Eyebrows come in all shapes and sizes—thin, fluffy, straight, arched—and depending on how you style them, they can completely transform your face. (If your brows survived the 90s, you know what we mean.) No matter where your brow journey has taken you, we’re sure you’ve indulged in some DIY brow grooming to maintain them. While tweezers are our go-to for plucking the occasional stray brow hair, tweezing to shape them can take forever, and it can be risky if you’re not experienced—we learned that one the hard way. So when we’re looking for lasting results to keep our brows clean, shaped, and gorgeous, our go-to hair removal method is at-home eyebrow waxing.

While we always suggest seeing your go-to brow pro, appointments can get pricey, and sometimes life just doesn’t allow for salon visits. With a little practice, waxing your brows at home with a waxing kit is surprisingly easy to learn. We chatted with brow waxing and shaping expert Lydia Montez for step-by-step brow waxing tips for salon-worthy results.

Continue reading and you’ll have the brows of your dreams in no time.

Style your newly waxed brows like celebrity makeup artist Patrick Ta:

The Pros and Cons of Waxing at Home

The Pros: Want fast results that last? Waxing will do the trick. “Waxing your brows is quicker than tweezing, and oftentimes less painful,” says Montez. “It's the quickest, while still efficiently removing all of the hair from the root. Yes, tweezing or threading will also remove from the root, but they’re unnecessarily slower and more painful.”

The Cons: You’ll have to deal with some growth. “All hair is on a growth cycle and needs a certain amount of time to cycle through, so if you’re waxing too soon you’re never going to be able to remove every single hair and get a clean wax. Montez recommends waxing every 4-6 weeks. You have to let everything grow in and then you’ll get at least 2 weeks with perfectly clean brows,” says Montez.

What Kind of Wax Should You Use?

Cream wax, hard wax—you’ve got options, and what you choose depends on your skin type and personal preference. Montez suggests using hard wax if you’re DIY’ing it: “For at-home waxing, I would always recommend using hard wax. Hard wax is as gentle as it gets. It doesn’t stick to the skin, and therefore is much less likely to cause irritation. Hard wax removes hair by hardening itself around the hair shaft and pulling it out when you remove it, as opposed to strip wax which removes whatever it sticks to.”

Next, make sure your at-home wax kit has all the essentials. Our favorite kits always include a cleanser, warmer, applicators, wax strips, a remover, and aftercare lotion to calm skin. Montez adds: “I think a good at-home kit should include the right size waxing sticks. It’s so important not to use something too big, especially because the area around and under your brows is so small. It’s very easy to get too much wax and have it drip into your eyelids or eyelashes, so you want to be so careful—less is more!”

Prep Your Brows (Note: Do Not Skip This Step!)

Like makeup, showering, shaving, and most steps in your skincare routine, it’s important to properly prep your brows and the skin around them before waxing. “Right before waxing, always cleanse your skin with a gentle skin cleanser, a micellar water is perfect,” says Montez. “After cleansing, use a tiny bit of pre-wax oil to act as a barrier between your skin and the wax just to be extra safe.”

Montez adds that it’s not all about immediate prep—good skincare habits are important, too. “Healthy skin is moisturized, hydrated, and properly exfoliated of dead skin,” she says. “That’s why it’s really important to be consistent about all of these things in order to get the best results. You can’t just moisturize, drink water, and exfoliate the day before (which you shouldn’t do in any case), and expect to get amazing wax results. Doing these things moderately and consistently will get your skin healthy and in the best shape for waxing.”