How To Grow Your Eyebrows

You might wonder, "Do eyebrows grow back?" if you have plucked away too many hairs or have a health condition that causes hair loss. After all, thicker eyebrows are a trend now. The short answer: Yes, eyebrows grow back as long as your hair follicles are not damaged. 

What really makes eyebrows grow back? Boosting your iron and protein intake, trying eyebrow serums, and using natural oils might help speed up hair regrowth. You might consider filling in or tinting your brows in the meantime to enhance their appearance. 

Do Eyebrows Grow Back?

Your eyebrows will grow back if you plucked too many hairs. Hair regrowth may happen if you have a health condition that causes hair loss, as long as the hair follicles are not damaged. The hair might regrow on its own, or you may need to visit a healthcare provider before treatments.

How To Grow Eyebrows 

Your hair might grow back on its own without treatment, but it might take a while. Here are some tips to help you get started on filling out and growing your eyebrows.

1. Adjust Your Diet

A lack of iron and protein in your diet might cause hair loss. Adding more iron- and protein-rich foods to your diet might speed up your hair growth. 

Iron sources include:

• Breakfast cereals fortified with iron
• Dried beans
• Dried fruits (e.g., apricots, prunes, and raisins)
• Egg yolks
• Lean red meat and poultry
• Liver
• Oysters
• Salmon and tuna
• Whole grains

Eating eggs, fish, and lean meat can help boost your protein intake. You might opt for cooked beans or lentils and tofu if you do not eat animal products.

2. Draw In Your Brows While Growing Them Out

You might choose to fill in your brows with makeup while waiting for them to grow back. You can purchase a specific eyebrow makeup kit to help create natural-looking strokes where you want "hairs" to appear.

3. Experiment With Natural Treatments

Some evidence suggests that natural oils, such as olive and rosemary oil, might stimulate hair regrowth. For example, a study published in 2015 studied the effects of rosemary oil in people with androgenetic alopecia (female or male pattern baldness). The researchers found that after six months, rosemary oil helped regrow hair as much as minoxidil, a topical medicine that treats hair loss.

No evidence has suggested that petroleum jelly, such as Vaseline, works for hair regrowth. Still, you might apply petroleum jelly to your eyebrows to help lock in moisture and prevent hair breakage. Of note: You might avoid applying petroleum jelly to your face if you have acne-prone skin.

4. Get Grooming

You can tend to stray hairs and extra-long strands with a spoolie-type brush, tiny scissors, and tweezers once your eyebrows begin to grow in. Pluck the hair in the direction of the follicle to avoid ingrown hairs.

Avoid going overboard with cutting and plucking. Instead, only remove hairs far outside your arches. Then, use the spoolie brush to comb your hair upward and lightly trim the edges.

Here's a tip: Stay far away from magnified mirrors when grooming your eyebrows. Those mirrors show every detail on your face and may encourage you to overpluck.

5. See a Healthcare Provider

Consider seeing a healthcare provider, such as a dermatologist, if you have hair loss and do not see improvement with at-home treatments. A healthcare provider can help figure out the cause of your hair loss and the best treatment options.

Hair loss treatments depend on the cause but may include:

• Corticosteroid injections
• Hair transplant
• Medications (i.e., finasteride or spironolactone)

Research has found latisse drops might treat hair loss. As of 2023, the Food and Drug Administration has only approved latisse drops for eyelash loss, not eyebrow hair loss.

6. Strengthen Your Brow Hair

Faking thick eyebrows is a good start, but you may still want full natural brows. You can try an eyebrow serum, a gel-based product in an easy-to-use pen applicator, to strengthen existing brow hairs. You can use most eyebrow serums every night to help grow back your eyebrows at a faster rate than usual.

7. Try Brow Tinting

Brow tinting uses semi-permanent dye to darken your eyebrows, which might help them appear thicker than usual. Ensure that you visit a professional cosmetologist to tint your brows. Research has found that unregulated products that allow you to tint your brows at home may cause chemical burns.

8. Work With Your Natural Eyebrow Shape

You can work with the natural shape of your eyebrows to create a subtle look. It's all about your technique. Tru filling your eyebrows in with more of a gradient, with the hairs closest to your nose a little lighter and the tails darker.

Apply an eyebrow cream to the outer half of your eyebrows for a sharp tail. Then, use an eyebrow pencil to fill in sparse spots in your inner brows lightly. Brush the hairs up and over after filling in your arches to complete the look.

How Long Does It Take To Grow Eyebrows Back?

Remember that the growing-out process will not happen overnight if you want thick eyebrows. How long it takes your eyebrows to grow back differs for each person, but it may take three to four months.

What Causes Eyebrow Hair Loss? 

Overplucking your eyebrows is a common mistake. You start plucking at a few stray hairs, and then more of your eyebrow is gone than you intended when you take a step back at the final look. There are also cases when hair loss is out of your control.  

Factors that might increase your hair loss risk include:

• Aging: You can also lose the hair on your body and face, including your eyebrows, as you age. The hair follicles on your body eventually stop growing hair. Many people, especially men, have baldness by age 60. It's common for men to notice their eyebrow hairs are longer, looser, and rougher than they used to be. 
• Alopecia: This is hair loss. Types of alopecia that may affect your eyebrows include alopecia areata and front fibrosing alopecia (FFA). Alopecia areata causes patchy baldness. FFA causes hair loss and scarring on the eyebrows, eyelashes, and scalp. Around 80% to 90% of women with FFA have lost part or all of their eyebrows.
• Thyroid disease: This affects your thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck that makes hormones. Disruptions in those hormones may cause changes to your hair, nails, and skin. You might notice hair loss all over your body, including your eyebrows.
• Trichotillomania: This psychiatric disorder causes people to pull out their hair repeatedly. Constant hair-pulling may cause infections and scarring or permanently affect hair growth. A healthcare provider may advise cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help manage anxiety and hair-pulling.

A Quick Review

Your eyebrows will grow back if you have plucked away too many hairs or have a health condition that causes hair loss as long as your hair follicles are not damaged. Eyebrow serums and natural oils might quicken hair regrowth. Brow tint and makeup might fill them out in the meantime.

You might need to visit a healthcare provider if you have a health condition and at-home treatments do not work. They might prescribe medicine that helps stimulate hair regrowth.