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How can I Darken Eyebrows?

B. Miller
B. Miller

People with very light eyebrows may find that it often looks as if they have no eyebrows at all; others who dye their hair may find that their eyebrows no longer match, which can be a dead giveaway. For these reasons, many people choose to darken their eyebrows using various methods. While it is possible to darken the eyebrows with dye, it is important to be very careful and to keep some important tips in mind.

Before using dye to darken eyebrows, try darkening or filling in your brows with an eyebrow pencil or eyeshadow. Not only can these cosmetic products make brows look darker, they can also make them look more shapely and filled-in if you happened to be a little overzealous while plucking them. Simply sweep the makeup over the brows, following the natural brow line; use makeup remover if necessary to correct any mistakes.

A woman using makeup to darken her eyebrow.
A woman using makeup to darken her eyebrow.

Using makeup can be a great and simple way to make the eyebrows darker, but it requires re-application every day and has the potential to smudge. For this reason, many people choose to dye their eyebrows instead. This can be done at a salon by a professional or at home. Be sure to purchase a kit especially made for dyeing eyebrows, however, and do not simply use regular hair dye.

Before darkening eyebrows, try filling in your brows with an eyebrow pencil.
Before darkening eyebrows, try filling in your brows with an eyebrow pencil.

Keep in mind that the eyebrows do not generally match the hair exactly. Instead, even when trying to darken your eyebrows, choose dye that is a few shades lighter than your normal hair color. Eyebrows that are too dark or match too closely will look strange and unnatural. Mix the dye according to the package instructions, and only leave it on the eyebrows for the specified amount of time. It might be a good idea to leave it on for less than the time specified to get an idea of the color.

There are various methods a person can use to darken their eyebrows.
There are various methods a person can use to darken their eyebrows.

There are different types of dye for eyebrows, including semi-permanent, which lasts the longest, or an eyebrow tint, which may be more subtle and fade more quickly. Either one can be effective. Be very careful when applying the dye, making sure not to drip it into your eyes, which can cause pain or injury. When you choose to darken your eyebrows to enhance the look of your face, be sure that you know what you are doing; if a mistake occurs, a salon technician may be able to help alter the color, but it can take months to grow out again.

Discussion Comments

recapitulate

I was just reading one of Bobbi Brown's books. If you are not familiar with her, she is a renowned makeup artist and has her own makeup line.

In this book, Beauty Revolution, she says you can try dyeing eyebrows at home but you have to use a tiny amount of color and remove it quickly. She also suggests, rather than just pencil, using an eye shadow one or two shades lighter than the hair color, but in the same family- like a medium brown if your hair is dark brown or a really light brown if you dyed your hair blonde.

I think this suggestion is a good one, especially since eyebrows often do look a little darker than the hair on our heads.

kylee07drg

@OeKc05 - Be glad you let your trained friend do it. I tried darkening mine myself, and my mistake took months to remedy.

I was going from blond to chocolate brown. I thought I would just use a bit of the hair color on my eyebrows so that they would match perfectly. I didn’t see the point in buying a separate color just for that little bit of hair, anyway.

Well, since eyebrow texture and head hair texture differ so much, I guess it does affect the way color gets absorbed. My eyebrows turned deep, dark brown, almost black, within half the time my color said to leave it on. They looked very strange with my brown hair. I looked like I must have been naturally black-headed.

OeKc05

I think it looks really bad to tweeze off all your eyebrow hair and draw it back on with a pencil. To me, it looks obviously fake, and you lose that natural texture.

That’s why I decided to keep my eyebrows when I died my hair auburn. Since my brows are naturally blond, I didn’t want to risk coloring them too much by doing it myself. I went to my friend, the cosmetologist.

She mixed up just the right shade. She left it on for the proper amount of time, and my brows ended up matching my hair perfectly.

lighth0se33

Eyebrow makeup is no good if you get caught in a downpour. I found that out when my eyebrows dripped off of my face.

I didn’t even think it was going to rain that day. I had been indoors shopping, and when it came time to go to my car, I stepped outside and out of nowhere, the sky opened up. I got soaked in a matter of seconds.

When I looked in my mirror, I saw that my dark brown eyebrows were oozing down my cheeks. My blond ones could be seen clearly, and my newly dyed deep brown hair made them look very out of place.

orangey03

If you plan on dying your hair either golden brown or light brown with reddish highlights, then you may be able to use chamomile tea to darken your eyebrows. I used it on my light brown hair, and it gave it a golden red hue. When I put it on my eyebrows, it did the same.

I got some chamomile from a health food store. I brewed the tea and put it in a spray bottle. I spritzed my hair and eyebrows all over, and then I sat out in the sun for 20 minutes. Then, I washed the tea off. I really noticed a difference.

You can use the tea as often as you like. Just be aware that with each use, your hair and eyebrows will take on more of a reddish tone.

sunnySkys

@Azuza - I'm glad your friends eyebrow mishap turned out all right in the end. I would have personally freaked out if I tried to lighten my brows and they turned white!

I have mixed feelings about darkening eyebrows. A good friend of mine darkens her brows a little bit and they look really nice and natural. However, we have another friend who goes really overboard with the pencil and it just looks crazy.

I guess any makeup technique can look ridiculous if it's done wrong though.

Azuza

A friend of mine went blond and attempted to lighten her eyebrows at home with disastrous results! She left the dye on too long and her eyebrows ended up practically white, which was not the color she was going for.

So she ended up having to darken them again! She plucked her eyebrows down to almost nothing and then got a pencil that matched the color she was trying to get with the lightening. Then she penciled her brows in until they finally grew back.

After her brows grew back all the way she went to a salon and had them professionally lightened. The results from that approach were much, much better.

surfNturf

@Moldova - I agree that working with your natural shape is the way to go. I know that grooming eyebrows is also a problem for a lot of women. I think that some women have bushy eyebrows while other go to the extreme of tweezing their eyebrows so much that they don’t look natural.

Eyebrows have a natural arch that is lost when you tweeze your eyebrows too much. I think that the best thing to do is to have your eyebrows waxed and then maintain the shape my tweezing a hair here and there that crops up. This makes it easy to maintain and you won’t have to worry about overdoing it.

Having perfect eyebrows is important because eyebrows shape your eyes and ultimately frame your face so it is important that they look good.

Moldova

I know that a lot of people use eye brow pencils in order to darken their eye brows, but I personally think that the eye brows tend to look a little harsh when you over do it and it is easy to do that with an eye brow pencil.

I prefer using eye brow shaper which is a powdered version of the eye brow color that allows you to fill in your eye brow as though you were coloring a coloring book.

This tends to look more natural and it appears more flattering. I have also seen people get tattoos of their eye brows so that they don’t have to worry about it and that could also be an option for some women, but I think that the eye brow shaper powder works best because it allows you to fill in your natural shape and not create a new shape that does not match your face.

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    • A woman using makeup to darken her eyebrow.
      By: WavebreakmediaMicro
      A woman using makeup to darken her eyebrow.
    • Before darkening eyebrows, try filling in your brows with an eyebrow pencil.
      By: Xuejun li
      Before darkening eyebrows, try filling in your brows with an eyebrow pencil.
    • There are various methods a person can use to darken their eyebrows.
      By: Africa Studio
      There are various methods a person can use to darken their eyebrows.
    • An eyebrow brush may be used to apply a darkening powder to the eyebrow.
      By: Andriy Petrenko
      An eyebrow brush may be used to apply a darkening powder to the eyebrow.
    • Some people opt for permanent eyebrow makeup to darken their brows.
      By: photostefan
      Some people opt for permanent eyebrow makeup to darken their brows.