HANDS UP IF you’re familiar with this situation: You’re poised, tweezers in hand, ready to attack a straggly brow hair. You pluck it and all of a sudden you can’t. Stop. Sneezing.
If this happens to you, know you’re not alone. It’s a bit of a phenomenon.
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It seems weird, but there’s a pretty simple explanation for it: Plucking your eyebrows can literally get on your nerves.
The trigeminal nerve connects the face to the brain – it has three branches, one of which supplies nerves to the eyes, the forehead, and the nose.
Dermatologist Eric Schweiger tells NewBeauty.com that tweezing your eyebrows ‘excites’ that nerve:
When the trigeminal nerve is stimulated by eyebrow tweezing, this causes excitement of the nerve in the nasal area as well, which can lead to a sneeze.
Speaking to The Cut, beautician Kristie Streicher says she notices it in around 15-20% of her clients, and typically the left eyebrow gets it worse than the right.
To trick the nerve and avoid sneezing, she suggests pressing your finger down on the eyebrow while you pluck.
The more you know!
