TikTok’s Eyebrow Blindness Shows Us The Impact Of Beauty Trends

Beauty practices dating back hundreds of years prove that we’ve been a bit obsessed with our eyebrows for some time now. Brows of the 1920s, thin and round , were all the rage at the time. Compare them to brows of the 2000s and you’ll see a real difference in thickness and shape. Our brows have the power to change the way our face looks, drawing attention to our eyes while also balancing out our features.

This belief, held by plastic surgeons, estheticians and makeup artists alike, has caused us to define and hide our brows’ natural thickness through expert waxing , tweezing and other forms of manipulation. A discussion around 2000s brows has led to the development of a trending phenomenon that the internet is calling “eyebrow blindness.” And, in us taking this trip down memory lane, here’s the scoop on eyebrow blindness.

What Are Eyebrows For?

Eyebrows have the power to frame our faces, but what are they actually for? We tweeze, wax, cover and redraw them, putting them through the gamut of styles all for expression. As there are a number of nerves around them, they’re located in a pretty sensitive part of our face: between our temples and above our eyes. Headaches often occur in these areas, whether caused or amplified by waxing and tweezing, though this region of our face is actually meant to protect us.

They convey our thoughts and feelings, often without us knowing, but they also protect our eyes, acting as a guard against bright lights, dirt and/or sweat. While eyebrows are among the many features on our face and bodies that can be manipulated, that starts once we get a hold of tools and products. Genetics handle everything before that, giving us our natural shape.

What Is Eyebrow Blindness?

Not to be confused with blindness developing as a result of tinting your eyebrows (at home), eyebrow blindness describes the trend of blocking out one’s brows without regard for size. Blocking them out can be done by removing any excess hair outside of the shape (to accentuate) or by deepening the color and increasing the size of the brow with the help of a brow pencil. In the 2000s, this is how many of us wore our brows no matter how overwhelming they were to the flow of our faces.

For some of us, you could actually see where the eyebrow started and ended which didn’t stop us from creating bolder and darker shapes around them. Eyebrows have long been a beauty standard and point of expression within many cultures. For makeup artists and lovers, they’re a way to establish balance and/or make a statement.

How to Avoid Eyebrow Blindness

Many TikTokers who have shared old photos of themselves with brows shaped differently than how they wear them today are drawing attention to the thin brow wave as well. It’s not just thick eyebrow blindness that impacted beauty enthusiasts during the 2000s. It was the pencil thin eyebrows that resurfaced although block eyebrows were most popular. To avoid both of those altogether, unless that’s your look, here’s how to achieve brows that balance out your face . It can be hard to determine what best suits you as there’s so much influence in media from celebrities and artists. Often we’re born with the right shape for our face and a little cleaning up could create the perfectly sculpted brow. It’s been said that the closer eyebrows are together, the younger a face can look. Although, this could be a slippery slope that leads towards eyebrow blindness as well.

There is, however, the trusted method of aligning the start of your brow with the inner corner of your eye and the tail of your eyebrow with the outer corner. In any case, besides being a forum for discussion, TikTok has also become a resource for education. Take a look at faces shaped similarly to yours amongst beauty lovers and see what shapes catch your eye. We wish you the best on your brow journey.

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