Spa trends for 2012: Beyond the brow

2012 is most definitely the year of the brow! Pencil-thin brows are gone, bleached brows are no more and you can (almost) say goodbye to your tweezers!

2012 is all-set to bring back big brows.

Don't worry, we don't mean you'll have to put up with 80s mega-brow à la Brooke Shields, but fuller, shapely, bold brows are going to be making an appearance.

Word on the fashion forefront suggests that dark, angular brows will be all the range in Spring/Summer - no matter what your hair colour.

Brow Bars are popping up all over the UK, and we predict this trend will really take hold in 2012. Threading, tinting, waxing - leaving your brows to the professionals is becoming much more commonplace. Many brow bars offer nail treatments too, and we wouldn't be surprised if these drop-in stores became one-stop shops for your mini-grooming needs.

Blink Brow Bars are already offering full regrowth support services for those of us looking to embrace the 2012 trend of fuller, stronger brows. Your therapist will tint your brows a little darker than usual to help regrowth look less obvious, and weekly visits will help control stray regrowth and shape your brows. After 6 weeks, you'll have catwalk-ready fuller brows!

When it comes to maintaining your new big brows yourself, there are a few tips that can help you still look groomed!

• The first, most painful (emotionally) stage is letting your brows grow out. We recommend you do this during the bitter cold period, when low-hanging fringes and woollen hats can help you disguise the growth. Remember to keep your brows neat by plucking particularly errant hairs and grooming with an eyebrow comb.
• Once they're grown out, you only need to pluck those that are above the ridge of your nose (monobrows!) and really stray hairs.
• For the rest of the brow, it's trimming time. Brush your brows upwards with a brow brush and carefully snip the protruding hairs to ensure a full but neat finish.
• Invest in a good brow mousse or powder-and-wax combo to help build colour, fill any gaps and tame your brows. We love Benefit's range of brow-tamers, such as their dinky brow-shaping kit Brow-zings (RRP £22.50), and Blinc UK's Brow Mousse (RRP £18.50).