THE HISTORY OF EYEBROWS // DEANNA SCHMIDT

I never paid much attention to my eyebrows as a kid. I was that girl who had eyebrows that were a little crazy, but not crazy enough to turn heads. I, unfortunately, had inherited my mother's unruly brows. Hers were big, black, bushy caterpillars that looked like they belonged on the face of a scruffy, overweight man. Her hair was curly, and so naturally her eyebrows curled too, sending strands sticking out in all directions. They were a stark contrast to her petite facial features, yet, she did nothing to control them. My mother's brows were her signature feature whether she knew it or not.

Along with her brows, I also inherited my mother's I-don't-care-about-my-appearance attitude but for me, it was more of an oh-I-didn't-realize-I-was-supposed-to-obsess-over-every-little-detail-of-my-face mentality. I don't think I ever took one long, hard look at my eyebrows; they were just a part of me that I knew was there.

One day, my hairdresser was shampooing my hair, and she said that I needed my eyebrows reshaped so I let her wax them. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I was in that awkward metamorphosis stage of development where I wasn't exactly a womanly sight, but I wasn't premature and ugly either. Every one of my family members had an opinion on what the new me should look like. My aunt and uncle were the most verbose contributors to the conversations about my appearance. They were the ones who had convinced me to start going to the salon to get my hair cut in the first place (Before that, I used to get my hair cut in the basement of my grandmother's house, which always resulted in crooked bangs). When my hairdresser suggested waxing my brows, my aunt immediately embraced the idea, and soon enough, the warm green goo was slathered onto my face.

I wasn't prepared for this unexpected initiation into the world of beauty. It was thrust upon me before I had time to comprehend it. Hastily, my hairdresser placed a little strip of paper down onto the wax, rubbed it a few times, and riiiippppp! My vision went a little blurry and my eyes were watering, but there was no time to rest. Almost immediately, a second strip was placed down onto my hairy little facial monsters. When it was all over, I looked into the mirror. All I saw were two massive red streaks beneath my eyebrows that stayed red for longer than they should have, because, apparently, I have sensitive skin. The hairdresser made some comment about sending me home to my mother with red marks, but I didn't hear the rest because I was admiring the beauty of my newly discovered eyebrows. I was in love.

From that moment on, I took on a new mentality. Gone was the girl who paid no attention to her appearance. My new eyebrows were the start of a revolution, one that would help me to discover the girly girl that had been hidden inside of me all along. Soon after my eyebrow makeover came my new haircut, new wardrobe, and a face full of new makeup. I had suddenly become a young woman, and the reclamation of my eyebrows was the catalyst for it all.

Eyebrows may not seem important, but they play a vital role in our health and wellness. Our ancestors, the descendants of monkeys, had faces full of hair. It's hard to imagine what it must have felt like to have hair growing out of one's cheeks and forehead. It's even funnier to imagine what humans looked like with these ape-like faces. Luckily for us, time passed, and having a hairy face as a human was no longer necessary; thus we evolved into a species with far less hair. Despite such evolution, a small strip above each eye remained. That little strip is what we now refer to as the eyebrow.

Eyebrows were formed because our eyes needed protection from the elements. These hairy beasts are specially shaped so that they divert sweat and rain, making sure it doesn't get into our eyes. Considering their size, people often assume they are insignificant, but eyebrows have a big job to do.

Not only are eyebrows a type of evolutionary windshield wiper for our faces, but they are also an important aspect of nonverbal communication. Eyebrows aid us in expressing a wealth of emotions. For example, raising one's eyebrows can convey feelings of surprise, uncertainty, and confusion. Lowering the eyebrows indicates annoyance, anger, or displeasure. Lastly, raising the eyebrows up and down can be used as a greeting. Eyebrows are even used in sign language to help communicate emotions without verbal cues.

I have always been fascinated with people who can raise one eyebrow and not the other. How do they do it? As a kid, I spent far too much time in front of a mirror, trying to train myself to only raise one. It was impossible! I came to the conclusion that my face was just not designed to partake in this novelty. My eyebrows were nothing special.

Looking back, I realize how wrong I was. Eyebrows are amazing! Even the ancients knew how important they were and used makeup to highlight them. In Ancient Egypt, makeup (including eyebrow makeup) was worn as protection from disease and evil spirits. Eyebrows were tweezed or shaved, then drawn on again with a black powder. Also, whenever a cat died in Egypt, entire households of people would shave off their eyebrows.

In Ancient Greece and Rome, the unibrow was trendy among women, especially prostitutes. They would either use powdered minerals to paint on black brows, or attach false brows made of dyed goat's hair to their foreheads. In Japan, eyebrows were shaved off and redrawn high up onto the forehead. In Medieval Europe, skinny or shaved eyebrows were preferred. These women wanted to obtain the "egghead" look, in which their foreheads were large and at the center of attention. Women even plucked their hairlines to further emphasize their pale foreheads.

The 17th and 18th centuries brought back the bold brow in Europe. Women would attach fake eyebrows made of mouse skin high up on their foreheads. By the 20th century, eyebrow makeup was introduced into the world of cosmetics. T.L. Williams came up with the Lash-Brow-Ine, which was the first widely sold eyebrow makeup product. He created this product as a result of watching his sister Mabel apply a mixture of Vaseline and coal dust to her eyebrows. The name was later changed to Maybelline, a combination of his sister's name and Vaseline.

Eyebrow trends continued to change over the years. From 1920-1930, dark and skinny brows were preferred because all of the silent movie stars had them. In the 1950s, the high arch was a common trend, thanks to Marilyn Monroe. Audrey Hepburn's thick and dark brows were also popular during this time. The 1960s brought about the technique of using short strokes to fill in the brows, like the actress Sophia Loren. The 1970s hippies liked the super thin brow, but by the 1980s, thick brows were back, as seen on celebrities like Madonna. In 1990, some women followed the "sperm brow" trend, in which the beginning of the brow was thick, but it thinned out toward the end.

Since the 90s, women's eyebrows have gradually become lower and less arched, taking on a more masculine vibe. Today, the thick, dark, masculine brow is the newest trend. This style can be seen on Cara Delevigne and Lily Collins. Lucky for me, I was blessed with thick eyebrows, so I've been a living embodiment of this trend.

Towards the end of my high school career, I discovered the world of the YouTube beauty gurus. These twenty-something year-old women would sit in front of their cameras and make all sorts of videos: makeup tutorials, get ready with me videos, hair tutorials, what's-in-my-bag videos, outfit-of-the-days, boyfriend tags, and even vlogs in which they chronicled their daily lives. These girls were the epitome of everything that I wanted to be. They were beautiful, fashionable, and they offered useful advice. Because of these women, I learned how to do my makeup. Without them, I'd probably still be walking around barefaced, looking like a panda with dark circles under my eyes.

One thing that I noticed in these makeup videos was that the gurus always valued their eyebrows. Even in the simple, natural looks, eyebrows were an essential element in the facial blueprint. Not only were they a crucial part of the routine, but the eyebrows had to be designed in a specific way. Each girl had her preference for what kind of product she thought was best for filling in her brows. Some used gel, others used powder, and still other, pencils.

There were even videos dedicated entirely to engineering one's eyebrows. A few tips I learned from them were: 1) Use whatever product you feel comfortable with, but it needs to be a few shades lighter than your actual hair color. 2) You can use two different shades for added dimension. 3) Start by brushing through the brows. 4) Use light, short strokes to fill in the sparse areas, but don't apply too much! 5) Use a spoolie to get rid of some of the extra product and to soften the look. 6) Use a brow gel, either clear or colored, to lock the product in place. 7) And always remember, eyebrows are sisters, not twins! (This excuse for imperfect brows was a common saying in many of the videos that I watched).

Even though I was armed with all of these tricks for filling in my brows with makeup, it was hard to maintain their appeal. My eyebrows seemed to grow back faster than they should. For the first year following my first eyebrow wax, I kept up with my appointments to wax them on time. However, I started to get lazy, and the appointments happened far less often, even though my eyebrows were still growing in as fast as they were before. I decided that I would stick to plucking and trimming them myself. What a mistake I made! I began to pluck too much in the wrong areas, or not pluck at all. I would cut off the tops and the edges, which would leave my ends looking scraggly and unkempt. I didn't know what I was doing! I also took the YouTube tutorials too literally, and started filling in my brows way too darkly. Now, as I look back at old pictures of myself, I can see that my eyebrows were horrendous! I am angry at myself for allowing them to look bad, but I'm angrier at my family and friends for not telling me that they looked drawn on and fake as hell. Sometimes I'd wish I didn't have any eyebrows at all!

Some women seemed to have a similar wish, but they acted on their impulses, unlike me. Some paid plastic surgeons up to $8,000 for eyebrow transplants to make their brows look like Megan Fox's, while others bleached their brows, or shaved them off completely. Celebrities like Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Kendall Jenner all took part in the "no eyebrows" trend by using bleach. Other women got so fed up with taking care of their brows that they shaved them off, and tattooed them on permanently.

Currently, there is a trend going around of pictures of celebrities without eyebrows. These viral memes are all over the internet. Usually, the un-photoshopped picture is placed next to the no-eyebrow picture, to show who the celebrity is and what they look like normally.

As intriguing as the "no eyebrow" trend might be, it could begin to develop into a problem if more people begin to follow it. Eyebrows play a major role in helping us to identify others. They are dark, can be seen from a distance, and don't change much over time—which makes them perfect for identification. Eyebrows can also help us to identify the gender of a stranger. Women tend to have thinner, more separated brows, while men have thicker, fuller brows.

A study was conducted in 2003 at MIT in which participants were shown two different kinds of pictures: either of celebrities with their eyes digitally deleted, or with their eyebrows digitally deleted. The results were remarkable. When shown the eyeless pictures, participants were able to identify the person 60% of the time. However, when shown the eyebrow-less pictures, participants were only able to identify the celebrities 46% of the time.

I don't think I will ever partake in the "no eyebrow" trend, because I have learned to love my brows. Even though I used to judge other girls for their thick eyebrows, and hate on my own eyebrows, I have moved past that stage in my life. Now, my eyebrows are one of my favorite facial features, and I wouldn't change them for the world. I will continue to embrace my facial caterpillars, and watch as new eyebrow trends come and go. Who knows what'll be next!