They’re slightly thick, lush and heavily un-plucked. They’re no longer waxed to the extremities of skinny, overarched lines residing above our eyes. Instead, they may be threaded, carefully so, to give the appearance of a cleanly groomed, wide eye.
We’re talking about the almost unkempt, slightly bushy eyebrows. They’re here, there and everywhere. Once praised for their skinniest potential, eyebrows are now gaining weight and rightfully so.
For starters, the skinnier the brow, the older the eye tends to look. Have you ever looked at a woman with really, really bad brows and thought, “Her entire face would change if her brows were shaped properly?”
So have I.
And it’s not in a judgmental tone. Many women don’t know what their eyebrow shape should actually be. Mostly because we don’t have on deck glam squads or $27 dollars to shell out at brow boutiques like Brow Haus. But, that doesn’t mean we’re not completely exempt from fabulous brows.
I didn’t understand the idea of giving up waxed, over arched brows until I moved to New York City 5 years ago. When I moved here, I could barely find anyone I trusted to wax my brows like my lady I had found in Philly (while at Temple University). So, I started asking my NYC girls where I could get my brows waxed, and one of them laughed at me. After the laughter, she let me know that “New York women didn’t get their brows over waxed”, (whatever that meant) and proceeded to send me to a quaint little threading shop off of 14th street, around Union Square. They’re not there anymore, sadly. But, I used to go faithfully with my saved up $12 after fulfilling my internship duties while working for Bobbie Thomas. Don’t judge; I was an intern working at Zara.
My first visit was so nerve wrecking because I had become familiar with what I liked in regard to waxing. But the Indian woman who assisted me calmly sat me down, and assured me that I would be fine. She also pointed out that I had been “over doing it” on my brows and that they needed a break, but that she would shape them a bit since it was my first visit.
After she “cleaned them up”, as I would learn is the proper term to request thick, shapely brows, she sat me down and told me to grow my eyebrows out for 1 month. Weird, since she could have just told me to do so before shaping up my brows. But, I think she just wanted me to at least not feel like I hadn’t wasted my time.
At the end of my threading session, she let me know that I needed to let my brows grow so that she could really see what she was working with the next time I visited.
I listened.
I felt really unattractive during that month because I was so used to seeing my face with super sharp and waxed brows. But then, after a month passed and I went back, she sat me down and again told me how my brows should really look. When she was done, I hated them. They were thicker than I liked and just not what I was used to.
But then, they started to grow on me (no pun intended). I would go back to her because I came to really like her as a person and I started to see how my face looked different. I sort of looked prettier and more mature. I started to like my not-so-thin brows.
Then, of course, brows would become the talk of the fashion week town that following spring of 2011. Everyone was talking about brows, and since then, no one has stopped.
So here, I’ve found myself with the best brows I’ve had in a while. Filled in a bit, of course, with my favorite Anastasia Brow pencil in dark brown. They’re still thicker than I’ve ever thought I’d allow my brows to be. But, I couldn’t be happier.
So, here’s a cheers to fabulous, lush brows.
This post was originally published on Beautifully Brown.