"Even if the hair on your head is silver or gray hair, I suggest dyeing brows light brown," says Petrescu. "It creates a frame for your eyes that sharpens your features for a more youthful look."
I suggest starting with a soft blonde or light ash or taupe pencil. These are great starting points because they are light in tone, and you can always build on them, try different shades, and even go darker as you get more comfortable applying your eyebrow makeup.
Head hair doesn't change colour all at once, but many men have grey hair when their eyebrows are still dark. All kinds of body hairs change colour when ageing hair follicles stop producing the pigment melanin that makes hair dark. Eyebrow hairs also change texture, grow bushier and longer with age.
After you've got a great shape, use a brow gel to cover white or greying brows. Once you've got the right colour gel for your brows, use upward strokes to get in between the hairs and provide light coverage to each strand. A single coat lasts all day long. Be mindful to stay away from using too much product.
Dark brows were shown to make a person look younger in a study that was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology because humans appear to (subconsciously) correlate distinct contrasts in facial features with youth.
As we age, our hair can lose color pigment and become lighter or even white! When this happens to our brows, it can cause us to appear older than we actually are. If you have lighter brow hairs or grey, coloring your brows is the best way to give them a youthful boost.
YOUR BROWS SHOULD BE DARKER
We hate to break it to you, but if you thought that your brows should perfectly match your hair, you might want to think again. In fact, your eyebrows should actually be darker than your hair color—unless your tresses are pitch black. This is what looks the most natural.
The top three products that I can recommend are Benefit's 3D Browtones product, Charlotte Tilbury's Legendary Brows, and Anastasia of Beverly Hills' DIPBROW gel. The ABH gel is really top of the top.
Just like the hair on the head, the hair on the rest of the body, including the pubic area, is subject to graying. As people age, their skin produces less melanin. Melanin is the pigment responsible for giving skin and hair its color. The hair follicles contain melanin.
Certain home remedies like coffee, gooseberry juice, vitamin supplements, and natural dyes can help you darken your eyebrows naturally. You may opt to cover up the grays by plucking or using temporary dyes or makeup products such as eyebrow pencils for more instant or temporary solutions.
Neutral colors (like rose or nude) have a tendency to fall flat against gray hair. Instead, go for bolder hues like a bright berry or a pink-y peach; shinier or satin finishes also tend to be more flattering than matte lipsticks.
Midrange colors — warm pink, teal, medium gray, soft white, and medium violet — look great when your natural pigmentation is low. Since gray hair tends to be cooler, cool hues like lavender and periwinkle also play up features beautifully — even if you have a naturally warm complexion.
Choosing the Right Shade
The eyebrow colour should always match your skin type and reflect an aspect of the hair colour. The brows should always be two shades darker than the hair for a natural look. For a dominant and eye-catching look contrast brows are ideal.
If you are a natural brunette, you'll want to blend your greys with darker lowlights. For natural blondes, you should add highlights and lowlights ranging from pearl to medium blonde. And if you are a natural redhead, a range of brown and blonde highlights and lowlights will enhance your grey locks best.
As a general rule of thumb, your brows should be one to two shades darker than your hair if your hair is blonde, and one shade lighter if you have dark brown, red or black hair. Again, if you're unsure what hair dye color will give you the most natural-looking results, reach out to your colorist or an eyebrow expert.
"Even if the hair on your head is silver or gray hair, I suggest dyeing brows light brown," says Petrescu.
Choose a pencil that is the color of your highlight if your hair has a hint of red, and choose a pencil that is the color of your base if your hair is a cool, ash brown. For a softer brunette hue, we recommend Anastasia's best-selling brow pencil in Soft Brown.
With the above in mind when considering whether your eyebrows should be lighter or darker, I'd suggest the main rule of thumb is… “…to have your brows similar to your hair colour! You can't go wrong! If you wish to go for a slightly different colour, I'd recommend only 1-2 shades darker or lighter!”
Also remember that your eyebrow pencil shade should be a wee bit lighter than the actual brow colour since the oils in your skin often oxidise the pigment and make it darker.
When it comes to filling in your eyebrows, using a shade that's too dark—even just slightly—can really come off as unnatural. Instead, use a shade slightly lighter than your natural eyebrows. Trust us, it will look much more natural and help keep your brows from appearing drawn on—even if they are.