Eyebrow hair loss is thinning or missing patches of hair in your brows, which is often perceived as bald spots in your eyebrows.
This is typically not a major problem, but how can it be fixed and how do you even address the issue of what triggered eyebrow hair loss in the first place?
Read this article to discover what can influence your brow hair and cause it to become sparser.
Potential Causes of a Bald Spot in Eyebrow
As with other hair, your eyebrow hairs have a growth cycle. This means that every few weeks, you’ll shed and regenerate some hairs. This cycle is normal.
However, the issue arises if the follicle gets damaged. Constant styling can lead to follicle death, so by plucking your hairs from the root you’re risking them not growing back – permanently.
But, there are many other things that may cause a bald spot in eyebrow. Here are some of the eyebrow hair loss causes:
Scarring
Eyebrow scars can lead to having a bald spot in eyebrow. They can be caused by any injury on the surface of your skin like a graze or a cut, popped pimple, or a piercing – among other things.
Unfortunately, eyebrow hair rarely grows back over scar tissue, which results in gaps in the arch and disruption of each brow’s natural line.
Aging
During the normal aging process, the body stops producing as much collagen and melanin, and hormone levels start to decline. So, over time, hair begins to lose its color and hair follicles stop producing new hair growth. Hair thinning or hair loss can affect the eyebrows as well.
More causes and fixes for eyebrows thinning can be found here.
Lack of Proper Nutrients
Nutrient deficiencies can affect hair growth, or rather, hair loss. If the body isn’t supplied with enough nutrients that sustain and influence hair growth, a deficiency in any one of them could cause hair loss.
Deficiencies that can affect hair loss include amino and fatty acids (especially omega-3), vitamins (B, C, D, E), minerals (iron), proteins (collagen), etc.
Hair Trauma
Bald spots can also form due to damage or trauma to hair follicles during the hair removal process. Repetitive and excessive tweezing or waxing can damage follicles to the point where the hairs might stop growing. This is what happened during the 90s skinny brow craze.
Image source: Freepik
Stress and Anxiety
As with every other issue, we can partially blame it on stress. When you’re under stress, your body starts producing a hormone called cortisol, which can switch the body into fight or flight mode and make the body’s functions like hair growth take a back seat.
So, when you’re under prolonged stress, your eyebrow hair can start thinning or falling out.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy and breastfeeding affect your hormones, causing wild fluctuations in your biochemistry. This can disrupt the normal hair growth cycle and lead to postpartum hair loss.
Hormonal Imbalance Due to Thyroid Issues
Thyroid issues are linked to eyebrow hair loss. An imbalance of hormones can thin out the hair, and even cause eyebrow hair to fall out. This is most noticeable in the outer third of the eyebrow.
If this is the case, the doctor will prescribe medicine to get your hormones back to their normal functioning level. Once the thyroid issue is resolved, the hair will go back to its normal thickness.
Autoimmune Conditions
Autoimmune conditions develop as a result of the immune system mistakenly attacking its own body cells. Healthy cells that aid in hair development may come under attack from the immune system, which can lead to hair loss or hair thinning – even chunks of hair falling out.
Autoimmune conditions that can cause hair loss include:
- Lupus
- Hashimoto’s (hypothyroidism – low thyroid hormone)
- Psoriasis
- Crohn’s Disease/ulcerative colitis
- Most relevantly, alopecia
Alopecia Areata
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy hair follicles causing varying degrees of hair loss. It can affect any body area, including the brows.
There are several kinds of alopecia:
- Alopecia areata, which causes random spots of hair loss
- Alopecia universalis, which is a total disappearance of all hair
- Frontal fibrosing alopecia, which causes scarring of the scalp along with balding and eyebrow loss.
Image source: Freepik
Skin Conditions
Because the hair grows directly from the follicles beneath the skin, healthy skin is very important for healthy hair.
Certain skin conditions can cause itchy, dry, and flaky skin or even red skin patches and rashes. Inflammation caused by these conditions, as well as rubbing and scratching the brow, may cause eyebrow hair loss.
Common skin conditions that can cause itchy rashes and eyebrow hair loss include:
- atopic dermatitis, otherwise known as eczema
- psoriasis
- seborrheic dermatitis or contact dermatitis
You can read more about how these conditions affect the skin underneath eyebrows here.
Other Causes
Less common reasons for eyebrow hair loss include:
- Radiation or chemotherapy
- Chemical burns
- Trichotillomania, a hair-pulling disorder
- Side effects from certain medications
- Syphilis
- Ringworm and other fungal infections
When to See a Doctor
The first step for dealing with eyebrow hair loss is to consult a doctor to identify the underlying issue.
The doctor will probably analyze the symptoms, symptom duration, your lifestyle and dietary habits, as well as any family history of hair loss conditions, plus they might do some tests.
There’s quite a range of tests they might do, but most likely they’ll test the hairs themselves to determine whether there is a form of alopecia or get you to do bloodwork.
You can then begin your appropriate treatment plan after that.
What Can I Do to Treat a Bald Spot in Eyebrow?
There are several measures that you can take to stimulate natural hair growth. Let’s explore a few options:
Hair Growth Serums
Eyebrow hair growth serums are used for their stimulating ingredients that can help jumpstart hair growth. That is, as long as the follicle is not damaged beyond repair or if the eyebrow thinning is the result of some hair loss disorder.
You can find our top 5 product picks in this article.
Natural Remedies
There are many oils that have nourishing and hair-stimulating properties. Most notably, castor oil. This oil is rich in omega-6 fatty acids and vitamin E and is considered a safe and effective solution for nourishing hair follicles.
Learn about how castor oil can help regrow your brow hairs here.
Supplements
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can inhibit or stop the development cycle of hair. It should come as no surprise that what we put in our bodies is more important than what we put on our bodies, so try incorporating more vitamins A, C, and D, biotin, omega fats, iron, or zinc.
Using nutrients that promote hair health and development, especially in addition to using brow serums, is a great method to encourage brow hair regrowth.
Medication
There are several topical, oral, or injectable medications that can reduce brow loss. They can be used either alone or in combination with other treatments.
The most common medications are:
- Corticosteroids
- Minoxidil
- Anthralin
- Topical and oral steroids
What Can I Do to Hide a Bald Spot in Eyebrow?
If your brow hairs aren’t growing back – or if it’s just taking too long for your liking – hiding the sparseness can be a great solution. Let’s see how to fake it!
Makeup
Makeup is great for a quick, temporary fix. Filling in the sparse parts of the brows is best done with a brow pencil, as it creates the most natural-looking results. Once you’ve faked the hairs, you can continue onto a brow gel to seal them in place.
@_itsajaz_ Loving the @elfyeah brow lift 💕#eyebrowtutorial #elfcosmetics #makeuptutorial #liftedbrows #minimalmakeup ♬ As It Was - Japanese Version - Shayne Orok
Brow Lamination
Brow lamination is a semi-permanent treatment that manipulates the direction of your hairs and by brushing them up, makes them appear thicker and fuller.
So, if you have small sparse spots, this procedure can help you fill them in by combing the brow hairs over the bald spots and masking them. The results last up to 6 weeks and until the hair growth cycle is complete, the brows won’t budge!
Learn more about this procedure in our Ultimate Guide to Eyebrow Lamination.
Image source: Instagram @jenni_eyelashes
Eyebrow Hair Transplant
An eyebrow transplant is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that entails collecting some hair from the back of your head (or from the healthy eyebrow) and transplanting it onto the parts of your eyebrow where hair is missing.
This treatment is very efficient for alopecia, but not so much when it comes to treating medical disorders. Additionally, it can’t help repair tissue that has a serious injury or is heavily scarred.
Microblading & Other Brow Tattoos
Microblading is a form of permanent makeup tattoo. It’s meant to mimic the look of hair strokes, helping you fill in any bald spot in eyebrow. This procedure is done with a manual blade that is dipped into pigment and then inserted into the skin via tiny incisions in hair-like shapes.
The results last up to 18 months, but can be prolonged with touch-ups. By faking the look of brow strands, it can help to reconstruct eyebrows in places there are no hairs. Microblading for alopecia can camouflage the effects of the condition.
But if you’re not a fan of the microbladed look, or if your bald spot in eyebrow is caused by scarring, don’t worry – there are many other eyebrow tattoo styles to choose from. You can explore them here.
Image source: Instagram @nu_tatu
NOTE
If your bald spot in eyebrow is due to scarring you should know that microblading is not a recommended procedure. When done over scarred tissue, the hair strokes tend to bleed and become blurry. Instead, opt out for the machine shading technique, like powder brows.
Is There a Way to Prevent Getting a Bald Spot in Eyebrow?
In some cases, it’s possible to prevent eyebrow hair loss. But you need to know what caused it first.
Consult your doctor and get your blood work done to determine whether there is a health-related issue you can address.
When it comes to hair loss prevention, there are a few easy, basic steps to keep your brows in good condition:
- Don’t overpluck your eyebrows.
- Lead a healthy lifestyle – don’t stress and make sure you’re getting all the necessary nutrients.
- Check the side effects of your medication.
- When using and removing makeup, use cosmetics that are gentle but effective.
- Also, avoid rubbing the hair too roughly.
In Conclusion
Eyebrow hair loss could have a variety of causes. It might be connected to hormone disbalance, skin issues, dietary deficits, or prescription medication.
By addressing the root of the problem, and using appropriate therapy for it, you can encourage your hair to start growing back. In the meantime, you can add volume and cover up bald spot in eyebrow with the help of cosmetic procedures.
Cover image source: Freepik
