Kayla Young
Getting those perfectly-shaped eyebrows is a challenge. Though there are several ways to shape your eyebrows, waxing is one of the most popular methods. It’s quick, easy, and gives you great results.
You can choose to get your waxing done at the salon, or you can even do it at home.
Waxing is not a permanent fix. This is actually not a bad thing, considering trends change.
How long does an eyebrow wax last? An eyebrow wax can last up to 5 weeks. This doesn’t mean you’ll be hair-free for five weeks. You may start to see regrowth as early as 3-4 weeks after waxing.
In this article, we are going to take a look at waxing. We’ll check out the eyebrow growth cycle and why it’s important, how long an eyebrow wax lasts, and how often you should wax your eyebrows. We’ll also explain what happens if you wax too often.
Contents
How Eyebrows Grow
All hair grows in cycles. And while all hair grows in 4 distinct phases, the length of those phases will vary, depending on the type of hair. Eyebrow hair has shorter cycles, but grows more slowly than the hair on your head, for example.
The Growth Phase (aka Anagen Phase):
This is the first phase of brow growth where the brow hair grows to its predetermined limit. This phase can last from 30 to 45 days.
The Transition Phase (aka Catagen Phase):
During this phase, the follicle moves closer to the surface of the skin. It begins to shrink before reaching the next stage. This phase can last from 2 to 3 weeks.
The Resting (aka Telogen Phase):
Hairs don’t grow during the telogen phase, but they don’t usually fall out either. The telogen phase also covers the time a new hair starts to form in a follicle that has released its hair during the catagen phase.
The Shedding Phase (Exogen Phase):
It’s at this point that the old hair finally sheds, helped along by the new hair growing in its place.
In total, the entire eyebrow hair growth cycle works out to about roughly four months. We will get to why these growth stages are important and how they can affect waxing results a little bit further down.
Does Waxing Eyebrows Make Them Thinner?
We’ve all heard that waxing will cause our hair to grow back finer and thinner. Is that true?
The reason waxing can cause hair to grow back thinner, is because of damage to the hair follicle due to the growing stage at which they are being taken out.
Many see this as a great benefit of waxing, particularly when it comes to hair in locations like the underarms, legs, and privates.
But, when it comes to eyebrows…
Getting your eyebrows waxed too often can cause permanent damage to those hair follicles. They may grow in weaker and thinner. Or not at all.
While on your legs or bikini line, seems like a win, we are talking about your face! Regardless of the brow shapes that come in and out of fashion, bald spots will most likely never make it onto the list of trending brows.
Even if you have thick eyebrows, only the part you’re waxing would thin out, not the rest of your eyebrows.
You don’t want to end up with completely uneven eyebrows if you can avoid it!
Getting your eyebrows waxed too often can cause permanent damage to those hair follicles. They may grow in weaker and thinner. Or not at all.
How Long Does Eyebrow Waxing Last?
As we mentioned, an eyebrow wax can last up to five weeks. While some people may be able to go 5 weeks before seeing any regrowth, others may start to see regrowth at the 3-4 week mark.
Hair thickness and growth rates vary depending on ethnicity and genetics.
So does this mean you should be getting waxed every 3-4 weeks if you are among the latter?
No.
How Often Do You Need To Wax Your Eyebrows?
The question should not be – ‘how often do you need to wax your eyebrows?’, but ‘how often should you wax your eyebrows.
Remember the growth stages we were talking about earlier?
You’ll see how they play an important role in this, and how hair removal during different growth stages impacts how the hair will grow back.
Waxing salons will promote getting legs and bikini lines waxed every 3 – 4 weeks. That’s about the time it takes for leg hairs to become just long enough to wax.
If they are too short, the wax cannot grab onto the hair. It’s also during this time that the hair is still in its growing phase.
Waxing during the growing phase of the hair cycle, when the hair is most reply rooted into the follicle, will cause hair to grow back thinner. This is due to the wax pulling the hair out and causing follicle damage.
The more waxing done, the more damage done. And eventually, the hair will become thinner, weaker, or in some cases, not grow back at all.
Waxing or plucking hair once or twice is not going to cause any harm to the hair follicle or change in hair growth or thickness. But repeated waxing during the growth phase will eventually cause irreparable damage to the hair follicle.
Once you go for your first eyebrow wax, it takes about 4-6 weeks for your hair to go through the growth phase. Once it’s in the transition, or catagen phase, it has stopped growing. The follicle begins to shrink and moves closer to the surface of the skin. It releases the hair much more easily and with far less stress on the follicle when waxed.
For eyebrows, to prevent damage and potential hair loss, you don’t want to be waxing during the growth stage. This means you should be waiting at least 4-6 weeks between waxing sessions.
Should I Pluck Regrowth Between Waxing?
No. As tempting as it may be, you must avoid plucking regrowth between waxing sessions.
After your first waxing, you will have pulled out hairs during different growth phases. So for the first few waxing sessions, you might have some hairs growing back faster than others.
This is normal.
Your aim is to get all your hairs you are waxing on the same cycle so they all grow back at the same rate.
By plucking faster-growing hairs between cycles, you are disrupting the hair phases. Those hairs will continue to be on different cycles, which means they will continue to grow back at different rates.
This means you will be forever plucking them, and plucking them too soon (plucking and waxing are the same in this respect). You’ll be damaging those hair follicles, which is what you want to avoid.
Final Thoughts
How long does an eyebrow wax last? Although it may depend on the person, anywhere between 3-5 weeks.
But this does not mean you should be getting a brow wax every 3 weeks. To keep your eyebrows in good condition and avoid irreparable hair follicle damage and eyebrow hair loss, take your time. Wait at least 4-6 weeks before waxing again.
