DIY Eyebrow Growth Serum + Best Oils for Eyebrow Growth

I’ve had my fair share of brow disasters, from over-plucking to overzealous trimming.

So like all my beauty DIYs, this brow growth serum was born out of my personal experience, and my own desire to thicken and grow out my eyebrows naturally. Because while brow trends may come and go, their unfortunate effects can last a lot longer, especially if the damage is caused by over-tweezing.

So whether you’re looking to grow your eyebrows back, or would simply like to enhance them without procedures like microblading or lamination, read on to learn how to make your own DIY brow serum at home.

I also delve into the best carrier oils and essentials oils for eyebrow growth and why they work in my original post. So, if you want more information, be sure to check out the full post here.

One caveat: a DIY brow growth serum with essential oils may not be suitable for those with very sensitive skin. For hypersensitive types, even a couple drops of EO can cause itching and redness.

So I’ve also included a way to make eyebrow growth oil without essential oils, using herbal infusion instead. And for those who are more acne prone, there’s also a brow serum recipe without castor oil.

Here are just some of the ways castor oil helps eyebrow growth:

• Moisturizes hair follicles. Castor oil conditions both the eyebrows and surrounding skin, which helps keep the brow follicles nourished and moisturized.
• Prostaglandin activity. Castor oil stimulates prostaglandin receptors implicated in the brow growth phase, similar to prostaglandin analogs like Latisse. At the same time, it also down-regulates enzymes involved in hair loss.
• Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Oxidative stress is a prime cause of hair loss, leading to slower hair and eyebrow growth. But cold-pressed castor oil is rich in vitamin E and ricinoleic acid, which help protect the skin and hair from oxidative damage.
• Antipathogenic properties. Castor oil has antibacterial and fungicidal properties that promote healthy skin flora, helping to prevent infections such as blepharitis. It can also help control Demodex lash and brow mites. While harmless, these mites can contribute to hair fall if allowed to overproliferate.

DIY Eyebrow Growth Serum Ingredients

You’ll also need the following ingredients to make brow serum:

• Castor oil (see substitutions on the blog)
• Loose leaf green tea to infuse oil
• Vitamin E oil
• Lavender essential oil
• Rosemary essential oil (see substitutions)
• Dried rosemary and lavender flowers (optional, see below)

Is there a substitute for castor oil in this brow serum?

As far as I know, castor oil is the only carrier oil with the ability to boost hair growth on its own (except for emu oil, which is animal-derived).

But because castor oil is so rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, which tend to be very thick, it isn’t suitable for all skin types.

If you’re acne-prone, or if castor oil makes you break out, you can also also use a carrier oil of your choice, preferably one that’s low in PUFAs. You will still get an eyebrow growth boost from the essential oils, even without castor oil.

Options include jojoba oil or MCT oil. Squalane oil or hemisqualane are also good choices, as their watery textures tend to be tolerated well by most skin types.

Green Tea and Dried Herbs

You will also need organic green tea leaves for this recipe, which you’ll use to infuse your eyebrow growth oil with green tea’s antioxidants and growth-stimulating benefits.

If you’re making the brow serum recipe without essential oils, you can also infuse your oil with dried rosemary and lavender.

Organic green tea leaves usually come in bulk, but there are plenty of ways to use the leftover. We have more skincare recipes with green tea on our blog, including a green tea cleansing oil and green tea lip balm.

Essential oils for Eyebrow Growth

Lavender and rosemary oil are two of the best essential oils for brow growth, with cedarwood and sandalwood as other potential options.

This brow serum recipe includes a combination of lavender and rosemary oil. To dilute rosemary oil for eyebrows, I recommend using only a couple drops per batch (~0.25%) to minimize the risk of skin irritation.

But if you have sensitive skin, you may want to skip the rosemary oil altogether and use only lavender oil, which is less irritating.

You can also use cedarwood or sandalwood oil in place of rosemary. When studied, cedarwood and rosemary weren’t found to have any synergistic effect, so I don’t think there’s any point to using them together.

Finally, you can also come up with your own unique essential oil recipe for eyebrow growth, but please be sure to use only oils that are safe for the face.

For instance, peppermint, thyme and clove essential oils have also been found to stimulate hair growth. But these oils are too irritating to use on the delicate facial skin, so I don’t recommend using them on your brows.

Packaging for Brow Serum

When it comes to packaging brow serum, I used eco-friendly glass tubes with bamboo wood lids (pictured).

They come with a mascara wand or eyeliner brush applicator, depending on your preference. And they also have a cute eye decal on the lid that completes the look. You will find more info in our blog post on where to find them.

If you’d like keep it simple, you can also keep your serum in a small glass dropper bottle or a roller bottle, which is great for massaging directly into the brows.

Eyebrow Serum Formula

This homemade brow growth serum contains 98.5% castor oil, 1% vitamin E, and ~0.5-1% essential oils, but this may vary slightly if measuring by volume.

In total, the recipe makes approximately 1 tbsp of brow serum.

Measuring by weight is more precise, but as long as you follow the directions, you’re not in danger of exceeding safe amounts.

Essential Oil Brow Serum Safety

Please do not use a brow serum with essential oils if you have very sensitive skin. Discontinue use if you experience any redness, stinging, or skin irritation.

Essential oils are very concentrated. They can disrupt the skin barrier and cause contact dermatitis, especially if used excessively. So it’s important to use the lowest effective concentration, which is why I kept the EO in this recipe to a conservative amount.

Finally, please be sure to strain you infused oil very thoroughly, as green tea leaves can be very sharp.

Tips for making Brow Growth Oil

Before you begin, please thoroughly clean, sanitize and dry all materials, including your brow serum bottle or tube.

The infused oil recipe contains more castor oil than you’ll need to make the serum. This is to make up for any oil lost during the infusion process (the herbs will absorb it).

Finally, to avoid damaging the castor oil, we’ll be infusing the brow growth oil at room temperature, not with heat.

But if you’re making your serum with a stable carrier oil such as MCT oil or squalane, you can use heat infusion as a quicker method.

DIY Eyebrow Growth Serum Recipe

1 tbsp / 16.7g castor oil or squalane oil (plus 1 extra tbsp for infusion)

1 tbsp organic green tea leaves

2 drops / 0.16g vitamin E oil

2 drops / 0.04g lavender essential oil

2 drops / 0.04g rosemary essential oil or cedarwood essential oil

Optional:

Dried rosemary leaves and lavender flowers for infused oil

Equipment:

Bottle or jar to infuse oil

Small sieve or cheesecloth

Tiny funnel to fill tube

Small whisk or mixing utensil

Measuring spoons or mini cosmetic scale

Brow serum tube, roller bottle, or dropper bottle for storage

How to Make Brow Serum

1. Make herbal oil. To make eyebrow growth serum, first you’ll need to infuse the herbal oil. Place 1 tbsp herbs and 2 tbsp castor oil in a small container with a lid. Use green tea leaves for the standard recipe. Or, use a combination of green tea, dried rosemary, and dried lavender buds if you’d like to skip the essential oils in your brow serum. Stir to combine the herbs with the oil.

Infuse brow growth oil. Replace your container’s lid and leave the herbal oil to infuse for 1-3 weeks in a cool, dark place (or even longer – the more time, the better). Shake it every day for best results. After infusing, the castor oil will turn a pale green from the green tea.

Strain the herbs. Using cheesecloth or a small sieve, strain out the herbs from the castor oil. The herbs will absorb some of the oil, but you can try squeezing out as much as possible using cheesecloth. You may wish to repeat this process a couple times to ensure you’ve removed any residual debris from your DIY brow serum, as sharp green tea pieces can cause eye injury.

Measure castor oil. Measure 1 tbsp of your herbal infused oil. You should have enough oil to make the growth serum, but if you lost too much oil after straining, you can top it up with extra castor oil.

Add brow growth oils. Add vitamin E, lavender essential oil, and rosemary essential oil to your serum and stir gently to incorporate.

Fill eyebrow serum tube. Using a small funnel, fill your tube, roller bottle, or dropper bottle with your eyebrow growth oil.

How to use Eyebrow Growth Oil

Using clean fingertips or your tube’s applicator, apply your brow growth serum generously to your eyebrows and the skin beneath them.

Gently massage the serum into your skin to stimulate the brow follicles and to ensure you reach the root of each hair.

You can apply the serum to your existing brows hairs to lengthen them. But you should also apply it to any sparse or missing areas where you would like to encourage hair to grow, such as above the brows or beyond the tails.

Use your brow serum as the last step of your bedtime skincare routine. For daytime, a water-based growth serum works better as to not interfere with your makeup or SPF.

Depending on your unique growth cycle, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to see results from using castor oil for brow growth. So remember to be consistent, and in time you’ll see thicker, fuller brows.

Note: You will find detailed information on the ingredients, plus further instructions in our original post.

And for more beauty and skincare recipes, you can find our blog here:

A Life Adjacent Blog

We hope you enjoyed our tutorial for brow serum!

Kim & Kyla