Why Are Subversive Brows (Skinny, Bleached, Shaved, and Bejeweled) Popular?

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I eagerly tweezed away at my eyebrows throughout the tweeze-happy '90s. I destroyed my own arches, which were chestnut in color and had a perfectly acceptable, gently angled natural shape, until they were as thin as my slip dresses, after being inspired by Kate Moss's delicate ones. 

My follicular assault ended along with the Clinton administration, but not without doing some serious damage. Years passed before any signs of regrowth appeared, bringing an agonizing chapter in the history of beauty for an entire generation to a close. 

That is, until TikTok pried it open once more. I first discovered it there in the early spring, where a well-known thin-eyebrow filter that turns full-to-feral shapes into reedy wisps sent a shiver down my forehead.

I thought to myself as I scrolled through pictures from fall fashion shows where brows were not so much streamlined as completely decimated, wondering how we got here. The makeup artist Pat McGrath used bleach pots at Burberry and Versace to create what she calls a "strong, daring, powerful, and otherworldly" look. 

The supermodel Bella Hadid blended in with the rest of Jacobs' dystopian-couture cast, but makeup artist Diane Kendal described the bare foreheads she sculpted beneath sharp-edged mullets at Marc Jacobs as "gothic and futuristic."

Hadid regularly romanticizes everything from the 1990s, a decade in which she only spent four of her living years, and is undoubtedly a part of the minimized-brow comeback. However, according to makeup artist Marcelo Gutierrez, the retro revival is equally a tribute to the original supermodels and a reflection of our emotional state as a whole. 

According to Gutierrez, who has worked with Troye Sivan, Dua Lipa, and Alexa Demie of Euphoria, using the brows as a creative canvas—slimming them down, bleaching, shaving or dying them, or attaching them with jewels or glitter—provides a welcome shot of fantasy in our agitated times. Escapism comes from existentialism, and when in doubt, a thin brow is the best option. It's a very, how do I put this, bitchy eyebrow in the best way.

Even bleached brows, according to Rihanna-approved makeup artist Raisa Flowers, who has long worn them herself, have effectively left the runway (while many makeup artists use Jolen Creme Bleach on their brows, Flowers prefers Wella Blondor). 

According to Flowers, who also points out that the really young makeup artists on Instagram either don't have brows or are drawing them on very thinly, "They give you more range if you want to experiment with makeup—for example, everyone has been doing those graphic liner looks that cover the entire eye." Sam Visser is a New York-based makeup artist and the youngest-ever Dior U.S. makeup ambassador at 22 years old, continues, "We're approaching brows with an attitude of playfulness and experimentation."

Elmer's Glue Stick, a staple of kindergarten classes that is "skin sensitive and comes off with water," is how Visser likes to simulate a thin arch by flattening brows. After dusting the area with powder, he applies Brow Engineer, a spackle-like concealer from performance artist Alexis Stone's Sensorium line, and draws a thin shape before gradually sculpting the curve with an ultrafine-tipped eyebrow pencil like Diorshow Brow Styler. 

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(The new Major Brow Defining Pencil from Patrick Ta Beauty has a silken glide and impressive staying power for similar precision application.)

Adjusting brow shape also provides the chance for a low-cost makeover, says Visser, who adds that it's a great way to determine if you want to tweeze your brows in the long run. Gutierrez concurred, saying "They're the one thing in beauty that really does transcend your economic status." "I notice skinny brows on people working the CVS register and on the world's most well-known individuals."

But Paris is one place you might not see them. According to Sabrina Eleonore, owner of the fashionable brow-shaping salon Un Jour Un Regard, which has locations in the 4th and 16th arrondissements and only offers natural shapes and light grooming, "the majority of my customers are not touching their eyebrows."

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Eleonore continues, "A fine eyebrow can be very pretty if the line is well worked, but it does not suit everyone and can make the face look tired. It can also cause trauma to the hair follicles, "which can result in scarring and can affect regrowth." Prolonged pruning can result in permanently barren real estate between the brow and eye, which anyone who danced to Sarah McLachlan at the original Lilith Fai concert can attest to.

However, everything can be reversed: Ask Kendall Jenner, who famously arrived at the Met Gala this year with almost no brows at all, only to enjoy the after-parties with her dark arches fully intact thanks to a little makeup magic from Mary Phillips. Gutierrez advises, "Just go to the drugstore, get some men's beard touch-up, and you can color them back to normal in two minutes," if you don't like your freshly bleached brows. 

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Day offers hope for those who have over-tweezed and suggests using Minoxidil 5-percent, applied with a brow brush, to encourage growth. Augustinus Bader's new The Eyebrow and Lash Enhancing Serum this month also uses its patented medical-grade, stem-cell-regenerating TFC-8 ingredient to treat brows. The most crucial thing, emphasizes Gutierrez, is to simply enjoy yourself. It's just a look, he claims. It's not the look,