How to Make Tweezing Your Eyebrows Less Painful

I was born without eyebrows. OK, not really, but let’s just say they left a lot to be desired. I had no shape whatsoever — no arch, no tail, just a few hairs in the front (thanks for those genes, Dad). I was bullied over them in elementary school, and it really started to eat at my self-esteem.

As soon as microblading became a popular service, I knew it was the perfect option for me and my sad, sad brows. That was five years ago, I had my first microblading session five years ago, and now — with the addition of some occasional touch-up tweezing — love my brows more than I ever imagined I could. With love comes protection, meaning no one is allowed to touch them — seriously. No one else has waxed, threaded, tweezed, or done any other type of grooming method you can think of to my brows in five years. I trust no one but myself to get rid of the sparse hairs surrounding my permanent shape; therefore, I do it myself (which came in clutch when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, since salons had to close).

But to be honest, that shit hurts. I don’t care what anyone says — you don’t just get used to the feeling of pulling hairs out of your skin. To help myself and all the fellow pluckers out there, I reached out to a few experts for advice on how to make tweezing less painful.

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1. Take a hot shower

Founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills, Anastasia Soare (aka the brow queen), recommends taking a hot shower or using a warm compress on the brows prior to tweezing them. “This will help open up the pores and ease discomfort,” she says. 

New York City-based dermatologist Mona Gohara supports this trick as well, but also warns against using a hot compress after you tweeze; instead, use a cold one to help reduce any inflammation that was caused due to pulling hairs out of the skin.

2. Stay away from magnifying mirrors

As tempting as they can be, magnifying mirrors can be so dangerous. Soare says they’re the quickest path to getting carried away, and chances are, you don’t need to tweeze as much as you think.