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Have you heard about #eyebrowblindness? No, it’s not some rare health condition – unless you count being on TikTok too much an ailment, which perhaps we should.
The latest vapid trend on my ‘For You’ page are countless videos of people testing to see if they have so-called #eyebrowblindness.
This involves using a TikTok filter which, according to the proportions of your face, marks where your eyebrows supposedly should start, arch and end. People are then drawing in or shaving their brows to match the filter’s recommendation in order to test if these TikTok-filter-endorsed eyebrows do in fact suit them better.
It really takes having to painstakingly describe a trend that has become so normalised by the social media algorithm to realise just how banal it is.
Pictured: The latest TikTok trend is redrawing your eyebrows to match those suggested by the social media app
But hey, it’s also silly and fun and surely harmless, right? Right, guys??
Yes, of course, playing around with TikTok filters is something we’ve all done when left to our own (smart) devices. However, what I don’t think is so fun and silly is the ‘diagnosis’ that’s come out of this popular filter: #eyebrowblindness.
This phrase is now being thrown around to describe someone who has been shaping their brows in a particular way for so long that they have gone ‘blind’ to what they actually look like. Now, as a survivor of the 90’s/00’s skinny brow trend, I do understand what’s at stake in one’s eyebrows.
They can really change your appearance and a lot of people regret plucking them into oblivion and – like any facial feature – they have become something of an accessory within the beauty and fashion world.
A good example of this is when Cara Delevigne rose to fame and I remember many members of the bushy-brow community (including myself) were delighted to see a feature that looked like their own celebrated in the mainstream.
However – and I don’t know if I’m reading too much into this – but the phrase #eyebrowblindness feels a bit gaslight-y to me. It’s basically saying that you’re not seeing yourself clearly, and that you should always try and evaluate your appearance through someone else’s eyes rather than your own.
Of course, we spend a lot of (read: too much) time looking at our own faces. And there will be things we like and things we don’t like so much. But why give us another reason to over-scrutinise our faces and question whether our features are TikTok-approved?
Pictured: Social media trends can make people over evaluate what their faces 'should look like'
In case anyone reading needs to hear this today: your face and your body are not trends.
And even if you know this, it’s hard not to get sucked in when you’re being bombarded with a certain kind of narrative. Now I have learned to love my thick, dark and often unruly eyebrows. But when I inevitably tried this filter on myself and my natural brows were almost aligned with the dots, I did briefly consider altering them so that they would match perfectly with the filter’s recommendations.
And, just you wait, following the viral attention garnered by #eyebrowblindness, I’m sure that there are all kinds of other ‘blindnesses’ that will be blessing our timelines in the coming weeks.
So stay careful out there and maybe practice some #eyebrowblindnessblindness.
This article first appeared in Connect Magazine – pick up a copy around the island or read the digital edition in full below...
