How To Grow Your Eyebrow Hair

Eyebrow trends have ranged from thin and long to thick and bushy. If your eyebrows are thinner than you want them to be—either from over-plucking or an eyebrow hair loss condition—you might be looking for a solution to grow them back.

Getting to a point of full eyebrows may not be a quick and easy process. Yet, some key products and tools can help to grow, shape, and fill in your eyebrows—it's all about the proper technique.

Read on to discover what conditions cause eyebrow hair loss and the tips and tricks that can help you up your brow game.

Why You May Have Eyebrow Hair Loss

Over-plucking your eyebrows is a common mistake—you start plucking at a few stray hairs and when you take a step back at the final look, more of your eyebrow is gone than you intended. It happens.

There are also cases when eyebrow hair loss is out of your control and may be caused by an underlying health condition.

Trichotillomania

If you find yourself pulling your eyebrow hair out (or any hair on your body) to the point of distress—when you're trying not to, or compulsively—you may have trichotillomania.

Trichotillomania is a psychiatric disorder that is classified under obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and causes people to pull out their hair repeatedly.

Constant hair-pulling can cause scarring and other damage, including infections to the skin on your scalp or the specific area where hair is pulled, and can permanently affect hair growth. A healthcare provider may recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help manage anxiety and hair-pulling.

Front Fibrosing Alopecia (FFA)

Front fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a disease that causes hair loss and scarring on the scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Eyebrow hair loss is often the first noticeable sign of FFA—around 80–90% of females who have FFA have lost part or all of their eyebrows.

The cause of FFA is unknown. However, if the disease is caught early—before hair loss is permanent—treatment can help prevent further hair loss. Treatment options may include medication.

Aging

Hair loss is a common side effect of aging—many people, especially men, experience baldness by the time they are 60 years old. As you age, you don't only lose hair on your head—you can also lose the hair on your body and face too—including your eyebrows.

The hair follicles on your body will eventually stop growing hair. It's common for men to notice their eyebrow hairs are longer and more rough and loose than they used to be.

Thyroid Disease

Thyroid diseases are conditions that affect your thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck that makes hormones. These hormonal disruptions can cause changes to your hair, nails, and skin. Thyroid disease can cause hair loss all over your body—including your eyebrows. You may notice your eyebrows are thinner or completely missing on the outer edge. This is a symptom of thyroid disease.

Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata is another type of alopecia that can cause eyebrow hair loss. Alopecia areata causes patchy baldness—alopecia means bald while areata means patchy. People who have alopecia areata may have this type of patchy baldness on their eyebrows and anywhere on the body that has hair including:

• Scalp
• Beard area
• Eyelashes
• Armpits
• Inside your nose and ears

How To Get Thick Eyebrows

If you want thicker brows for any reason, here are some tips on how to get started and how to fill them in in the meantime.

Draw In Your Brows While Growing Them Out

If you've decided to say "so long" to thin arches, remember that the growing-out process won't happen overnight. Growing back your eyebrow hair differs for each person but it may take about three to four months. For the time being, you may choose to fill in your brows with makeup.

You can purchase a specific eyebrow makeup kit that can help you create thin, natural-looking strokes where you want "hairs" to appear.

Strengthen Your Brow Hair

Faking thick eyebrows is a good start, but you may still want fuller brows of your own. To kickstart the process, you can use an eyebrow serum, a gel-based product in an easy-to-use pen applicator that helps strengthen existing brow hairs.

Most eyebrow serums can be used every night to help grow back eyebrow hair at a faster rate.

Get Grooming

Once the hair on your brows begins to grow in, you can tend to strays and extra-long strands with tweezers, tiny scissors, and a spoolie-type brush. Hair should generally be plucked in the direction of the follicle (to avoid ingrown hair).

Try not to go overboard with plucking and cutting; instead, only remove hairs far outside your arches. Then use the spoolie brush to comb your hair upwards and lightly trim the edges.

Here's a tip: Stay far away from magnified mirrors when doing this—they show every single detail on your face and may encourage you to over-pluck.

Work With Your Natural Eyebrow Shape

You can work with the natural shape of your eyebrows to create a subtle look. Technique is important—fill your eyebrows in with more of a gradient, with the tails darker and the hairs closest to your nose a little lighter.

You can do this by applying an eyebrow cream to the outer half of your eyebrows for a sharp tail and using an eyebrow pencil to lightly fill in sparse spots in your inner brows. After filling in your arches, brush the hairs up and over to complete the look.

See a Healthcare Provider

If you are experiencing eyebrow hair loss, and are not seeing any improvement with at-home treatments, you may want to contact a healthcare provider or a dermatologist. These people will be able to help you determine the cause of your hair loss and help you figure out the best treatment options.

The treatment for hair loss varies depending on the cause. Professional treatment options may include:

• Corticosteroid injections
• Hair transplant
• Medications (like finasteride or spironolactone)

Latisse drops may also be a treatment for eyebrow hair loss. Although typically used for eyelash loss, research shows that latisse may also be beneficial for people with eyebrow hair loss. However, as of 2022, latisse is only approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for eyelash hair loss and not eyebrow hair loss.