Gen Z’s Bella Hadid-inspired straight eyebrow trend prompts warnings
This new beauty trend is raising some eyebrows.
TikTokers are reaching for the razor to try their hand at DIY facelifts — but experts are warning to proceed with caution.
“It’s important to understand that brow hairs can take anywhere between two to six months to fully grow back,” Fides Baldesberger, CEO of Rubis Tweezers, told the Mirror this week.
Straight eyebrows — as seen on supermodels Bella Hadid and Cara Delevingne — give the appearance of a facelift by helping to balance features, especially of those who have downturned eyes. On TikTok, the hashtag #StraightEyebrows has drawn over 72 million views as users boldly take the blade to their brows.
“I never realized how much eyebrows drag a face down,” content creator Elizabeth Monahan captioned a viral TikTok of her shaved brows, which attracted over 25,000 views.
One user posted before-and-after pics of her redefined brows, telling viewers it’s their “sign” to follow suit. Meanwhile, another TikToker admitted to being “influenced” by the masses who are tailoring the tail of their brows, shaving hers off as well.
Both videos elicited mixed reviews in the comments, as some people vouched for the longer eyebrow tail and arch, while others applauded the movement, which comes amid widespread eyebrow experimentation with bleaching, laminating and, now, shaving.
Sherrille Riley, the CEO and founder of London-based salon Nails & Brows, told the Guardian that the trend isn’t new — it’s “what we call the Audrey [Hepburn] brow, which is about making a brow straight and full.”
She recommends grooming the straight brow by brushing upward with a spoolie (which looks like a mascara wand) and creating a tapered end. The TikTok-adapted technique evokes Spock from “Star Trek” rather than old Hollywood glamour.
“I would never use a razor and would never remove entire sections of the brow,” Riley said, noting that the women of TikTok are “doing it all wrong.” In fact, she warned, taking a razor to them could result in patchy regrowth.
Brows can make or break a profile — which some TikTokers are finding out the hard way.
User Dalia Holt used the eyebrow mapping filter on the app to guide her makeover, only to compare the final result to a Mii — a cartoon avatar used by Nintendo. TikToker Nichole also shared her brow bust online, racking up over 5 million views.
“I only have one shot at this, and it can either go really well or really bad,” she began the viral clip, admitting she wasn’t sure how much to chop off. She shaved her brows into a blunt tail, squared off without a point, and rushed to fill them in.
In the comments, users expressed horrified amazement and pleasant surprise, although many said her brows were “perfect” before.
“Watching Gen Z mess up their eyebrows just like all the gens before them,” quipped one viewer.
“Is this going to be the gen z versions of when millennials over plucked,” agreed another.
This isn’t the first time Gen Zers have gotten themselves into a hairy situation.
Echoing the iconic Pamela Anderson brow, the young generation has trialed pencil thin arches, as Gen X watched aghast from the sidelines.
Possibly worse than the resurgence of Ugg boots and low-rise denim, the barely-there brow trend might be just as regrettable as TikTok’s shaved-off tails.
“We all did it, so perhaps every generation must make their mistake now and repent later,” said Riley.