Sometime in 1997, before my freshman year of high school, I stole a pair of tweezers from my Mother\u2019s makeup drawer, sat in front of a mirror with a photo of Kate Moss, and went to town on my brows. By the time I finished, I\u2019d taken them well in from the bridge of my nose, and sculpted – well it can only be described as a sperm like shape – high above my natural brow bone. My Mother noticed immediately, but like the belly button ring and \u2018tramp stamp\u2019 that would follow, she simply shrugged and said, \u201cyou\u2019ll regret that one day.\u201d Oh how right she was. <\/p>\n
Years later, when full brows came back into fashion, I began attempting to grow mine out again. I had read not to pluck one single hair on your eye lids for a year, as it could disrupt the growing cycle. I did as instructed, but a year later I had about ten new hairs to show for it. I then turned to natural elixirs, and when that didn\u2019t work I moved into eyebrow regrowth serum. Friends, it was a journey, but I\u2019m happy to report with a combination of serums and Glossier products, I now have full-ish brows. <\/p>\n
So imagine my horror when I\u2019m thumbing through a Vogue recently and there is Iris Law (her father 90\u2019s heartthrob Jude), with pencil thin brows. I think I audibly gasped. This had to be a one off, right? A few days later I see a photo of Bella Hadid with two thin lines above her eyes. Then low and behold, Rhianna was on the cover of British Vogue and hers were razor thin. Look, I\u2019m all for fashion trends coming and going, but please don\u2019t let this be one of them. <\/p>\n
Throughout history brows have been shaped, dyed, plucked and powdered in a number of different ways. In fact, during the Roaring Twenties a thin brow was all the rage. Maybe there is something about post-pandemic life that makes us want to rip hair off our faces? I don\u2019t know. But I\u2019m curious if Marlene Dietrich struggled with growing her brows back in once Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn\u2019s caterpillars appeared on the silver screen?<\/p>\n
I reached out to two experts in the field to get their take on the new skinny brow trend. <\/p>\n
Kristie Streicher<\/a>, of Hollywood\u2019s favorite eyebrow studio STRIIIKE<\/a> says, \u201cSometimes after prolonged periods of plucking\/waxing\/threading, the hair does not grow back.\u00a0I have even seen hair follicles permanently damaged leaving a scar- like appearance from over depilation. I have\u00a0also\u00a0seen quite a few brows\u00a0 (in the thousands) grow back.\u201d The problem of course being, you never know which side you\u2019ll fall on! If you have ripped off your hairs one too many times, Streicher recommends using Grande Brow, Neu Brow or vegaBROW Volumizing Serum to get them to grow back in. Cali Strauhs<\/a>, esthetician and brow expert at NYC hotspot Pearlita<\/a> says, \u201cBrows are so personal. But it\u2019s a long journey to get them back to what\u2019s natural, and you may never fully get them back to what once was. I say embrace what you have and nourish them, love them, water them like you would a plant and let them blossom to their fullest potential.\u201d <\/p>\n