Bushy eyebrows are in style and it can no longer be considered just a trend. The look was brought on by "natural beauty, encouraging women to highlight the features they were born with," says brow expert Sabrina Little, senior director of marketing and product development at RevitaLash Cosmetics. "And there is nothing more beautiful than glowing bare skin, and bold thick, natural brows." Sounds too good to be true, right?
"Full, lush brows are the tell-tale sign of youth," says Benefit Cosmetics' Global Brow Expert Jared Bailey. "No matter the face, a big brow can take years off your look." Of course, not everyone has a pair of naturally dark, thick brows to work with. "Brows don’t grow for many reasons: genes, poor nutrition, clogged pores, hormones, and aging (hair in general starts to get thinner as we age)," explains Boom Boom, owner of Boom Boom Brow Bar in New York City.
Whatever the reason you can't get your brow hairs to grow big and fluffy, we're here to help. Keep scrolling for some easy ways to get the full brows of your dreams.
Find an Effective Brow Conditioner
"If you want fuller arches, conditioning is key!" says Bailey. "Look for products that add vital nutrients to your brow hairs."
Gretchen Friese, BosleyMD certified trichologist, recommends RevitaLash RevitaBrow, which is loaded with peptides, lipids, panthenol, and botanicals to help soften and strengthen brow hairs. We also love Benefit Browvo Conditioning Primer ($28). Its soy and keratin protein-packed formula has been shown to make brows look fuller and healthier. (FYI: These products can't claim to make your brow hairs physically grow longer, but they do make them look as though they have).
Massage Your Brows
Our brow experts agree that giving your brows a nightly rubdown can do wonders for encouraging real-deal growth. "Good circulation is important to healthy hair growth," says Bailey. "Think about it: Each follicle is attached to a tiny blood vessel called the derma-vessel. By gently massaging the brow area each night, you can help increase circulation to that area to promote hair growth."
Exfoliating your brows can also help. "Use a soft bristle toothbrush to gently exfoliate the brow area to stimulate the hair cycle," advises Little. Simply brushing them regularly with a tool like the NARS Eyebrow Brush ($26) will also encourage your brows to grow.
Stay Hydrated
"Healthy and hydrated skin is fundamental for happy hair growth," says Bailey. That means keeping the skin moisturized from the inside out (and vice versa). By providing your body with ample amounts of water, your body is able to detox properly and keep in all the right nutrients. In addition to keeping a water bottle at your side all day long, it's important to topically moisturize your brow area.
"Let’s face it, we often neglect the skin under or around our brows," says Bailey. "Simply bring your eye cream all the way around your eye and up to your orbital bone each time you apply." Make sure that whatever eye cream you do apply is done with light pressure. Try Skin Owl's Eye+ ($48) for a lightweight option.
Apply Castor Oil
Castor oil is widely used to encourage growth for both the lashes and brows. "People have had good results with this nutrient-rich oil, which is really inexpensive," says Boom Boom. "Castor oil can be a safe and affordable home remedy," adds Friese. "It has been used for years to treat a variety of conditions, including hair loss. While there haven't been scientific studies that prove that castor oil can regrow hair, it's a low-risk remedy that may help you get thicker/fuller eyebrows."
The product has been used across different cultures for centuries. Just make sure to choose a 100% pure, organic variety. Its mass appeal means you could be purchasing a version that is diluted and won't render the growth results you're looking for. We love this $26 one from Briogeo.
Try a Serum
Serums aren't just for the skin—they can benefit brows, too! If you're not seeing the results you want from following the above steps, you can try a serum that encourages growth by incorporating some of those good-for-your-brows ingredients. "I have often recommended the BosleyMD Follicle Energizer for brows that are thinning," says Friese. It contains biotin, caffeine, and rosemary to energize the hair follicle and reduce inflammation. She says to apply with a cotton swab twice a day and "it may help regrow brows."
Trim Your Brows
Instead of reaching for the tweezers the second things get out of hand, trim your brows properly. "If eyebrows are getting too long, brush them upward and trim the ends but make sure not to cut too short," says Friese. Then you can fill in with a pencil or gel of your choosing to create the illusion of more fullness. "There are a number of eyebrow gels on the market that contain conditioners as well as colored fibers to create healthier brows with a fuller look." Friese likes the Milk Makeup Kush Fiber Brow Gel ($20).
Have Patience
While easier said than done, when it comes to brow growth, patience is a virtue. "The hair on your brows is like the hair on your head, it grows in a cycle and can take a while for all the hairs to grow in evenly," says Bailey. "And the struggle is no joke when you’re dealing with patches or gaps in this regrowth period." In the meantime, you can fake the look of full brows using makeup and grooming techniques.
Try This DIY Serum
"Apply a mixture of castor oil, vitamin E, and argan oil each night by rubbing it into the brow with a Q-tip or your finger, and keep it on until morning," says esthetician Denise Wilson of Sublime Eyes, a walk-in brow bar in Hollywood. "Pay attention to the areas where you are no longer growing new or thick hair. It's an old beauty secret we've been using at the salon to help clients achieve a fuller brow and even out hair. Clients usually see results in a few months."
Want to know which brow products our editors' love? One editor spills how she achieves her enviable arches.