It’s official: skinny brows are back

Brittni Alexandra had been “hearing whispers” for a while. Rumours so shocking she thought they for sure had to be fabrications. “I told everyone, ‘No, no, no, there’s no way.’” But as evidence to the contrary continued to mount, the owner of Toronto’s B. Beautiful brow studio soon had no choice but to face the facts: “Unfortunately, it looks like it’s really happening.”

“It” is the return of one of beauty’s most controversial trends: emaciated brows. On TikTok, the hashtag #skinnybrows has amassed a whopping 4.6 million views. On Google, U.S. queries for “are thin brows coming back” have risen by 300 per cent over the last year.

It shouldn’t really come as a surprise, though, considering the exploding popularity of all things late ’90s/early aughts. Think: baguette bags, kitten-heeled mules and swirl prints galore all over the Spring-Summer runways. Model Bella Hadid, who’s propensity for claw clips and Matrix-style sunnies is well documented, has been sporting ever slimming brows of late. So has actor Alexa Demie, who portrays Maddy on Euphoria, a show whose entire visual language reads like a love letter to the Y2K era.

But it’s another buzzy series that’s been blamed for the return of skinny brows. Beauty e-tailer Lookfantastic reported a 392 per cent spike in Google searches for “pamela anderson makeup” following the release of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, a fictionalized account of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s marriage. A platinum wig and prosthetic chest certainly lent a hand in transforming Lily James into the buxom bombshell. But it was witnessing the actor’s normally lush brows be rendered virtually non-existent that made her truly unrecognizable.

In recent months, Alexandra says more and more clients have been coming into her salon asking her to thin their brows out. She usually tries to talk them out of it, “but at the end of the day, it’s their eyebrows.” For the most part, it’s younger girls, some of them still in high school, she says. “I don’t think anyone who’s lived through the ’90s has any interest in doing that.”

Indeed, rare are the arches that survived the decade unscathed. Recall the pencil-thin curves hovering over the eyes of Drew Barrymore or Tyra Banks, often paired with matte skin, taupe shadow and pale lips outlined in dark brown pencil. “I’m all about the ’90s—I love that whole period,” says makeup artist Grace Lee. “But the one thing I have serious regret about is over-plucking my eyebrows—they do not grow back.”

Alexandra can attest to that. “When young girls tell me they hate their thick brows, I tell them I’d do anything to have beautiful, perfect eyebrows like that. I had mine waxed off in the ’90s for like $5 and had to have them tattooed on my face.”

It’s called micro-blading, a popular technique offered at B. Beautiful that consists of tattooing hair-like strokes onto the skin. The results last from one to three years and cost upward of $650, excluding touch-ups.

Lee estimates she’s spent a small fortune over the years on brow pencils and growth-stimulating serums in attempts to cover up past mistakes. “I stare at my daughter’s eyebrows and I’m like, ‘Don’t ever touch them—ever!’”

Though to be fair, she admits she does get the appeal. “I mean, there’s a reason why we did it—it really does open up the eye area. Sometimes those big brows can overtake your face.”

A thinner brow can also make you look a bit older, something Alexandra posits could be part of why young women are drawn to it. Remember when you used to rim your eyes in black liner before attempting to get into a club with your older sister’s expired health card?

But, of course, as we mature, our pursuits tend to go in the opposite direction. “We always want what we can’t have,” says Lee. Over time, women’s brows can naturally become thinner, especially following menopause. That’s likely why, subconsciously, we perceive fuller, bushier brows as being more youthful.

So what is one to do if they want to indulge in a little throwback fun without mortgaging their brows’ entire future? Look to drag queens. Lee and Alexandra both recommend taking inspiration from the performers, who are pros at faking thinner arches.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze Styling Wax, $30, sephora.ca. Photo: Anastasia Beverly Hills SHOP HERE

First, you’ll want to glue down the hairs to minimize volume. Drag queens sometimes use actual glue for this, but a waxy soap-brow-type pomade should do the trick, says Alexandra. Brush the hairs flat across rather than upward.

Kelly Baker Camo-Light Highlight Pencil, $32, bbeautifulbeauty.com. Photo: Kelly Baker SHOP HERE

Next, cover up the hairs you don’t want to have showing with a thick concealer in a shade close to your skin colour. You could also use a brow highlighter, which is specifically designed to hide regrowth between appointments. Set with a little loose powder and then draw your desired shape with an extra-fine pencil.

Maybelline Ultra Slim Defining Eyebrow Pencil, $13, shoppesrdrugmart.ca. Photo: Maybelline SHOP HERE

That’s what Alexandra has been teaching her young clients to do instead of giving into their requests for Anderson-style arches. “That way, it washes off at the end of the day,” she says. It’s kind of like wearing a fun-coloured wig instead of burning all your hair off. We’ve all been there, too—live and learn.”

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Katherine Lalancette is the beauty director of The Kit, based in Toronto. She writes about beauty and trends. Reach her on email at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @kik_tweets

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