We’ve all become a bit eyebrow obsessed in the last few years. Gone are the over-plucked, over-pencilled squiggly lines, we’ve since realised (yep, our mums were right) that big brows are in thanks to their youthful, face-framing abilities. Those of us in the brow-obsessed category will know, while they may be fuller than their teenage predecessors, they still take some grooming, taming and quite a lot of eyebrow products to keep ‘em looking tip-top.
So, when you start to feel a pimple building underneath the brow hairs, it’s more than just a little bit annoying after all that upkeep. It hurts like hell and these painful spots are also pretty hard to conceal too (hairs in the way, dryness, just so eugh). Small bumps and inflammations can appear in and around the outline of your eyebrows as well as between. So, what’s actually causing it? And how can we stop them from popping up again?
Dr Sabrina Shah Desai, a Harley Street oculoplastic surgeon told GLAMOUR that spots in and around our eyebrows are more common than we think thanks to this being an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.
“When it comes to breakouts in and around the eyebrows, the oil gland activity in the T-zone area may be higher than elsewhere on the skin, and so this may result in increased incidence and severity of breakouts.”
And we might have our grooming habits to blame. “Tweezing, waxing, and threading all have a tendency to cause breakouts and products like brow gel can also clog and block pores in turn leading to blackheads and inflamed breakouts.”
If you’re finding constant brow breakouts it might down to the ingredients in that brow gel you’re wearing every day. According to Dr Sabina, “ingredients within brow gels can contribute to acne including silicones, dimethicone and timethicone and petroleum. I’d suggest trying to use pencil or powder-based brow products, which don’t tend to include the occlusive ingredients found in gel formulations.”
Dr Sabina says outbreaks might also be a sign we’re not cleansing thoroughly enough and suggests including products containing salicylic acid in the morning and a retinol in the evening. “These can help to reduce breakouts while also helping to improve the signs of ageing and pigmentation,” adding, “It’s also important to clean your makeup brushes regularly and avoid beauty products that contain chemicals which in turn irritate or clog your pores.”
Her best advice for treating eyebrow spots when they do appear? “Avoid touching the area and similarly avoid aggressive at-home physical scrubs, such as apricot seed cleanser, because they may do more harm than good.”