Social Experiment: Traffic-Stopping Brows

On the runways—especially couture shows—you can often see a model rocking a bright arch. Funnily enough, pink arches used to be an everyday look for me. I know most of you are raising your own brows in confusion as to why I’d willingly wear this style out casually, but I felt completely comfortable with it. In fact, it became so normal to me that when I filled in my natural brows with a brown shade, it felt alien to me. I had large streaks of pink and purple in my hair at the time and I’d always match those hues in my arches to complete my look.  Day after day, I would receive stares and strangers would even stop me to ask if I had dyed them that way. During this time, I worked as a waitress. One time one of my regulars snickered, “I hope you didn’t pay for those!” Nevertheless I loved my brows but went back to brown when I colored my hair.

With all my history, I knew that stepping out with brightly colored brows again would encourage some interesting reactions. They say that your eyebrows frame your face and you should take care of them. With purple and pink shadow applied, I felt like my frame was dressed to the nines. As usual with these experiments, I headed to areas populated with different walks of life in the streets.

The train was packed and I noticed that most of the double takes came from men. They were confused and baffled by the abnormal color. On the way to the office, a homeless man stopped me dead in my tracks and announced, “You look like you smoke cigarettes! I’d like to buy one from you for a dollar.”

Later in the evening, I went to go pick out a Christmas tree for my house. The person assisting us was taken aback upon first seeing my face, but then felt more comfortable joking around and being sarcastic because I didn’t look stuffy. Wearing bright brows always gives me this confidence booster and tends to make me more outgoing. I think hot-hued arches are a great way to express creativity and individuality. If you’d like to try them yourself, check out my tutorial on how to give yourself some sassy brows!