The eyebrow fixation

Today, I've got a bone to pick with a trend that seems to have taken over the world of beauty and fashion: the infamous eyebrow obsession. This is something a lot of the fellow women in my life do and I have never ever understood it. Now, as many of you know, I am all for self-expression and embracing one's unique features, but seriously, what's with the madness over these tiny strips of hair above our eyes? Can someone please explain to me why some women are treating their eyebrows like they're the eighth wonder of the world?

I mean, come on, it's like we've entered the era of the "Eyebrow Wars"! Many women are throwing down thousands of dollars and countless hours just to get the perfect arch. I've heard stories of people enduring the agony of microblading, threading, waxing, plucking – you name it, all in the name of achieving those elusive "perfect" brows. Can we talk about the irony of how we're preaching self-love and natural body positivity, yet spending so much time and money on tweaking such a minuscule detail of our appearance?

And let's not even get started on the products. Seriously, how many brow pencils, gels, pomades, powders, and whatnot are out there? It's like a whole aisle at the store dedicated exclusively to eyebrows. I mean, who knew that shaping your brows would require a mini arsenal of tools and products? It's like we've become eyebrow warriors, ready to face the world armed with our brow kits and magnifying mirrors.

But you know what's even more mind-boggling? The fact that these trends change faster than you can say "brow game." One day, it's all about the "Instagram brow," and the next, it's all about the "soap brow" or the "laminated brow." Seriously, how do people keep up? It's like trying to follow a fast-paced game of eyebrow musical chairs.

Look, I'm not here to rain on anyone's brow parade, but let's take a step back and ponder the bigger picture. Are perfectly symmetrical, meticulously shaped brows really the key to happiness? Is this obsession just another way for the beauty industry to capitalize on our insecurities and sell us more stuff? Aren't there more important things in life than whether your brows are "on point"?

I've tried calling this out in various online spaces before and have been accused of "internalised misogyny".... how is it "internalised misogyny" to leave your face alone? Or to critique a misogynistic profit model (the beauty industry)? If anything, that's *calling out* misogyny.

When there are men on occasion who critique the eyebrow obsession or any beauty trend, they can often be labeled as misogynistic or accused of not understanding women's choices. Personally I disagree and I think it's essential to recognize that these critiques might not necessarily stem from misogyny, but rather from a broader concern about the beauty industry's role in perpetuating certain beauty standards and profiting off insecurities. Let's ponder for a moment. Are they really calling out women's choices, or are they pointing a finger at an industry that profits from young women's insecurities?

In many cases, men who raise these critiques are *not* attacking women's choices but rather questioning the societal norms and unrealistic expectations that have been perpetuated for profit. Like it or not, the beauty industry *does* capitalize on the insecurities of women, and men who acknowledge this aren't necessarily blaming women for participating in it. Instead, they're highlighting a system that benefits from the perpetuation of narrow beauty ideals and capitalizes on young women's self-doubt and insecurities. If anything they're calling out a truth that a lot of us women choose to remain blind to, and when these people do call it out, a lot of us may see it as a personal dig which it isn't.

People critiquing the industry's practices and discussing how these beauty standards can be harmful can contribute to a broader conversation about how society values and treats women. It's absolutely *imperative* to differentiate between criticism aimed at women and criticism aimed at an industry that exploits insecurities for monetary gain- the discussion should focus on societal expectations, and the profit-driven beauty industry. Not all criticisms are rooted in misogyny and realizing that can lead to a more constructive conversation about the role of beauty standards in our culture. We need to distinguish between critiquing women's preferences and critiquing the systemic exploitation inherent in the beauty industry. We're talking about a system that thrives on selling products and services by preying on insecurities, and that's something that deserves scrutiny. And let's not forget to direct some of that critical eye toward an industry that has profited off young women's insecurities for far too long. It's high time we started questioning the beauty standards we've been fed and the system that perpetuates them. After all, true empowerment comes from understanding, choice, and recognizing that we don't need to conform to anyone else's standards of beauty to be valuable and worthy.

Moreover, let's address the fact that most men don't pluck, wax, thread, or fill in their eyebrows – and guess what? They look just fine! The societal expectation for women to conform to these beauty standards is absurd when men can embrace their natural brows without being judged. As a woman who doesn't do anything to her eyebrows, I've realized that we've been conditioned to believe that we need "perfect" eyebrows, but let's be real, the Dennis Healey (a British politician who was known for his big bushy eyebrows) type of natural eyebrows are extremely rare.

In conclusion, I get it – beauty is subjective and personal. If you find joy in perfecting your brows, by all means, go for it. But let's not lose sight of what truly matters in life. Let's not let our self-worth be determined by the shape of our eyebrows. After all, the quirks, imperfections, and individuality that make us who we are should shine just as brightly, whether our brows are "perfect" or not.

Funnily enough, I posted this exact blog post, near enough word-for-word to Reddit a few months ago, across several different subreddits, and I was very surprise by the responses it got. Some positive, some negative (and yes, I did get the "pick me" label directed at me simply because I'm somebody who rejects beauty standards and hears out the opposite gender's viewpoints....).

Let me list a few of the responses here (I'm just going to list them as Person A, Person B, Person C etc).

Person A said  “I do get it to an extent because we have a lot of pressure to conform to certain expectations of how we look, and a lot of people do have a desire to look good, whatever they may believe that means, and eyebrows actually really do a lot to effect your appearance and it is relatively easy to control and make a big difference by altering them. I am of the attitude that minimal maintenance is adequate if you are concerned about how they frame your face, and it's also pretty easy to do yourself at no cost. I do think people get very carried away with it and being obsessed with their own brows and judging others for theirs, and it's very often an easy target for ridicule if someone has "bad" eyebrows, which is absurd.

Anyone calling this internalized misogyny is crazy but I've seen that kind of sentiment so much before. I would honestly extend a lot of the criticisms you made here to the beauty industry as a whole, and people do have some crazy backwards idea that that's misogynistic somehow. Somehow we have developed this narrative where apparently internalized misogyny is when you say you look fine the way you are and there's a ridiculous amount of pressure to put a lot of your time and resources into your appearance just to live your life as a woman and you don't have to cave to it, and female empowerment is when you have maxed out your credit card at Sephora on makeup and skincare and spend $1000 a year on your brows and eyelashes. Okay.”

I replied with replied with “Yep- like I said, I saw a before and after eyebrow thing for a beautician advertisement on Facebook and it made me think- some young women may never have given their eyebrows a second thought until they’ve seen the natural eyebrow presented as the “before” (which is typically presented as the “negative” option) and they might think “wait, is there something wrong with my natural eyebrows?”

Person B said “No joke, eyebrows really do make a shockingly drastic change to a person's face. Part of my side hustle job involves painting doll faces, a step I tend to do very early in the process and correct it as many times as I have to to ensure I can get it just right and paint the rest of the face accordingly. If by chance you've ever come across ball jointed dolls or fashion doll repaints, you'll see what I mean. Every detail in the face matters, but brows are weirdly OP when it comes to embuing life, a focused gaze, and a natural expression even in a neutral position. There must be something about human psychology where the mind hyper prioritizes brows as a focus point.

Anecdotally, I went through a long period in my teenage hood where I shaved my brows off. I know that makes me sound like a crazy person but it's a thing in the alt fashion community. I'd draw them back on, but for my shitty retail job I had at the time I decided to stop bothering (my bosses were assholes, liked to play mindgames out of bordem. The less shit you had on your body outside of the uniform the less fodder you gave them.) Customers started to think I was sneering at them when I'd smile politely. Anecdote number 2, I'm a trans guy. Facial hair, deep voice, fully medically transitioned. But I'm short, kept my long hair, and had more dainty facial features before. Now and again people will still misgender me, at least tell I'm trans. If I fill in my brows right though, no misgendering, and I'm finally at the point of my transition where at least two people (who are used to seeing me with my brows done) were surprised to learn I was born a woman. Good feeling. So like, brows are weirdly important, but I understand the sentiment you're getting at. I think women feel a lot of pressure to compete with one another, and a perfect brow can almost have the sake effect as a face lift. A lot of women maybe need to take a step back and assess if all this effort is really making them happy.”

Let’s break this down. This guy clearly has a unique perspective with the eyebrow topic with regards to dolls but it’s quite fascinating how much of an impact eyebrows can have on real life interactions and self perceptions. I also feel like his anecdotes completely back up my own points. People doing stuff to their eyebrows can influence other people's perceptions of them and even their own self-confidence, but why do we let such small details in of our overall appearance bother us, and start tampering with them just to change how we're perceived by others? His point about the pressure women often feel to compete with each other in terms of appearance is very valid too- it’s definitely a significant societal challenge. But you shouldn’t be comparing yourself just to the others- as this commenter says, you should take a step back and assess whether all this effort is genuinely making you happy or if you’re just doing it to conform. Consider what truly feels right for you, whether it's embracing your natural selves or enhancing your features.