We’ve all been there before — tweezers in hand, holding as steady as possible because just one small misstep could end in absolute catastrophe — mirror flipped to the double-zoom side so you can catch even the most unsuspecting stray hairs. Before you even realise it, one pluck leads to another and another and… suddenly, your precious eyebrows are no more.
With the ever-evolving nature of beauty trends, it can sometimes feel like an uphill battle to stay in the know. Scrolling through all the makeup hacks and “best claw clip hairstyles” on TikTok is overwhelming; it’s information overload. Still, there’s comfort in knowing that with the wealth of shared knowledge the internet provides, anything goes, and we’re finally moving toward a place within the realm of beauty where there’s no single archetype or image that we all aspire to.
As of late, this open-armed acceptance has extended to eyebrows. Take a look online or around any room and the world appears to be celebrating them in all their multitudes. Of course, this was not always the case. In the 00s, low-rise skinny jeans, skinny scarves and even skinnier brows were the marker of the ultimate it-girl. This period of time was notorious for a number of iconic-yet-niche-trends that have since made their way back into the spotlight again and again. But it was also an era in which the paparazzi took their hounding of celebrities to the extreme, ie., certainly not a time to diverge from the status quo and risk being singled out. And so, young people everywhere started tweezing, falling victim to skinny 00s brows (among other, now-regrettable trends).
The attenuated arch was embraced by Hollywood and beyond — even Beyoncé jumped on the trend. It wasn’t until around 2010 that thick brows began resurfacing, as seen on emerging stars like Lucy Hale, Lily Collins and supermodel of the moment, Cara Delevingne, all of whom were embracing their bushy brows and facilitating a veritable beauty shift. Magazines and cosmetic commercials followed suit by honouring the natural look and booking models with larger-than-life eyebrows. Big and bold was back and better than ever, leaving those who had over-plucked suddenly feeling behind the times.
But even this veneration for unruly eyebrows was short-lived, as the “Instagram baddie” archetype began infiltrating mainstream media. The term was first referenced on Urban Dictionary in 2015, ushering in a new era of influencers as trendsetters. Instead of looking to magazines for beauty tips, social media quickly became our go-to source of inspiration.
Being a baddie was more than a trend, it was — and still is — a lifestyle. She had long, perfectly quaffed extensions, matte skin and, of course, eyebrows on fleek. This almost impossible-to-attain image took over our feeds and ushered in powder brows à la Kylie Jenner (if you didn’t have Anastasia Beverly Hill’s Dipbrow pomade, you were doing it all wrong).
As the world began to realise just how much power social media held over us all, the ideology behind the Insta baddie aesthetic became crystal clear: rather than celebrating uniqueness, the early Instagram years were about bending over backwards to fit one restricted mold. The powder brow did not suit every face shape, but it was widely embraced. With each dip into the pomade pot, we were erasing ourselves and naïvely accepting impeccably manicured feeds as reality. The pressure to replicate the same content we were incessantly consuming became inordinate, spurring the consecutive years to unleash a sense of rebellion.
Subsequently, this defiant energy and general fatigue for maintaining a flawless façade carried over into beauty trends — most notably with the debut of the bleached brow. This quirky phenomenon was one of the biggest beauty statements to come out of 2021, and remains a staple for many models and celebrities. Signalling a cultural shift in beauty expectations, bleached brows are a middle finger to ideals of the past — subverting the notion that eyebrows must be a well-groomed frame to the face, and can instead be anything we want them to be.
Increased authority over our own images, and a more casual approach to Instagram, have partially undermined the highlight reel that is social media. Meanwhile, endless ‘cores’ — aesthetics ranging from Barbiecore to cottagecore — suggest we’re living in a time where any look is valid. The same can be said for brows, too: Doja Cat has shaved hers off, nobody bats an eye at bleach these days and feathered brows remain a popular staple on “clean-girl” TikTok.
With new aesthetics emerging daily, for what seems like the very first time, eyebrow trends are co-existing. Whatever shape you choose is beautiful: coloured, feathered, shaved, skinny or thick as they come. All brows are equal, and all are on fleek if you believe them to be.