Brow Bleaching

I said I'd talk about it, so here it is, my opinion on the big B! As I said before, brow bleaching is everywhere at at the moment, and in some cases it can look fantastic;  yet for the most part I'm not a huge fan of it.  I have personally bleached my eyebrows before, just for fun, and I'm one of the many people that it didn't really look right on. I SO wish I could find some pictures to show you, but I've probably burned them ;)

To bleach your eyebrows, you can either go to a salon, or to go Target and buy any sort of bleaching product for facial hair.  The tricky thing about doing this, is that when you're lightening your hair, it goes through a process where it "lifts".  During this process, your hair goes from an orange shade to a lighter, white shade.  We're talking Carrot Top to Platinum within a couple of minutes, so it's a big trial and error to know when to stop.  You either have a gold shade to them, otherwise they're non-existent.

So let's say you successfully bleach your brows, you will probably still have to pencil them in or at least powder them a bit, unless you're cool with your eyebrows disappearing from your face.  Oh, and did I mention you'll have roots?  Unlike brow tinting, where the color gradually fades, bleaching needs to grow out, so yes, you'll have lovely roots on your brows.  Not fun.

Bleaching your brows will open up your face in a big way, and most people need their brows to enhance their eyes and break up their features a bit.  But, if done on the right person, in the right situation, it can look good.  Here are some examples of both.

Here's an example where you almost need to lighten your brows, otherwise it won't look natural.  Kim Kardashian dipped her toes into the blonde pool, and it actually looked great.  Her makeup artist still powdered her brows in, to prevent her from looking totally washed out.  Bravo.

Britney Spears has bleached her eyebrows on and off throughout her career.  I think she looks good either way, but girlfriend tends to neglect her waxing (tisk tisk), so the bleaching helps to hide her lack of upkeep, therefore making it work on her.

This is a great example of bleached vs. natural.  Obviously Mary Kate (I think), has bleached her brows and has opted to not pencil them in, and her sister has kept them dark and thick.  So here, you can see that the bleaching makes her forehead look quite a bit larger, and it makes her look older. 

Here's an example where opening your face can be a good thing.  Although Nadine Coyle is a pretty girl in general, her dark brows were overpowering her face, and the small eye space that she has.  I was so happy when I saw that someone lightened them up.  Now you see her beauty and aren't distracted by her brows.

Ashanti's makeup artist did an amazing job with her brows for this look.  She only lightened her up a little bit, and without the orange shade (lucky).  It looks super natual and softens her look up immensely.

And finally, Miss Stefani.  I love Gwen and her style, but this wasn't my favorite look on her.  She must have thought the same, because she didn't keep the lighter brows for long!  Again, I think this ages her, and for how rockin she looks at 40, she doesn't need that in her life!

So overall, bleaching can be fun for something different if you're brave, but in general, I'd stay away from it.  I personally don't offer bleaching as a service for my clients, as I don't want to disappoint them if the results aren't what they wanted.  And, I figure most people want to make their lives easier, not complicate it by HAVING to pencil their brows in before they leave the house, or to deal with roots and the upkeep.  I hope this was helpful!

Credit: Getty Images, WENN, chicintuition, zumbro, celebrity-gossip.net, and kissandmakeup.tv