Eyebrows (MtF)

[Annaiyah]

Hello. Sorry if this has been asked to death but I had a quick question regarding the eyebrows for a male-to-female transitioner such as myself.

I wasn't too sure where to put this, but I was wondering what I should do about my thick eyebrows. When I find the money, I'm going to undergo Dr. Zukowski's FFS (I've heard all good things about him and looking pics at his work impresses me) and so I wonder:

When you undergo FFS, do they make your brows thinner too? I heard they arch them but that's about it. And I've also heard that laser hair removal to shape the eyebrows is HIGHLY unrecommended and I refuse to gamble my eyesight on anything.

However I was just watching a video of this one t girl on YouTube, her eyebrows are freaking FLAWLESS! And it makes me wonder even more who to go to to get the really thin and curved eyebrows.

[Nicolette]

What?! It's basic plucking, by yourself or by a beautician, that makes them 'thinner' and shaped. I've never heard of FFS procedures to thin eyebrows, except by electrolysis. A surgeon will often arch them when performing a browlift. Often, women will pluck and then make them more defined by using a kohl.

[awilliams1701]

I just had mine done at the brow bar at Ulta. The lady there was very good at it. Because I had never done it before it took her a lot more effort than a maintenance job would have. My current avatar pic shows the results from this. I saw a huge difference. One note though, waxing the lower area of the eyebrows hurts a lot more than above. My face was very red afterword, but she put on some makeup to help cover it up.

[Annaiyah]

What?! It's basic plucking, by yourself or by a beautician, that makes them 'thinner' and shaped. I've never heard of FFS procedures to thin eyebrows, except by electrolysis. A surgeon will often arch them when performing a browlift. Often, women will pluck and then make them more defined by using a kohl.

Oh well excuse me! 

[Nicolette]

Oh well excuse me! 

  , yes sorry for being so snappy. That was unwarranted. There's no difference between male and female eyebrows except for subtle positioning. The position is only slightly different because male foreheads are more boney, causing the eyebrows to shift downwards. The arch is down to tweezers. Flawlessness that you see is essentially makeup and tweezers. If women didn't pluck, many would look like Frida Kahlo.

[Lostkitten]

Best to ask at a beauty salon. Arches don't always make you look better if you don't got the face for them. I would love more of an arch >_<.

[ErinS]

A talented esthetician can work wonders with even the worst brows; combined with proper makeup, and you'll never believe the difference until you see it firsthand.

[PinkCloud]

Best to ask a salon beautician, and then let her pluck it. Then you can do the maintenance yourself by plucking every two days or so, to maintain the shape. I don't like arched brows, I think it makes a face mean looking. Mine are rounded more.

[Annaiyah]

Yeah but is there a permanent way to do that... so I would need to keep having them plucked every two days or so?

[Lostkitten]

Lazyness. I guess you can laser the hairs away and tattoo a new brow on your face?

[Damara]

Even cis women with horrible, bushy, thick, shapeless brows have to endure the small inconvenience of keeping them maintained. If they want them maintained that is. My hairdresser did a beautiful job on mine! I just told her to wax them within an inch of their life! lol! I was shocked at how much more feminine my overall face appeared when she was finished!

[Leila]

Yeah but is there a permanent way to do that... so I would need to keep having them plucked every two days or so?

Electrolysis is permanent.

Lazyness. I guess you can laser the hairs away and tattoo a new brow on your face?

Not recommended to laser so close to the eyes in case of retinal damage.

[Lostkitten]

Not recommended to laser so close to the eyes in case of retinal damage.

Not recommended to do something permanent while you can just wax or pluck your eyebrows either.

[Jeneva]

Actually with laser you wear metal goggles and they never get close at all.  I've had laser to my eyebrows done 6 times, but really need to have the thinned even more.

I'm prolly going to just use a beautician to wax them this time.

*EDIT*
Also realize that laser is much more available than good electrolysis.  The closest place is an hour and a half and hasn't returned any of my calls (or any of the trans community around here) so is likely out of business.

[Rina]

Not recommended to do something permanent while you can just wax or pluck your eyebrows either.

I agree with this. Eyebrow shape is much like fashion, the ideal changes. People also have different tastes. Permanently removing eyebrow hairs will reduce flexibility if you ever want to change their shape in the future.

[Danielle Emmalee]

I guess I'm pretty brave apparently for doing this, but I'm super lazy to pluck every couple days so I just shave (or you can wax for it to last longer) and draw them on.  I think they look not too bad, but you can be the judge from my profile picture.

[ImagineKate]

I pluck every week or so.

I did not go for extremely arched "checkmark" brows. I went for a simple shape.

I used the guide from Paula Begoun. Search for "paula's choice eyebrows" and you should find it.

[lilangel]

Yeah but is there a permanent way to do that... so I would need to keep having them plucked every two days or so?

I wouldn't get permanent eyebrow hair removal due to the ever changing eyebrow trends within the beauty industry. For example, thicker but maintained eyebrows are in style now as opposed to thinner super arched eyebrows that were trending in the past 2 decades. Tweezing is what I typically do because you don't have to wait for the hairs to grow back in order to wax them. I only recommend tweezing if you know exactly what hairs need pulled though.

[Leila]

Actually with laser you wear metal goggles and they never get close at all.  I've had laser to my eyebrows done 6 times, but really need to have the thinned even more.

I did say it is not recommended, didn't say you can't do it. Up to you to calculate the risk and whether or not you want to suffer any probable retina damage as a result.

The metal goggles will stop laser hitting the eye directly, but intense light energy will still travel through the flesh of your face as the laser is flashed close to your eyes.