What to Buy Skincare Products How To Grow Your Eyebrow Hair If you've over-plucked your eyebrows, here's how you can achieve and maintain fuller arches. By Julia Naftulin Julia Naftulin Julia Naftulin is a health reporter with a focus on sexual health, psychology, and public health. Her work can be found at Insider, Health, Verywell Health, and more. health's editorial guidelines and Mikayla Morell Mikayla Morell Mikayla Morell is a content writer and editor residing in Philadelphia, PA. She began her career as a freelance writer while also working as a phlebotomist in a local hospital. She wanted to use her certification in phlebotomy to support the shortage of hospital staff throughout the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She loves that she can combine her two main interests—writing and healthcare—in her work with Health.com. health's editorial guidelines Updated on April 14, 2023 Medically reviewed by William Truswell, MD Medically reviewed by William Truswell, MD William Truswell, MD, FACS, operates his own cosmetic and reconstructive facial surgery practice. Dr. Truswell was the first in his area in Western Massachusetts to have an accredited private office surgical suite. learn more Share this page on Facebook Share this page on Twitter Share this page on Pinterest Email this page You may have thin eyebrows as a result of over-plucking or a hair loss condition.If you have a hair loss condition, treatment options may include medication.If you accidentally got carried away with the tweezers—you can fill in your brows with makeup and try an eyebrow serum.Growing out over-plucked brows takes time, but can be worth it for thicker eyebrows. Eyebrow trends have ranged from thin and long to thick and bushy. If your eyebrows are thinner than you want them to be—either from over-plucking or an eyebrow hair loss condition—you might be looking for a solution to grow them back. Getting to a point of full eyebrows may not be a quick and easy process. Yet, some key products and tools can help to grow, shape, and fill in your eyebrows—it's all about the proper technique. Read on to discover what conditions cause eyebrow hair loss and the tips and tricks that can help you up your brow game. Why You May Have Eyebrow Hair Loss Over-plucking your eyebrows is a common mistake—you start plucking at a few stray hairs and when you take a step back at the final look, more of your eyebrow is gone than you intended. It happens. There are also cases when eyebrow hair loss is out of your control and may be caused by an underlying health condition. Trichotillomania If you find yourself pulling your eyebrow hair out (or any hair on your body) to the point of distress—when you're trying not to, or compulsively—you may have trichotillomania. Trichotillomania is a psychiatric disorder that is classified under obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and causes people to pull out their hair repeatedly. Constant hair-pulling can cause scarring and other damage, including infections to the skin on your scalp or the specific area where hair is pulled, and can permanently affect hair growth. A healthcare provider may recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help manage anxiety and hair-pulling. Front Fibrosing Alopecia (FFA) Front fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a disease that causes hair loss and scarring on the scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Eyebrow hair loss is often the first noticeable sign of FFA—around 80–90% of females who have FFA have lost part or all of their eyebrows. The cause of FFA is unknown. However, if the disease is caught early—before hair loss is permanent—treatment can help prevent further hair loss. Treatment options may include medication. Aging Hair loss is a common side effect of aging—many people, especially men, experience baldness by the time they are 60 years old. As you age, you don't only lose hair on your head—you can also lose the hair on your body and face too—including your eyebrows. The hair follicles on your body will eventually stop growing hair. It's common for men to notice their eyebrow hairs are longer and more rough and loose than they used to be. Thyroid Disease Thyroid diseases are conditions that affect your thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck that makes hormones. These hormonal disruptions can cause changes to your hair, nails, and skin. Thyroid disease can cause hair loss all over your body—including your eyebrows. You may notice your eyebrows are thinner or completely missing on the outer edge. This is a symptom of thyroid disease. Alopecia Areata Alopecia areata is another type of alopecia that can cause eyebrow hair loss. Alopecia areata causes patchy baldness—alopecia means bald while areata means patchy. People who have alopecia areata may have this type of patchy baldness on their eyebrows and anywhere on the body that has hair including: ScalpBeard areaEyelashesArmpitsInside your nose and ears 7 Ways You're Aging Your Skin How To Get Thick Eyebrows If you want thicker brows for any reason, here are some tips on how to get started and how to fill them in in the meantime. Draw In Your Brows While Growing Them Out If you've decided to say "so long" to thin arches, remember that the growing-out process won't happen overnight. Growing back your eyebrow hair differs for each person but it may take about three to four months. For the time being, you may choose to fill in your brows with makeup. You can purchase a specific eyebrow makeup kit that can help you create thin, natural-looking strokes where you want "hairs" to appear. Strengthen Your Brow Hair Faking thick eyebrows is a good start, but you may still want fuller brows of your own. To kickstart the process, you can use an eyebrow serum, a gel-based product in an easy-to-use pen applicator that helps strengthen existing brow hairs. Most eyebrow serums can be used every night to help grow back eyebrow hair at a faster rate. Get Grooming Once the hair on your brows begins to grow in, you can tend to strays and extra-long strands with tweezers, tiny scissors, and a spoolie-type brush. Hair should generally be plucked in the direction of the follicle (to avoid ingrown hair). Try not to go overboard with plucking and cutting; instead, only remove hairs far outside your arches. Then use the spoolie brush to comb your hair upwards and lightly trim the edges. Here's a tip: Stay far away from magnified mirrors when doing this—they show every single detail on your face and may encourage you to over-pluck. Work With Your Natural Eyebrow Shape You can work with the natural shape of your eyebrows to create a subtle look. Technique is important—fill your eyebrows in with more of a gradient, with the tails darker and the hairs closest to your nose a little lighter. You can do this by applying an eyebrow cream to the outer half of your eyebrows for a sharp tail and using an eyebrow pencil to lightly fill in sparse spots in your inner brows. After filling in your arches, brush the hairs up and over to complete the look. See a Healthcare Provider If you are experiencing eyebrow hair loss, and are not seeing any improvement with at-home treatments, you may want to contact a healthcare provider or a dermatologist. These people will be able to help you determine the cause of your hair loss and help you figure out the best treatment options. The treatment for hair loss varies depending on the cause. Professional treatment options may include: Corticosteroid injectionsHair transplantMedications (like finasteride or spironolactone) Latisse drops may also be a treatment for eyebrow hair loss. Although typically used for eyelash loss, research shows that latisse may also be beneficial for people with eyebrow hair loss. However, as of 2022, latisse is only approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for eyelash hair loss and not eyebrow hair loss. Chrissy Teigen Got an Eyebrow Transplant—Here's What That Is Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit 12 Sources Health.com uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Pereyra AD, Saadabadi A. Trichotillomania. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022. American Academy of Dermatology. Hair loss types: frontal fibrosing alopecia overview. American Academy of Dermatology. Hair loss types: frontal fibrosing alopecia diagnosis and treatment. MedlinePlus. Aging changes in hair and nails. American Academy of Dermatology Association. Hair loss: who gets and causes. MedlinePlus. Thyroid diseases. American Academy of Dermatology. Thyroid disease: a checklist of skin, hair, and nail changes. American Academy of Dermatology Association. Hair loss types: alopecia areata overview. Chanasumon N, Sriphojanart T, Suchonwanit P. Therapeutic potential of bimatoprost for the treatment of eyebrow hypotrichosis. DDDT. 2018;12:365-372. doi:10.2147/DDDT.S156467 Ogunbiyi A. Pseudofolliculitis barbae; current treatment options. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2019;12:241-247. doi:10.2147/CCID.S149250 American Academy of Dermatology Association. Hair loss: diagnosis and treatment. Chanasumon N, Sriphojanart T, Suchonwanit P. Therapeutic potential of bimatoprost for the treatment of eyebrow hypotrichosis. DDDT. 2018;12:365-372. doi:10.2147/DDDT.S156467