In the mood to change up your look, or at least give it a bit of a change-of-season update? Now’s definitely the time. One often overlooked area: Your eyebrows. “Brows are essential because they frame the eyes,” says Valbona Gjidija of Sania’s Brow Bar, which has locations in Scarsdale, NY and NYC. “A well-balanced and shaped brow has the ability to transform one’s face, while a poor brow shaping can, unfortunately, distract from the face and eyes. Much as we give our hair attention and skin, brows deserve the same recognition.”
Advocates of “full, fluffy and feathery brows—long before people realized how important brows are,” as Gjidija explains, when it comes to trends, she’s noticed a move towards a more natural look in the fall, versus a more manicured summer brow.
Along with trends, we asked her for a few go-to tips to get great brows. Here are four to know:
1. Ditch magnifying mirrors.
“They cause you to lose perspective and over tweeze,” advises Gjidija. Plus, she notes that when it comes to achieving a natural look, tweezing is your best bet—and in fact, at Sania’s, they tweeze exclusively.
2. Skip lamination.
“Lamination, as we have seen and heard from many clients, causes the hairs to fall out and alters the hair texture. Lamination is a perm for the brows and is not worth the long-term damage that can take months—or even years—to repair,” explains Gjidija. A better bet: “Play around with makeup trends that can be wiped off or clothes that can be changed,” she notes.
3. Trim minimally.
if you want a full, feathered look. “Over-trimming can make the brows appear thinner,” she says, also noting that if you trim too short you may inadvertently cut right into your eyebrow arch. She advises always trimming at an upwards angle and avoiding scissors with short blades, since the additional cuts required will create a choppier look. “Instead, the Sania’s Brow Bar precision blade scissors were designed with longer blades so that you can trim brows in one quick snip,” she recommends.
4. Don’t get skincare on brows.
“Oils and serums such as moisturizer, sunscreen, foundation [and] toner can cause your brow hairs to shed and slow down regrowth,” advises Gjidija. “Treat your brows as a separate entity on the face.” Having a standalone brow shampoo, like Sania’s Brow Bar shampoo, can be helpful. It was “designed to lift natural oils in the skin and control dandruff and flakiness, says Gjidija, who also notes that it’s infused with growth-promoting biotin. Also important: “Remember skincare also weighs down the brow hairs as it makes them heavier. Keeping brows clean—with our shampoo that is made up on safe ingredients designed for the hair follicle—will help to keep brows looking fluffy.”
