Over the last few weeks, we've seen a handful of celebrities break out the bleach [1] to give their eyebrows a barely-there look. Earlier this month, Kim Kardashian [2] was seen on her Instagram Story documenting the process of temporarily lightening her brows for a project she was working on, and nearly two weeks later, Game of Thrones alum Maisie Williams showed up to the 2021 BRIT Awards with hers bleached [3] as well. It might be a little too early to call it a trend, but in the event that brow bleaching becomes one of the cool to-do activities this summer, it might be helpful to have a guide on hand of how it works.
We'll start by saying that bleaching your eyebrows is a whole lot different than bleaching your hair [4], and there are a few things you should know about the process beforehand — especially if you're thinking about doing it at home. Ahead, we spoke to two hairstylists about bleaching your brows and found out what to do (or what not to do) in the process.
What Happens to Your Hair When You Bleach Your Brows?
"You're basically lifting all the natural pigment from your hair," hairstylist Cory Aaron Scott [5] told POPSUGAR. He added if you want to bleach your brows, he doesn't recommend doing it at home, as "there are so many dangerous things that can happen if not done by a licenced professional." (More on that in a moment.)
Why Would Someone Bleach Their Brows?
Much like there are a handful of reasons why someone would bleach or colour their hair, there are also a handful of reasons why a person would bleach their brows. Usually, this happens when a person wants to lighten their brow colour to match an equally lighter hair colour.
"Some people who wear a hair colour that is significantly lighter than their natural colour like to lighten their brows slightly to help make the lighter hair colour match their brows better, which creates a more natural appearance," hairstylist Jeremy Tardo [6] said. "Others who bleach their eyebrows fully lighten them all the way to a super-light or white colour, which creates a more intense look that is typically created for fashion purposes."
Scott agreed, adding that he's also worked on fashion and movie sets to bleach and colour eyebrows for shoots and films.
How Long Does Eyebrow Bleaching Take?
This, of course, is dependent on how naturally dark your brows already are. "The darker your natural brows are, the more pigment you will need to remove from them in order to achieve a very light colour," Tardo said. "Thus, the darker your natural brow colour is, the longer your processing time is when bleaching your eyebrows."
Generally, though, it should take between 10-15 minutes.