The truth behind dramatic eyebrow transformations

Many online news sources have recently taken to showcasing the most dramatic celebrity brow transformations over the past few years, with notable praise given to Adele, Kendall Jenner, Selena Gomez, and many others.

The perfectly airbrushed transformation red carpet glam shots juxtaposed against the often equally ogle-worthy before shots make the transformations they portray seem like a piece of cake, denying their readers a view into the ugly truth of the waxing, plucking, threading, tweezing, and arguably the most painful of all, growing out period that goes into the cultivation of perfect eyebrows that would make Freida beam with approval.

Having been a victim of an unfortunate eyebrow incident myself, with half of my right eyebrow accidentally being waxed off my junior year of high school, I un-plucked the truth behind these so-called dramatic eyebrow transformations that have flooded social media since Cara Delevingne became #goals for women everywhere.

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Mared Emlyn Perry, 19, Cardiff University

“When I look back at my eyebrows in 2012 it makes me wanna die. They’re so far apart and almost none existent. What was wrong with me? I remember filling them in and thinking they looked so good, I even used to make Facebook statuses slating people with overdrawn massive slug brows! Like hello honey, look at your own?!

“It’s taken me 4 years to finally get brows that I’m happy with, and that others (finally) envy, not pity. I wanna give a big shout out to my Anastasia Beverly Hills eyebrows stencils, without you I’d probably still have sperm brows and be over-plucking my now precious eyebrow hairs.”

Amy Leete, 19, University of Edinburgh 

“The first time I had my eyebrows done, they were so bushy that my mum had to hold me down while the woman threaded them – there was so much hair the thread snapped 7 times, and it took 20 minutes!”

Caroline Phinney, UMass Amherst, 22

“I was never big on makeup in HS (I also clearly did not understand the concept of cutting hair yet?). One day my frosh roommate was looking back through photos of me and actually screamed upon reaching this pic of me at Junior prom. She quickly taught me how to apply shadow to my brows, and I have been a basic Frida Kahlo ever since!”

Jacqueline Suazo, 19, Rutgers University

“Patience is key! I didn’t pluck my brows for a good couple of months and they got super messy but once they were at their full potential, I went to get them waxed and cut and they were gorgeous! You have to make sure you get the right person to do the job cause they can easily ruin all the hard work.

“Since I enjoy wearing makeup, it always feels more complete with Anastasia Dip Brow on since my brows aren’t as thick as before.”

Gigi Sonia Gupte, 20, University of Maryland

“I used to have huge bushy eyebrows growing up and got teased so I’ve been getting them threaded since 6th grade and always told the lady threading them to make them super thin and I used to pluck some of the hair myself too … now I embrace my natural shape and thickness.”

Natalie Plotkin, 20, Skidmore College

“I shaved off my eyebrows in seventh grade because I didn’t have tweezers. I told people that the “razor fell on my face in the shower” and they’re still not as thick in the front.”

Annabel Murphy, 20, University of Manchester

“I used to have a monobrow and got called ‘Monobel’. I now pluck the middle bit only and embrace my bushy caterpillars as a pair.”

Alexis Morillo, 19, Ithaca College

“I learned how to color them in because they were always sparse and never matched my hair color, and now I prefer to pluck rather than get them waxed.”