Hello EYEBROWS!!!I've read many of the reviews, bad and good, and I'd like to clear a few things up.First of all they're NOT hard, they have a sort of coating on them to keep them fresh throughout shipping and handling (I think) anyway, if you just take a piece of paper and draw on it, or your hand, draw lines and such until you've made contact with the entire end of the pencil you draw with. That should take care of that problem, that's what I did and it worked out fine.Next, I don't know about anyone else, but I've spent a small fortune on eyebrow pencils that are supposed to be ''UNIVERSAL''...HAHAHHAA!!!!These are the best (In my humble opinion) TRUE GRAY eyebrow pencils I've ever found.A little about me and my gray. I stopped fussing with the color of my hair about 10 years ago and at first I was shockingly GRAY/WHITE! It kind of scared me, but then I grew out my hair to donate and got so many compliments I just couldn't believe it! (keep it shiny folks!)However, I have a few problems and I cannot take care of long hair so on my 60th birthday I had it cut to donate, and have kept it short ever since.Don't be afraid!! Have you seen all the young folk out there with gray hair??? LOL seriously!!! It's HIP ladies and gentlemen!!!Now, let me add that the ''COOL HELEN'' is a true cool gray, almost silverish? But still, I think on those of us with really gray, salt/pepper, or white hair would benefit most from this particular color.Next is my pick ''WARM BETTY''!!! For me, it's perfect!!! I detest RED hues in my eyebrows, even though my hair went from Stark White as a child, to medium brown, to copper (all on it's own) then to dark brown through it's transition from baby to kid, to teenagers to mother. Now I'm not sure what color it is, but it's grayish, with brown and black with some red left in there by God. My eyebrows have NEVER been brown or reddish, they've always been black hairs. If I use a product that has even a hint of red/brown in it I look like I just got done itching my eyebrows! UGH!So my takeaway is try them!! For heaven's sake if you don't like them send them back right??I gave three stars on the moisture wicking above because WTH?? Not sure what that has to do with any of this, but if it means it stays on, then 5 stars because yes it does!! and 4 stars for ease of use for the having to wipe/draw the end of the pencil first before you can get any color to adhere.TIP...WARM YOUR EYEBROW PENCIL A PINCH, BEFORE USING! It will soften it and make it easier to glide on, these products are made to last and not glom/glob onto your eyebrows like a magic marker!Hope you try them!!!My pix: left to right with absolutely no other makeup (ya think?) on my left brow as you're looking at it, is ''COOL HELEN'' & "WARM BETTY" on the right brow. I hope you can see the silverish tone I mentioned, in the "COOL HELEN", as opposed to the natural GRAY just GRAY tone to the "WARM BETTY".Next pic is COOL HELEN, then WARM BETTY, then with glasses. Can anyone make two eyebrows symmetrical??I still don't dye my hair, but it has a life of isn't own and changes color all the time. That's it, that's all, and sorry so wordy but I wanted to make my point.