Sarah Vine had never been able to tweeze her own brows (the pain!) until this genius eyebrow plucker came into her life
Apart from my hairdresser, Lucinda Ellery , the person I missed the most during lockdown was Gunsev, or Gun as everyone calls her ( @Luxybrows on Instagram), who does my eyebrow threading. I held out for as long as I possibly could - but then I began to notice a distinct resemblance to Bert from the Muppets during Zoom meetings, at which point I knew I had to take action.
The problem is I’ve never been able to pluck my own eyebrows. Although I have infinite tolerance for all sorts of waxing that would send most people into orbit, for some reason my eyebrows are hypersensitive to pain. I can’t even tolerate post-threading tweezer tidy-ups in the salon. This has its advantages (it meant I was not one of those who plucked theirs to oblivion in the nineties); but there’s a limit.
So I did something quite reckless and bought one of those dodgy-looking eyebrow trimmers you see advertised online, half thinking it would be a total waste of money but frankly willing to try anything to get the damn things under control.
I have infinite tolerance for all sorts of waxing that would send most people into orbit, for some reason my eyebrows are hypersensitive to pain
So imagine my surprise when it actually worked. The one I went for is the Flawless Brow Finishing Touch which retails for £19.99. Granted, it doesn’t have the same skill or precision as Gun, and the conversation is frankly terrible - but if you want an easy-to-use, fairly foolproof gadget to keep your brows in check until you can get an appointment, you could do a lot worse.
The main thing to remember is to not get carried away. I wouldn’t use it to reshape brows entirely, just to tidy and maintain. That said, the trimming head is really very small, no more than the size of a matchstick, so there’s a limit to the amount of damage you can do. What I especially like about it is that as well as using it to remove hairs completely, it will also trim the ends of longer ones, which is very useful if you happen to have the odd Denis Healey. It also has a built-in light so you can see what you’re doing.
It lacks the obvious advantages of threading - the super-sharp lines and the fact that the hairs are removed at the root, so regrowth is slower (with this you do get stubble every two to three days, so you have to stay on top of it); but we have all had to learn to compromise recently, and this is not a bad one. Final bonus point: it works on small moustaches too.
Buy the Flowless Brows Finishing Touch electric brow device, £19.99
MORE GLOSS: DIY brows: the treatments to try at home - and the ones to avoid