I consider eyebrows to be one of the most, if not the most, defining features of the face. With middle eastern blood and thick hair, I started waxing my eyebrows younger than I should have. Twenty years ago at ten-years-old I went monthly to the cheap nail salon down the street. This was before attending cosmetology school and before I knew any better. Back then, the trend was pencil thin 90s eyebrows with a defined arch.

I was repeatedly over-waxed and ended up with sparse, uneven and unruly eyebrows scattered with holes. I had damaged hair follicles from soft wax that was too hot, and repeated wax strips over the same area. My natural round eyebrow shape was ignored for the sought-after thin, hard arch. Hair grew everywhere EXCEPT for where it should. My eyebrows were essentially ruined.

I finally put a stop to the madness and decided nobody was allowed to touch my eyebrows again. I spent 2 decades refusing to leave the house without heavily penciling in my eyebrows.

Fast forward a few years later and I met an incredibly talented esthetician and owner of a wax salon. I started seeing her exclusively. She waxed my lip, arms, brazilian, any and everywhere but my eyebrows. 

Over time we built trust, and after two years of prompting she finally persuaded me to let her work her magic on my fragile, sad eyebrows. She told me she could help grow them back.

Here were her rules:

1. Put down the tweezers, even the strays!
2. Let the hair grow wild in between waxes, wolf out.
3. After each shower, and before bed use a spoolie dipped in a small amount of virgin, organic coconut oil and brush it over your eyebrows and dab off the excess.
4. Don’t let anyone touch them but her.

I was skeptical, and had my concerns. 

Why would I risk oil clogging my already prone to comedones and breakouts?
Is it going to make combination skin even greasier? 

If coconut oil is a great makeup remover, wouldn’t it prevent me from filling out my eyebrows?

The allure of the possibility of having my eyebrows grow back proved stronger than my worries. I started following her instructions, and brushed coconut oil into my eyebrows. I started seeing improvement in four months. 

My unruly, thick eyebrow hair was TAMED. The hair laid in the direction it was supposed to go instead of all over the place, sticking straight up. My pores didn’t clog, I didn’t break out at the oil application site, and when I dabbed off the excess oil I could fill in my eyebrows as normal about 20-30 minutes later.

Logically it makes sense. When you want to train your hair, you brush and pin it down in the direction you want it to go. Brushing helps stimulate blood flow and circulation, so it’s possible the brushing aids the coconut oil in working its magic.  

Hair started growing in my bald spots, new growth sprouted and started filling out. I was in disbelief. A year passed by, and for the first time I left the house without any eyebrow pencil, gel, or powder. I felt so free!

 Today, I only fill my eyebrows in when I have a special occasion, event or full face of makeup. I may not look as full and glamorous as Brooke Shields, but I have my eyebrows back. My face feels complete. I’ve done my research, and I ONLY use cold-pressed, virgin, organic, and ethically sourced coconut oil.

 I keep a tube of Conscious Coconut Oil in my bathroom. It’s the closest I can get to cracking open the coconut myself. It goes from coconut to oil in 48 hours, uses no heat, and packs 4x the amount of antioxidants as the average coconut oil.