrows have changed over the years. Some of the hairs now grow out at almost right angles to my brow. This, along with longer individual hairs, is what makes some men’s eyebrows look so bushy.
So if I trim them, it looks like a crew cut or very long stubble which looks odd, untidy and a bit scruffy.
If the hairs laid flat like they used to do, there would not a problem.
So I leave them long-ish, pluck out the odd wild hair and touch with a dab of bed-head hair wax to keep them groomed and flat and neat.
Sounds complex but it’s simple.
So you ladies who get so CRAZY about stuff like this, please realize you don’t have ALL the answers so take a chill pill and relax.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this article. Unruly eyebrows on men drive me CRAZY–the lack of personal hygiene is distracting. When workers with crazy eyebrows come to the house, I feel like it shows that they don’t have an eye for detail if they can look in the mirror everyday and NOT see those monsters on their face.
Terry, it’s not just men, women need to take note as well as eye brows are often the most neglected part of grooming — they frame the eyes and act as a focal point.
Women often over pluck over the years and end up having to fill in the brows with pencil. The biggest mistake I see with that is having too sharp a line. An angled eye brow brush solves this problem and makes application a breeze.