Hair protects the body from the extremes of weather and helps regulate body temperature. Eyebrow hair, new studies suggest, functions as a social tool, helping our faces express disdain, surprise, anger, joy and even unconscious feelings. Eyebrow hair growth as we age has been studied also, specifically the fact that as we age, we grow less and less hair everywhere on our bodies – except our eyebrows, which don’t follow suit with the rest of our body hair.
So, do men’s eyebrows tend to get thicker with age? Yes, they do. They continue to grow, while the growth of women’s eyebrow hair ceases sometime in early middle age. This is due to the fact that testosterone, a hormone associated with aggression and sexual arousal, exists in higher amounts in men than it does in women.
Testosterone levels increase in men as they get older up to around 70 years old, and testosterone is key to this seemingly out of control eyebrow hair growth. But the eyebrows are just one area where hair seems to grow faster and longer.
Men’s nose hair and ears experience extreme hair growth as they age. The tip of the nose has the most concentrated density of hair follicles, but these hairs aren’t visible until men reach upper middle age. Then, due to the rising levels of testosterone, they can become more visible. It’s the same for hair in the ears, and the growth of eyebrow hair.
One may argue that even when lower testosterone levels exist, eyebrow hair still continues to grow. This is also true, because during a man’s lifetime, his hair follicles have been exposed to high levels of testosterone for decades, and this androgen buildup over those decades causes hair to continue to grow. It is as if there is testosterone in reserve that manifests itself in increased eyebrow hair growth.
What is the best way to groom overgrown eyebrows?
As men age, apparent physiological changes occur on the face, including an increase in hair follicle activity, from which becomes visible in places it never did when younger. Men often seek out competent barbers knowledgeable with managing excessive hair growth. If you decide to do it yourself, there are a set of tools that you’ll need to accomplish the job.
- Small pair of scissors, to cut longer strands of eyebrow hair
- Tweezers, to pluck at eyebrows that are out of the eyebrow line
- A spoolie brush to brush the long eyebrow hairs before cutting with scissors
- A standard magnification mirror
How do I groom my eyebrows?
Cutting and trimming eyebrows should be performed in this order:
- Use scissors and a spoolie brush to cut longer eyebrows evenly.
Take the spoolie brush in your hand and brush up your eyebrow hairs. Brush up in a repetitive sweeping motion to collect all the longer strands of eyebrow hair.
Holding the hairs in place with the brush, take a pair of scissors in your other hand. Use the edge of the spoolie brush as a straightedge. Cut only the hair above the edge of the brush. Nail cutting scissors are recommended. Do not cut too much; in fact, it is better to “stagger” the length of the hairs until you have achieved a natural look.
After the long hairs have been cut, comb out the hairs with the spoolie brush at a 45-degree angle. Again using the brush as a straightedge, cut the remaining eyebrow hairs that are excessively long.
Now take the brush and brush the eyebrow hairs down using a downward motion. Trim the uneven and excessive hairs on the brow’s underside.
Take the same exact steps for your other eyebrow.
- Using Tweezers to trim eyebrows
The skin’s pores open when exposed to heat or hot water. The same applies to hair follicles just below the surface of the skin. Before trimming, take a hot shower and let the hot water run over your eyebrows to allow the hair follicles to open up. There will be less resistance of the eyebrow hair by pulling with tweezers.
Pluck all the hairs out underneath the arches of your eyebrows. Plucking errant hairs this way makes eyebrows more pronounced, and symmetrical, especially when cut and trimmed.
Slant the tweezers down toward the eyebrow hairs you wish to pull out. Yank the eyebrow hairs out in one quick motion. You can use the fingers of your free hand to spread the skin around the hair follicle to make the hair come out faster and easier. It will also make it less painful.
- Make sure the eyebrow shape complements the shape of your face
Remember that the shape of the eyebrows should complement the shape of your face. If your face is more boxier than round, for instance, a flat, straighter eyebrow shape can make the face appear less square. A thicker eyebrow will fit better with a square jaw, and eyebrows that are curved complement a face that has a diamond shape.
There are many tools on the market today that are designed better than eyebrow tools (and cosmetic tools in general), that were made even as recent as 20 years ago. Consult a barber or hair stylist if you have any questions about the tools that can trim your eyebrows the best.
Why do people have eyebrows?
There has been much speculation as to why humans have eyebrows in the first place. The first modern humans appeared about 200,000 years ago, though the lineage of homo sapiens began much earlier than that. It was first believed that because the eyebrows are located just above the eyes, they serve to trap debris that can get into the eyes. Eyebrows also serve to absorb sunlight. Like football players applying black grease to their faces to deflect the sun and to have sharper vision during a game, eyebrows also deflect the sun’s brightness away from our sensitive eyes.
Over the last 5 millions years, humans have gradually lost a great deal of body hair, yet we’ve retained our eyebrows. And studies have shown that eyebrows take on an equally important role in communication.
The face has 43 muscles that help us to convey our feelings to someone, as well as our reaction to things we’re told. The facial muscles contort and flex to express dozens of different emotions, and the eyebrows contribute, complimenting the facial muscles to help express what we communicate through smiles, frowns, and much more.
Cartoon illustrators often draw in large eyebrows on characters and these successfully convey emotions and responses that viewers of these cartoons easily understand. Eyebrows “exaggerate” facial expressions; without eyebrows, it is harder to understand someone’s reactions to things you’ve said.
You can try a simple experiment with another person. Cover your eyebrows with the palms of your hands and make a smiling expression with your face. Ask another person what they believe your face is communication. Then have your partner over their eyes and make a face to you. Chances are, you will either have a more difficult time interpreting their expression, or you won’t be able to at all, without seeing the eyebrows as well.
Eyebrows convey emotions much more subtle than a smile or a frown. On the subconscious level, it has been shown that humans raise their eyebrows to communicate the fact that they are not a threat. Conversely, when the eyebrows narrow, it means we are preparing for a confrontation. Even dominance and submission are communicated greatly with the help of eyebrows.
Over millennia, the human population has grown markedly. Every two decades or so, a billion people are added to the earth’s population. People today live in closer, tighter groups compared to the nomadic, wandering Neanderthals did three million years ago. The faces of Neanderthals resemble human faces in striking ways, but the marked difference were the thick, bushy eyebrows and their prominent brow ridges.
Although the nose, ear and eyebrow hair grow faster in older age due to the increased levels of testosterone the body produces, because of today’s growing science of cosmetics and the improvement of modern tools, no one need have bushy or long eyebrow hairs. If a man wishes to remove excess hair above the eyes, he can easily and inexpensively.