Best tweezers: Tame unruly brows with these top-notch tweezers
Keep those stray hairs at bay with our pick of the best assorted tip and arch claw tweezers
Whether you’re wearing your eyebrows slimline or full, the best way to frame eyes with a well-defined brow is to carefully pluck with a decent pair of tweezers. Even if you regularly wax or thread your eyebrows into shape, tweezers are very useful for removing stray hairs between visits to the salon. Tweezers can be handy for all sorts of other tasks besides – from bikini-line fixes to applying false eyelashes – and they’re also a first-aid kit staple.
There are a few things to consider when choosing a pair of tweezers – from the size and shape of the pincers themselves to the overall price. Cheap and cheerful tweezers can be found for under a fiver, but if you use tweezers often it can be worth investing in a quality pair that will give you a precision pluck time after time. Find our guide to choosing the right pair of tweezers for you below, followed by our picks of the best tweezers to buy.
How to choose the best tweezers for you
What difference does the shape of the tip make?
Tweezer tips come in different shapes suited to different purposes. The most common are:
- Pointed tip: Good for precision plucking, pointed tips are good for short and ingrown hairs as well as first aid and splinter removal.
- Straight tip: Straight-tipped tweezers are good for applying eyelashes, or for tackling dense or thick hair that might require a firmer tug.
- Slanted tip: Slanted tip tweezers are ideal for brow plucking as they allow a good degree of precision and control.
- Round tip: Round tips are the safest type of tweezer as there are no sharp edges to accidentally pinch skin. Perfect for use on delicate facial skin.
- Arched claw: Arched claw tweezers are good for getting a firm grip on short hairs, and are often used on delicate areas such as the bikini line.
What difference does the material make?
Tweezers are most often made of stainless steel, which is strong, easy to clean and hypoallergenic; or titanium, which is also durable and lighter in weight than stainless steel. The tips may also be gold-plated; gold is hygienic, softer than steel, and grips well while being comfortable on the skin.
If you have sensitive skin, do check that that your chosen tweezers don’t contain nickel or nickel alloys, as these can cause allergic reactions.
How many tweezers should I own?
It’s best to keep your medical tweezers separate from your beauty tweezers – pointed tip tweezers for removing splinters and other sharp objects should live in your first-aid kit, while your straight- or slanted tip tweezers for plucking should sit on your dressing table. If you also pluck other body parts such as the bikini line, you may find a third pair of tweezers handy for both hygiene and function reasons – arched claw tweezers with a firm but gentle grip are best for delicate areas.
How should I care for my tweezers?
Tweezers can be kept sterile by cleaning regularly with a cotton wool swab or bud dipped in alcohol or a sterilising solution. If tweezers are used on an open wound (for a splinter or an ingrown hair, for example), wash them under the tap and then sterilise in boiling water for a few minutes before drying. Keep your tweezers in a dry place, ideally in their own pouch rather than loose in a bag with makeup or beauty products that may leak.
How we test tweezers
We thoroughly test all the tweezers we review. Where applicable, we test according to the recommended usage – for example, for short or ingrown hairs.
We record the shape of the tweezer prongs and the material from which each model of tweezer is made; we then use the tweezers as directed on clean facial hair. As well as assessing the feel of the tweezer in the hand and overall ease of use, we note any useful extras provided with the tool, such as a brush or carry case.
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The best tweezers you can buy in 2023
1. Tweezerman Slant Tweezers: Best-angled tweezers for grooming
Price: £22 | Buy now from Argos
This brand is the best known in the business. Tweezerman has been going for more than 25 years, and is the name you’re most likely to see topping beauty therapists’ list of recommended products. While Tweezerman’s pointed-tip model (see below) is ideal for very precise work such as removing ingrown hairs, this pair of tweezers with its angled, sharp tip is perfect for eyebrow grooming. The tweezers are easy to grip and work quickly without pinching the skin. Available in a range of vibrant colours and good for all hair types, these award-winning tweezers are bestsellers for good reason.
2. Mavala Tweezer Oblique with gold tip: Best for facial hair
Price: £6 | Buy now from Amazon
These slanted tweezers have gold plated tips for a gentle but sturdy grip on even the finest hairs. The tool itself is lightweight and very comfortable to hold, and grip well with just a light squeeze. Plucking is a breeze, as the tips feel very soft on the skin and easily remove even short and hard to see hairs without pinching. Because of the gold plate the tips themselves are slightly larger than those of other tweezers on our list, so these are perhaps not suitable for high-precision usage, but we feel solid grip on hairs makes up for the larger tip size in most cases.
3. Bobbi Brown Tweezers: Best for removing very short hairs
Price: £26 | Buy from Bobbi Brown
Celebrity makeup artist Bobbi Brown comes up trumps yet again, this time with her stainless steel, slant-tipped tweezers that some refer to as the Rolls-Royce of the tweezer world. These have one of the finest tips we’ve come across on a slanted pair and they align perfectly, which means it’s easy to locate and grip even fine, fair or stubborn hair with no problem at all. These tweezers can grab the shortest of hairs, making them a superb pair for new hairs just starting to grow through. Not the cheapest pair of tweezers, but one of the most effective and durable we’ve come across.
4. Laura Mercier Tweezers: Best wide-grip tweezers
Price: £26 | Buy from Amazon
These slant-tip tweezers have a wide grip, which gives you more to cling onto and therefore allows for greater control. So, if you’re someone with an unsteady hand, or precision is key then this pair is a superb buy – one that many beauty therapists consider a key part of their armoury. They’re exceptionally comfy to hold and offer a sharp (hand-filed) point for extra control. And since they’re larger than most, you’re less likely to lose them too. Designed by Tweezerman – a top name in the business – the Laura Mercier Tweezers are the best wide-grip units on the market by a long shot.
5. Superdrug Studio London Slant Tip Tweezer: Best budget tweezers
Price: £3 | Buy from Superdrug
These slant-tip tweezers in a pretty shade of polished rose gold are such good value for money it’s hard to really say what the catch is. The slant tips are nicely aligned and come to a good point at the tip to allow for precision plucking of fine hairs around the eyebrows. The grip end squeezes well and feels comfortable. Other tweezers on our list are perhaps a little sharper, and perhaps just a touch easier to squeeze, but these budget tweezers really do a perfectly good job of tweezing. Great if you’re on a budget, or perhaps if you’re looking for an inexpensive spare pair of tweezers for your handbag or travel kit for grooming on the go.
6. Tweezerman Micro Mini Tweezer Set: Best tweezer set
Price: £30 | Buy from Cult Beauty
This tiny trio includes a slanted tweezer that’s perfect for a general tidy-up, a flat-tip tweezer for thicker hair, and a pointed tweezer for unrooting thin or ingrown hairs. The dinky set comes in a pink travel case to stow everything away in. Despite their petite size, we found that all three pairs of tweezers in this set gripped well and closed firmly, making it easy to target specific hairs. Whether you need a set to pop in your hand luggage or handbag at work, the Tweezerman Micro Mini Tweezer Set is sure to see you through all brow-related disasters.
7. Tweezerman Pointed Tweezer: Best pointed tweezers
Price: £16 | Buy from Amazon
These tweezers boast extra-sharp steel tips and a good solid grip, making them just the ticket for in-grown hairs and stubble. They’ll also prove handy for first-aid jobs. For successful use, pull in the direction of the hair growth and pluck only one hair at a time. They’re a good, compact size – and come from one of the biggest names in the world of tweezers. Remember to disinfect the tip of tweezer with alcohol before use if using them for ingrown hairs or as part of your first-aid kit.
8. Benefit Grooming Tweezer & Brush: Best tweezers with a brow brush
Price: £17 | Buy from Benefit Cosmetics
Part of a range dedicated entirely for brow use, these tweezers were launched by Benefit in 2016, offering two eyebrow tools for the price of one. At one end sits a pair of slanted-tip tweezers, coated with diamond dust to offer resilience; and at the other is a brush to get your brows into shape afterwards. We found the tweezers themselves offer a strong grip, and the fine tip stops hairs from breaking while being pulled out. The brush, too, is one of the best we’ve come across – stiff enough to be great at keeping all hairs in order, but soft and comfortable on the face. One drawback is that the addition of the brush does mean that these tweezers are a bit more cumbersome in the hand than others, but it’s a very hand two-in-one tool for your makeup bag.
9. Anastacia Beverley Hills: Best salon-style tweezers
Price: £26 | Buy from Cult Beauty
LA beauty guru Anastacia Soares is the closest the eyebrow world has to an A-list celebrity – and she’s certainly groomed the brows of Hollywood royalty in her Beverly Hills salon. These tweezers are designed to professional salon standards: perfectly balanced, with precision-tooled slant tips and calibrated tension to allow ease and precision of plucking. The tips are sharper than high-street tweezers, so do take care the first few times you pluck; but the custom-tooled tips are also guaranteed never to require re-sharpening. A next-level pair of tweezers that regularly draws rave reviews on beauty sites; look after these and you’ll never need to buy another pair again.
