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Have your tinted eyebrows gone too dark? Oh dear, it can happen: you’ve applied eyebrow dye with great enthusiasm, and your eyebrows turn out to be too dark! According to a British study, this is one of the worst beauty mistakes you can make. If your dark eyebrows with blond hair don’t look so fantastic, read on for tips on how to lighten them again.
Good to know: are you thinking of dyeing your eyebrows with hair dye? Read our article on this method first, as it involves a number of risks.
Dyed eyebrows are too dark. what to do?
Wait a few moments
Before you run to the store in total panic to buy bleach or anything else: really take a moment. If you’re going to tint your eyebrows (or through your beautician), the skin underneath your eyebrow hairs will also be tinted. This ensures that your eyebrows appear to be darker than they really are. After a shower, the intensity diminishes and once the dye on the skin has disappeared, you’ll find that in most cases, the color is closer to that of your hair color.
Lighten eyebrows
If you’ve waited too long for your eyebrows to be tinted (the longer you wait, the darker the color) and you don’t have time to wait, you can look for ways to lighten your eyebrows. What works?
- Soap. A very simple method using products you’ve always had: soap and a cotton bud. If you use the cotton bud on your eyebrows, you can speed up the removal of dye from your skin.
- Swimming. It sounds a bit strange, but swimming in water containing chlorine can make the color fade faster. We don’t guarantee that the “dark eyebrows you have going in, will be light eyebrows coming out”, but trying certainly can’t hurt.
- Massage. Massage your eyebrows once or twice a week in a circular motion with hair growth, this can improve hair growth.
Anti-dandruff shampoo. Using an anti-dandruff shampoo like Head & Shoulders can make the color slightly lighter. Be very careful with it and make sure it doesn’t land in your eyes. - Exfoliate. Use a soft facial brush or your fingers to scrub your eyebrow area in circular motions. You can exfoliate eyebrows very lightly, possibly with cream scrub. Don’t push too hard, though, or you risk pulling out your eyebrow hairs.
- Eyebrow pastes. There are several brands that offer these eyebrow pastes that can make eyebrows lighter. We haven’t tested this method ourselves, but the women who have tried it are enthusiastic about it.
- Brow powder. Not an ideal solution and time-consuming, but using a powder can at least lighten the skin under your eyebrow hairs. Then brush your brows with a clean eyebrow brush or mascara brush.
- Bleach your eyebrows with hydrogen peroxide or chamomile and honey. Much has been written about this in the post on eyebrow whitening.
If you’re a little scared or find it difficult to carry out a treatment with, for example, an anti-dandruff shampoo or scouring agent, then we recommend you visit an esthetician. These are the solutions we know best. Do you have a solution you’d like to share? Send us an e-mail.
When do you get your old eyebrow color back?
If you’re not too keen on experimenting with different products for your eyebrows, then you can always just wait until the color is fully developed. How long does it last? Eyebrow hairs take around 6-8 weeks to go through a growth phase. What’s more, not all the hairs in your eyebrows are in the same growth cycle, so it will be at least 12 weeks before all the eyebrow hairs are replaced.
How can you avoid eyebrows that are too dark?
And that’s something you don’t want to experience again. If you want to continue dyeing your eyebrows, don’t leave the dye on too long. If you have your eyebrows tinted by an esthetician, ask if she can tint them twice if you’re not satisfied with the first result. It’s better to tint twice than once too often. It may also be advisable not to use a dye that you can’t get rid of quickly, but to use an eyebrow gel. These gels contain mineral-colored pigments that color the eyebrows, but are not permanent. The gel also helps to condition and shape the eyebrows.
