Women are walking back their eyebrow tattoos

For such thin strips of hair, the feminine eyebrow attracts considerable attention and care.

We plucked them into oblivion throughout the 1990s in admiration of Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson. Then, the 2010s saw a complete reversal to thick, dark and bushy, inspired by model Cara Delevingne and reality TV’s Kim Kardashian.

Those who permanently thinned theirs out in the previous trend were compelled to add definition through copious amounts of gel and pens, eyebrow tattoos or even eyebrow hair transplants.

Now, the eyebrow is shifting again.

Gone: the Kardashian-esque brow that is heavy and defined.
In: a brow that isn’t thin or thick but shockingly, natural. Celebrities such as singers Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus, and, somehow, also Kim Kardashian have taken it a step further with bleached, barely-there brows for an avant-garde look.

Eyebrows are in flux, and no one is seeing this more than Briar Neville, a tattoo-removal technician who founded Sacred Laser more than a decade ago. Each week, she sees about 20 clients in her Auckland studio for eyebrow tattoo removal. It’s something that she saw a major bump in following the winding down of Covid restrictions in 2023, and it is continuing to increase. She has also seen three to four male clients in the past decade.

“I guess over time what happens is the pigment sort of tends to spread underneath the skin, so whilst [the eyebrow] might appear great at first, they tend to become just one block of colour over time, so you lose those individual hair strokes completely.”

A toned down look is something that Christchurch brow artist Kacey Louise has noticed.

“While some people still prefer a bold brow, the trend is definitely leaning towards a more natural look....

“My general advice is to stick with your natural brow shape. Keeping it classic allows it to adapt through every brow trend.”

Depending on the skin and the artist, an eyebrow tattoo might initially reflect the colour of the client's hair with various pigments. However, over time, this can turn grey, according to Neville. Some people are removing their tattoos before getting new ones, but the majority of clients tell her they won’t reinstate their eyebrow ink.

The trend of the 2010s towards the fuller eyebrow led to an “explosion in the cosmetic tattooing scene,” says Neville. While there are some true cosmetic artists tattooing eyebrows, there are some inexperienced and undertrained practitioners as well, she added.

In some cases, this has left people with what Neville calls “double rainbows”, which is one set of tattooed eyebrows either completely or partially separate from someone’s actual eyebrows.

Eileen Tuiletufuga, 36, recently started laser tattoo removal for her double eyebrows, and she expects it will take a few appointments at Sacred Laser before they are completely gone. It all started in Singapore when Tuiletufuga, then a flight attendant, went to get her eyebrows tattooed to save time using a brow pen and gel each day.

The brow artist shaved her eyebrows and essentially redrew new eyebrows partially over an area where no eyebrow had ever existed. When her real eyebrows grew back, Tuiletufuga had two pairs of eyebrows instead of one. She went to two other brow artists in an attempt to improve the situation.

“I tried to cover them with concealer, but it doesn't [work]. It just comes off within half an hour, and you can see them.”

"It is crazy. Honestly, it's kind of like a warning to try not to copy trends because you might regret it," Tuiletufuga added.

Brow artist Miranda Hill from Wake Up With Make Up in Christchurch doesn’t shave her clients' eyebrows before tattooing. Instead, she maps the proposed brow onto her client with a pencil. She takes an image and uses an app on her phone to ensure symmetry. If she is happy and the client is happy with the plan, only then does she apply needle and ink to skin.

Hill’s preferred method is ombre, a combination of dot work and shading that leaves clients with a soft, powdery and natural brow after two sessions. The studio also does nano hairstrokes and a tattoo style known as a powder brow for clients after more definition.

Almost all of Hill’s clients are after a natural, barely-touched brow rather than the “angry bird” look of a few years ago.

“Now, I’m finding we are definitely shifting into the more fine machine hair strokes, nano hair strokes, soft ombre, lamination and a more natural and groomed look.”

No one is yet to ask for bleached eyebrows, and if someone wanted to mirror Anderson's from the 1990s, Hill would educate them about the eventual permanence of plucking.

“The thin brows are making a bit of a comeback, but not a Pamela Anderson comeback... It’s not that thin.”