They say the eyes are the window to the soul. If this is true, it means the eyebrows are the curtains! And if you’ve ever seen a window without the proper curtains, you would know… it doesn’t look great. Differently sized and shaped curtains can all drastically change the look of the window. Well, the same goes for eyebrows.
While some may think that — eyebrows are eyebrows, what difference do they make? — beauty aficionados know: It may very well be that eyebrows are more important than eyes when it comes to someone’s entire look.
Eyebrows have changed throughout the course of history and in this blog, we go over exactly how.
A Short History of Eyebrows
As with most makeup history, we start thousands of years ago in Ancient Egypt. Look at most hieroglyphics from this age, and you’ll see the thick kohl-lined, highly pigmented brows that Egyptian gods such as Horus wore. The Egyptians thought of eyebrows as protectors of good health — just as they indeed do protect the eyes from dust and sunlight, according to science.
Next, we have the eras of Ancient Greece and Rome. In both empires, the brows were seen as symbolic of women’s purity and beauty. The Romans loved a good unibrow! And some women would even draw them in if they didn’t have one naturally.
Moving into the Middle Ages, thick, dark brows were less desirable. Instead, elite women such as Elizabeth I plucked her eyebrows into almost nonexistence. You can see portraits of her and similar women of status with thin lines high above their eyes. To have thick eyebrows at this time was not favored.
However, this trend changed in the 1700s, and the poor women who wanted to regrow their eyebrows but couldn’t (because they’d been plucked so much) would actually use the hair from mice to make little eyebrow wigs!
Later, in America in the 20th century, popular eyebrow shapes and sizes went back and forth — from pencil-thin in the 20s (women often shaved their brows entirely only to literally pencil them back in) to fuller and more natural brows in the 40s. Look at photos of Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, or Elizabeth Taylor in the 50s and 60s, and you’ll see that their brows often resemble the trends of today — bold but neatly shaped and well groomed.
Things got even more bold in the 80s. Women like Brooke Shields and Madonna allowed their brows to be full and bushy. Of course, the exact opposite became popular in the 90s and early 2000s. Much like the Roaring 20s, thin penciled-in brows (such as those of Christina Aguilara or Gwen Stefani) again became the norm.
Fast-forward to the present day, and we see a range of popular brow looks — most of which are dominated by natural but somewhat sculpted and filled in shapes that complement a person’s face shape and overall aesthetic goals. People’s natural eyebrow shapes are widely accepted and we now know that eyebrows are not a one size fits all!
Join Our Perfect Eyebrow Workshop!
Want to learn how to make your own lovely brows as well as gorgeous brows on your clients? Long Island Beauty School will be hosting a workshop teaching anyone who wants to know more about the art and importance of eyebrows.
The Perfect Eyebrow Workshop will be held in both our Hauppauge location on April 26th and Hempstead location on April 12th. This workshop will not only teach you all about eyebrows, but also end with hands-on practice of filling and shaping the eyebrows. With the registration of the workshops comes an Eyebrow Essentials Kit, complete with an eyebrow palette and the tools you need to fill and shape them! Join us for an exciting event!
