Psst! Hey you! Over here. I have a question.
Where did all the female eyebrows go?
I was looking at this interesting and highly entertaining blog today (specifically this post) that had some photographs of women. I think it was about dying your hair blonde. I mean no disrespect to the women featured on that blog, they are very beautiful, but as I looked at the photos something leaped out at me. Something that has been troubling me for a long, long time.
Where did all the female eyebrows go?
Maybe I’m the world’s biggest dumb ass (no doubt) but I’m confused. I’ve heard about “plucking” your eyebrows. And I know you can “trim” them, something I do often to avoid looking too much like Andy Rooney.
But it seems to me that some women are completely removing their eyebrows? And then what happens? They paint or use makeup to create new fake ones? Is that how it works?
I’m seriously confused here. Is that what is actually taking place?
To research this further I went to look up one of the hottest looking women I’ve ever seen: Mona Lisa. (Almost as beautiful as my wife.) I loaded her picture and studied it closely. “Does she even have eyebrows at all,” I asked myself. I zoomed in for a closer look. “Wow. It sure doesn’t look like it.”
As a matter of fact, it turns out she doesn’t.
Mona Lisa has no visible facial hair—including eyebrows and eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was common at this time for genteel women to pluck them out, since they were considered to be unsightly. In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps as a result of overcleaning. For modern viewers the missing eyebrows add to the slightly semi-abstract quality of the face. (Source.)
Interesting. I like learning something new every day. 🙂
I just want to go on record in favor of something I like to call “natural beauty.” I don’t think it looks good or fashionable to remove your eyebrows completely then paint them back on, often in a different location or in a different way. “Say what? Your eyebrows moved???”
I guess the larger question is: Why does fashion seem to be so counterintuitive to common sense? Why can’t we just have natural looking eyebrows and so forth?
I’m sorry to be low brow but I don’t care for no brow. Not at all, no how.
Shouts from the Abyss 
Loool, I Totally agree with you, i don’t see the point of shaving your eyebrows only to draw/ tattoo them back on again, but do we ever have answers as to why we do things?
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Oddly enough, yesterday hubby and I were watching an old dr. who episode, where aliens from the past were trying to steal the Mona Lisa and re-sell copies of it – and one of the things they mentioned in the episode was that the Mona Lisa had no eyebrows. So, with that fresh in my mind, I find it interesting that you have a picture of the Mona Lisa’s eyes in your blog entry about eyebrows 🙂
In high school, a girl I knew religiously shaved her eyebrows and penciled them back on. I never knew why she did it (we weren’t friends and if I had asked, I think she would have beat me up – she wasn’t very friendly) but I often found myself studying her lack of eyebrows from a across the room and making up a million stories in my head about why she would feel the need to shave them off and draw them back on.
In other words, I have no answers. Only more questions. 🙂
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and when they’re drawn in, what about that weird shape some do them in so they always look shocked?
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Maybe that is part of the fun?
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Hi 🙂
I thought I’d return the favour by reading your blog too, and man is it good! Funny in parts, thought-provoking in others.
I also wanted to say that a colleague of mine waxes her eyebrows off and pencils new ones on. In the wrong position. And in a different colour to her hair. Red hair –> black eyebrows. Why? I don’t know. Like the poster above me (geekgrrrl), I find myself making up stories as to why. They mostly involve eyebrow-hating aliens sneaking in during the night and stealing her poor eyebrows.
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Hi Daisy! You are welcome here and thanks for the comment! 🙂
I see you are well on your way to mastering the world of blogging. Your username is already a link back to your blog. Nicely done!
I’m amazed that a random thought about eyebrows turned out to be such a nice post. Sometimes I get lucky. I was a little worried I was going to hear from more folks who might say something like, “Hey, that’s what I do! Here, eat my fist!”
🙂
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Sometimes my parents like to give me crap for having bushy, prominent eyebrows, but I really don’t care because at least you can see the damn things.
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I don’t remember your eyebrows much. I’ll have to go back and re-watch some Scrabahtzee! 🙂
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Whoopie Goldberg has no eyebrows. I think it’s a new trend now in the fashion world. The NYT’s had an article on it last year….
““There is an asexual element to no eyebrows. We are much more accepting of the ‘other’ nowadays. Removing eyebrows removes a degree of expression, which makes one look less human and more cerebral, maybe even mechanical. It’s an exercise in modernity.”
ummmmm….ok.
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This was supposed to be my WordPress-home-page-moment post. This post had all the critical ingredients:
* Artsy
* Epic image
* Pun-ish subject line
* Cultural insight
* G rating
* Wit – a skosh less acerbic than normal
Oh well, as Leonardo da Vinci might say, back to the drawing board!
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I wish my eyebrows were as bushy now as they were when I was younger. My eyebrow waggling powers are waning!
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I seem to be suffering from the reverse problem. 🙂
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