Our eyebrows don’t only contribute significantly to our facial appearance and self-image, they also play an important role in communication. That is why eyebrow hair loss – or madarosis – can have a negative impact on self-esteem. And if your eyebrows do fall out, how long does it take for eyebrows to grow back?
The good news is that in most cases, eyebrows grow back spontaneously in a few months, depending on what caused the hair loss [1][2]. However, in some situations, such as severe damage from overplucking or advanced alopecia areata, you may require treatment for regrowth to happen. And a growing number of people of both genders opt for eyebrow transplants to fix sparse eyebrows or correct a bald spot left by scarring. This article will tell you all you need to know about:
Just like your scalp hair can fall out for many reasons, several things can make your eyebrows grow sparse or fall out. Here are some of the most common causes [1][3]:
The amount of time it takes for your eyebrows to grow back largely depends on the reason they fell off in the first place. In most cases, if your madarosis is temporary or has been successfully treated, you should expect to see regrowth approximately 3-4 months after the cause of their shedding was eliminated. This is calculated by the length of the average eyebrow growth cycle.
You may have heard that the hair on your scalp goes through four different phases: a growth phase, a transition phase, a resting phase and a shedding phase.
Your eyebrows have a similar four-phased growth cycle, except the growth phase is considerably shorter. Your scalp hair can stay in the growth phase for up to 7 years, while your brows will normally only remain in this stage for up to 3 months. The other phases are comparable in length. This means that your eyebrows are renewed much more frequently than your scalp hair, but it still takes them 3-4 months to complete this cycle [3].
However, if you are experiencing autoimmune eyebrow loss or damage to your follicles from overplucking, you may have to wait longer for the condition to reverse itself or even get hair growth treatment before you can see new strands emerge. If you haven’t seen any hair growth after 6 months, it is a good idea to see a trichologist for an accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Once a new growth cycle has begun, you can expect your eyebrows to grow around 0.12 – 0.14 mm a day. So it can take another approximately 2-3 months before they will reach their full length [3].
Plucking your eyebrows can give them a neat, clean and elegant form. And it can take around 2-6 weeks before the hair grows back and you need to remove it again. However, be sure not to overpluck, as that can cause hair follicle damage, which could take up to 3-4 months to heal.
Waxing follows the same principle as plucking – the eyebrow hair is pulled out from the root. Except while plucking uses tweezers, waxing uses sticky wax (or a similar adhesive substance) to pull out more hairs at once. Regardless of the method, the result is the same – you will still likely get 2-6 weeks of respite before you need to schedule another waxing session.
Threading is a cosmetic procedure which removes eyebrow hair from its root by trapping it between two twisted strands of thread and pulling it out with precise motions. Since it uses the same principle of hair removal action as plucking and waxing, you can expect your eyebrow strands to start growing back 2-6 weeks after threading.
Teenage hair loss can be a significant problem, as it can have a severe negative impact on self-esteem and mental health. Eyebrow hair loss for teenagers is no different.
However, while puberty-related hormonal imbalances can trigger some forms of hair loss, there are no significant differences between adolescents and adults when it comes to the eyebrow life cycle. So, depending on what caused the hair loss, teenagers can expect their eyebrows to grow back as quickly as an adult’s (for example, 2-6 weeks after plucking, waxing, or threading, or 3-4 months after telogen effluvium).
There is significant variability in how soon chemotherapy-induced eyebrow and eyelash loss resolves after the end of the treatment course. Some patients have seen new hair appear as early as 2 weeks post-treatment, while others can wait more than 6 months [10].
In most cases, you should see some regrowth within 6-8 weeks. If more than 6 months have passed since you completed chemotherapy and you are still experiencing total or partial eyebrow loss, don’t hesitate to contact a hair doctor.
If you have alopecia areata which affects your eyebrows, you may see spontaneous regrowth, typically within a year. However, some more severe forms of this type of alopecia require corticosteroid treatment before they can improve and you can achieve brow regrowth.
If you are using corticosteroids for your eyebrow loss, you may experience regrowth within a few months of treatment. However, that depends on its effectiveness and your body’s response to it.
If you have undergone eyebrow restoration surgery, you will need to have a little patience before your brows grow back. That is because a couple of weeks after your procedure, your newly transplanted brows will likely fall out. This is a normal part of the process, called hair transplant shock loss. After 3-4 months, you should see new hair growth, but it could take 6 months to a year to obtain the final results.
While no miracle cure can speed up the natural growth rate of your eyebrows, you can remove obstacles which inhibit brow growth. Here are some of the most important.
If you are not sure why your eyebrows are falling out, a trichologist can help you. They can perform a dermoscopy and other specialised tests to provide you with an accurate diagnosis. Once the cause of your eyebrow hair loss is clear, they may recommend the following treatments:
These treatments work best when accompanied by lifestyle changes meant to stimulate your eyebrow growth and prevent unnecessary shedding.
Here are some adjustments to your diet and habits that can make a significant difference in your eyebrow health and help them reach their optimal growth speed:
If you are experiencing eyebrow thinning or bald spots in your brows, there are many good ways to mask them while you wait for them to grow back. Here are some of the most effective options:
These cosmetic fixes are temporary and simply conceal thinning without treating it. If you need a permanent solution for regrowing your natural brows, you may benefit from getting an eyebrow transplant.
An eyebrow transplant is a safe and very effective way to thicken sparse eyebrows. It can be successfully used to enhance thin eyebrows, grow back overplucked brows, and in rare cases, even correct bald spots caused by stable forms of alopecia areata [8]. Moreover, skilled surgeons can sometimes perform hair transplants into scar tissue (e.g. from burns or cuts) with great results [9].
If you want to know whether you’d make a good candidate for an eyebrow transplant, book a consultation with our top-tier surgeons. They will assess your eyebrow loss and determine if you can benefit from this procedure. If so, they will walk you through the entire process, answer all your questions and get you on your way to fuller, healthier eyebrows.
If you would like to find out how long it takes for eyebrows to grow back, be sure to read through the answers to these common questions:
The majority of eyebrow growth serums contain a variety of ingredients claimed to improve hair loss, such as essential oils for hair growth, certain types of protein (e.g. keratin) or vitamins (e.g. biotin for hair loss). However, there is insufficient evidence that most of these substances can increase scalp hair density or thickness when applied topically and there are even fewer studies to show their effectiveness on eyebrow growth.
This means that while these serums may have some benefits in moisturising your eyebrows and reducing unnecessary breakage, there is no proof yet they can make them grow faster, denser or thicker. The best thing you can do when experiencing slow or absent eyebrow growth is to see a hair specialist who can help you determine the best treatment.
Forcefully and repeatedly pulling your eyebrow hair out from the roots can damage your hair follicle. This requires some time to heal before producing new growth.
If the damage is extensive, the follicle can become permanently impaired. If this happens to multiple follicles, you may require a hair transplant to regain full brow growth.
It is a common hair loss myth that shaving your head or facial hair can make it grow back faster and thicker. The only thing the razor does is cut the eyebrow hair shafts at the same level as your skin. However, the follicles that produce them remain unaffected. This means their growth rate will remain the same as before.
So shaving your eyebrows is a safe way of removing them, as it does not damage your hair follicles the same way plucking them can. But it will not increase their growth speed.
If the skin of your eyebrow has been injured seriously enough to leave a lasting scar, the hair follicles under it may have been permanently damaged or completely lost. Their access to nourishing blood may also have been cut off, as scar tissue normally has very limited blood supply. This happens often with thermal or chemical burns, severe infections, or deep cuts. Moreover, even if the hair follicles could produce hair, the scarred tissue may be too thick to allow it to grow through.
However, even if your hair follicles were accidentally destroyed, you may still have a chance to regain brow fullness with an eyebrow transplant. While this is not possible in every case, a trichologist can tell you whether you would make a good candidate for surgical eyebrow restoration.
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