From the super-thin brows of the ’90s to the bold styles made popular in 2016 by Cara Delevingne’s iconic thick brows and Kylie Jenner’s groomed arches, eyebrows have often been at the forefront of evolving beauty standards, with each era bringing about its own distinct styles and influencing the shape and perception of eyebrows.
But as new trends replace old ones, not all looks are fondly remembered. If you’ve been looking back at your old selfies and wondering why you ever thought thick lines or over-plucked brows were trendy, you might be a victim of a phenomenon TikTok users have dubbed “brow blindness.”
What is eyebrow blindness?
Being brow blind doesn’t mean you don’t know how your brows actually look on your face, but rather that you’re chasing the next trend instead of considering what suits your features, says Cassandra Bankson, a medical aesthetician and YouTube skin-care talker.
Bankson describes brow blindness as “a failure to acknowledge trends” that “isn’t necessarily good for your long-term health or beauty.” TikTok users have been going viral for their posts about how they were so unaware of how terrible their eyebrows looked that they were mindlessly following the trend of arching, filling in, and plucking.
“Instead of defining beauty for themselves and embracing diversity, they want to conform to a stereotypical image of beauty,” Bankson says.
Are your eyebrows hard to see?
Rushing to follow microtrends without examining your own motivations can be a telltale sign of frowniness.
“Ask yourself: Are you just doing what’s trending on social media? Are you choosing beauty routines that make you feel good? Or are you just looking at the Kardashians doing their brows and laminating them the same way?”
How to prevent eyebrow blindness
Bankson recommends always consulting a professional before undergoing any treatments, procedures or dramatic changes. Alternatively, you can use technology to “test” your look before bleaching or tweezing your brows. With greater access to photo imaging tools, it’s also easier to use photo editing to avoid beauty faux pas.
Dr. Dina Strachan, a board-certified dermatologist, says eyebrow blindness may not be something you can pinpoint at this point, but rather advises people to weigh the pros and cons before changing their appearance, especially if they’re considering a permanent change like a tattoo or laser hair removal.
“As you go through life, you’re always going to have different opinions,” Strachan says, “and you don’t necessarily want to tie yourself down to trends that may change.”
What does the “brow blind” epidemic say about changing standards of beauty?
The constant change of micro-trends also means that women are unable to keep up with ideal beauty standards: participating in a trend is not a sign of blindness, but of hypersensitivity to how well one actually fits into ideal beauty standards.
Since then, other trends such as “money blind”, “blush blind” and “lip blind” have also emerged, showing how susceptible we are to ever-changing trends.
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Bankson and Strachan have seen a recent rise in cosmetic procedures and treatments that could have negative future health effects, particularly lip fillers, which Bankson calls “tomorrow’s brow blindness.”
Strachan says it’s important to remember that trends change.
“We look at old hairstyles, shoulder pads, makeup trends, especially when they’re a little too extreme and then it looks ridiculous,” Strachan adds. “That’s human nature and that’s fashion.”
