Well-groomed eyebrows can make a big difference in your appearance, and removing stray hairs is one of the most effective ways to make your eyebrows look neat and polished. If you're considering grooming your brows or looking for a way to remove other unwanted hair, you may be curious about what tweezing is and whether you can use it to get the results you want.
History
Tweezing, or using tweezers to remove unwanted or unruly hairs, became a popular beauty ritual in the 1940s and 1950s, according to the New York Times' Beauty section, when glamorous movie stars such as Sophia Loren, Joan Collins and Elizabeth Taylor popularized sleek, perfectly arched brows. Women who wanted to mimic the polished brows they saw on the big screen asked their hair dressers to groom their brows or took matters into their own hands.
Function
Tweezing works by literally pulling out unwanted hair, right down to the root. You use a pair of tweezers by positioning them with the open ends on either side of the hair you want to remove, then squeeze the ends of the tweezers together until the hair is held securely in their grip. Pull firmly on the tweezers, and the hair pulls right out.
Benefits
Tweezers let you precisely target unwanted hair, so they are useful when you want to remove just a few hairs such as the ones around your eyebrows or the random hairs that sometimes appear on the face and chest. Tweezers are inexpensive, and most people can use them effectively after just a couple of practice attempts.
Considerations
If you're new to tweezing, be aware that it usually doesn't hurt as much as first-time users think it will. If you're having your brows tweezed at a salon, ask for a natural shape the first time so that your brows are groomed rather than reshaped. If you are tweezing at home, be careful not to over-pluck: Focus your efforts on the random hairs that grow apart from the natural curve of your brow and pause frequently to check your progress.
Expert Insight
If you're not sure how much to tweeze, try this tip from the New York Times Beauty section: Apply heavy-duty concealer along the part of your eyebrow you plan to tweeze and use an eyebrow pencil to darken the part of the brow that's still visible. If you're happy with the result, tweeze away. If not, modify your plan before you tweeze.
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