Eyebrows are important, very important, especially if you want to pass en femme. Some t-gals are lucky and they have fairly thin eyebrows that aren't too bushy. Unfortunately, many of us t-gals have eyebrows that look like wooly caterpillars with thick, course hairs everywhere. Just like getting your hair cut or your face shaved, eyebrow grooming is essential. Even if not transgendered, most people need some kind of eyebrow maintenance and much of what work well for women will work well for men.

If you are concerned about looking awkward in "boy mode," you shouldn't be. Just do things slowly over a period of time and few people, if any, will think much about it. Of course, just don't go overboard and shape them too thing or too highly arched. And if anyone asks why you plucked your eyebrows, just smaile and say "I like to have two of them."

Believe it or not, there *are* some things worth knowing about when plucking your eyebrows.

Consult a Professional
The best thing to do is to have a professional sculpt your brows for you and then you can maintain them afterwards. A professional won't charge that much for their work – perhaps $20. More importantly, they will likely do a better job than an amateur such as you or me.

This begs the question of "How do you find such a professional?" Sure, there are professionals in every one of the thousand or so salons in the state, but the trick is to find one who you are comfortable confiding in. Try asking your t-friends who they use or perhaps swing into a local t-friendly club and ask other t-gals there who they would recommend. With a t-friendly professional, you can be open and honest with them about wanting to look decent as a girl without looking awkward as a boy and they can help you find a happy balance.

If you are undergoing electrolysis, then you should ask your technician for help. Electrologists often work on women's brows and usually are very good at shaping them. But before you have them permanently zap away your brow hairs, have them pluck them into shape first to see how well you like the new look.

Doing it yourself
If going to a professional is out of the question, you can take a stab at it yourself.

There are a few things that you should avoid. First, don't use delipatory creams. Depilatories are not a good idea to use around the eye area since they can damage your vision if they get into your eyes. Also, with delipatories, there's plenty of room for mistakes. Delipatories can irritate your skin and your hairs will also grow back much quicker than waxing or tweezing. Second, never shave your eyebrows for a quick fix. You will regret it later when they all start growing back in. It will look obvious, and require constant maintenance - so save the razor for your beard.

Like any task, having good equipment helps – a lot! You should invest in a good pair of tweezers with a slanted edge. You can use a straight edge, but the slanted edge gives you more control. My favorite pair is from Tweezerman, which you can find online for around $20 or less. A friend of mine swears by her Bobbie Brown tweezers. You may wish to look in your local pharmacy for a good, sturdy pair. Just don't go cheap since cheap tweezers often distort easily and quickly become worthless.

If you are a pain whimp, like I am, a half an hour before your groom, take a pain killer such as aspirin, Tylenol, or Motrin. These products are oral analgesics, and they can help a lot to minimize pain. Also, drugs such as these don't just help lessen pain, they can help keep swelling down after you pluck. You may also wish to wipe down your brows with an astringent to keep things clean and help reduce pain.

You should try to do your brow grooming right after a nice hot shower so that the hairs release easier. If not, try holding a hot washcloth to the area. It is best to groom your brows just before bedtime, so that if there is any swelling or redness, it has time to fade while you sleep. If you can't wait for the redness to go away, try holding a cotton ball soaked with Visine eye drops against the brow. Remember, Visine "gets the red out!"

Of course, you should use an eyebrow brush, eyelash comb, or toothbrush to comb the hairs so that they are less unruly. Most people should do a bit of trimming before plucking. Trim any really long hairs. Leaving some length, however, will make brows look thicker. I like to use a beard trimmer, but you can also simply comb the hairs upwards and then use scissors to trim whatever length of hair overhangs. Just make sure not to trim them down too much that the hairs do not overlap. One trick that works really well is to trim them to a fairly long length and then hold them in place using clear mascara. If you do decide to use this clear mascara trick, apply the mascara only after you apply your foundation.

When you pluck the hairs, pull them out one at a time and pull them out toward the ears, in the direction in which they grow. Pluck a few hairs and then pause. Look in the mirror, step back, and see how you are doing, step back more and look, and then step back even more and look again. Do a little on one brow and then some on the other to maintain a balance. Remember, you can always take out more later, but once you have overplucked, you'll have to live with your creation until the hair grows back.

Planning the attack
The first area to target is between the brows. No one – girl or boy - looks good with a "mono-brow." For most people, the eyebrow should begin just above the inner corner of your eye. For people with close-set eyes, the gap between the brows should be wider than those whose eyes are far apart.

The second area to target is near your temples. Men often will have brows that are longer than those on women and men's brows often grow around to the sides of the eyes. You should eliminate the unwanted hair on the outer ends - but how much do you eliminate? To find the "proper" end for your brow, hold one end of a pencil at the outer edge of your nostril and the other end of the pencil at the corner of your eye. The point where the pencil touches your brow should be about where your brow should end.

Next, decide on the overall shape you want your brows. With many t-gals, you may want to shape your brows slowly, over time, so that it is less noticeable. Therefore, there is no need for a decision on the shape right at the start, but still, you should have some idea. Do an Internet search on "eyebrow stencil" to give you some suggestions.

When deciding on a shape, keep in mind that men will generally have a more "flat" shape to their brows whereas women will generally groom their brows to have an arched shape. Regardless of gender, having at least some arch to the brow is flattering. Usually, this arch will have its highest point just beyond at the outer egde of the eye's iris (the colored part of your eye). If you want to get a better idea of how your brows will look after you shaped them, coat the hairs you want to remove with concealer or foundation. This will help you visualise what the end result will look like.

Just do it!
Now that you have a plan, it is time to start attacking those hairs! Start tweezing your eyebrows in the middle of the eyebrow and tweeze toward the outer end; then go back to the middle and tweeze toward the nose. Tweeze under the brows first and pull hair in the direction of the growth. Take your time and extract one hair at a time. If you try plucking more than one hair at a time, it will be harder to get a good look, it will be more painful, and it may even damage your skin.

Often, it is said that you should never pluck above the brow, but I don't agree that this is best for us t-gals. With us t-gals, hair is often coarser, the brows thicker, and more unruly. To have any chance of looking good en femme, we need to thin the brows a bit. If we never pluck above the brow, the overall result may be unbalanced and therefore not look "passable" in boy mode. For most t-gals, I recommend a certain amount of thinning from both the top and the bottom, although the majority of your effort is on the bottom. At the very least, pluck those stray hairs that are outside a natural shape or connect your brow to your hairline.

Final thoughts
As I wrote at the start, eyebrows are important, very important, especially if you want to pass en femme. Because brows are so important, it is well worth the time and effort to make them work for you – and when you do, you might just feel great!