I didn’t start plucking my eyebrows until my mid-20s. I love having well-groomed eyebrows, but plucking could take over my whole life (how fast do those things grow, anyway? Why don’t the hairs on top of my head grow like that?), and quite honestly, I was too much of a baby to go into a salon and get my brows waxed by a professional. Then this tutorial popped up on YouTube:
I’m a big fan of YouTube guru SecretLifeofaBioNerd. She’s adorable, she’s fun to watch, she offers a wide variety of beauty and style videos… and she taught me how to sugar my eyebrows, which has totally changed my life.
The trick to this is making sure you get the consistency of the sugar mixture just right. It takes some trial and error to figure out exactly when to take the mixture out of the microwave. Err on the side of too soon — you can always put it back in to boil a little bit more, but if you boil it too long you end up with hard candy. Make sure you let it sit for about 10 minutes, and test it on your hand to make sure it’s cooled enough before you spread it around your eyebrow. It’s all-natural (and edible!) and there’s a good chance you’ve already got everything you need right there in your kitchen. The only thing I had to buy the first time I tried it was Popsicle sticks.
As for the pain… well, I find it’s significantly less uncomfortable than plucking, mostly because everything comes out at once. And there’s something really satisfying about seeing all those little hairs come out in one quick pull. (Maybe that’s just me.)