This one was an interesting one to research because 98% of what I found was suggestions on matching your eyebrows to your root touchup and how dark was too dark if your hair was already dark. The question that was posed to me initially was “are eyebrows naturally darker than what your hair grows in or are they typically the same shade?” My answer at the time was “… that’s a good question.”
My professional experience has always leaned towards keeping the eyebrows just slightly darker than the hair when it comes to creating the most natural finished look. Of course being asked a question I didn’t immediately know the answer to gave me a good opportunity to say “I’m not sure but I’m going to dig into it” and get to do a deep dive on something new.
As mentioned in the beginning, a vast majority of the hits you’ll find on the internet are going to be giving advice on how to create the most natural or desirably (for you) look when it comes to matching your eyebrows to your hair. When it comes to things on the face, it is always easier to go darker than lighter. Going darker can easily be done safely with products designed to deposit a gentle color on the brows and lashes, as opposed to going lighter which requires a more intense chemical reaction that just isn’t safe to do that close to the eyes in most cases. Once I did find some info though, the answer seemed so obvious I couldn’t believe it didn’t occur to me earlier.
The most simple answer is that it’s how the melanin your body produces was distributed. As stated very eloquently by We Value Beauty:
Eumelanin – Eumelanin is a dark melanin pigment that is most commonly found in your hair, skin, and dark areas like around your nipples. This kind of pigment is also found abundantly in people with darker skin tones.
Pheomelanin – Pheomelanin is a type of melanin with pigment that is made up of benzothiazine units. This type of pigment is responsible for the yellow and pink to red tones. You can find this kind of pigment abundantly in people with red hair.
Neuromelanin – This kind of melanin has more to do with protecting neurons in the substantia nigra (in the brain) from iron-induced oxidative stress. We won’t discuss more than this kind of melanin because I don’t know very much about the brain ;)!
We Value Beauty
As a side note, I’m really intrigued by that neuromelanin and plan to do some more research on that at some point as well. But, the type and amount of melanin in your body is what dictates the color of pretty much everything to do with your body. Some of your hair follicles produce more melanin than others; a common theme with eyebrows resulting in the hair in your eyebrows being darker than the hair on your head!
Sources: We Value Beauty, Business Insider
Sources are credited where I needed extra information. I always strive to make sure I know what I’m talking about, and that usually involves ongoing learning. Someone else had this information ready to go so I could learn and they deserve the credit for it.
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