How the Victorians Viewed the Unibrow

A few weeks ago, I promised to share more of the beauty lessons and recipes from my Victorian-era book, Our Deportment. Simply because it's fun to see how the same beauty concerns we deal with today were handled back then.

I have to admit I was stunned to find the unibrow discussed in the book.  Of course, they didn't call it a unibrow.  In the book it is referred to as "eyebrows meeting."  The author, John H. Young, A.M., says "eyebrows meeting" is usually considered to be a "disfigurement" for which is there is no remedy. 

(Another Victorian, criminologist Cesare Lombroso, is said to have viewed meeting eyebrows as a sign of criminality, but his theory was later discredited.)  

Young counsels those with unibrows not to pluck the "uniting" hairs, and warns that if a depilatory is applied, you could be left with a burn scar even more disfiguring than the hair.

He does offer the unibrow sufferer some succor, however.  

He says it may be of consolation to know that the ancients admired this style of eyebrows, and that Michelangelo himself possessed it.

(Do women with unibrows feel better when they remember that Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo shared Michelangelo's eyebrow pain?)  

How do you feel about unibrows, or "synophrys," which means the confluence of eyebrows?  I personally would vote to pluck or wax the offending few hairs and leave it at that.  But lately I see men going nuts with the eyebrow grooming - plucking and waxing not only the "uniting" hairs but creating such sharply shaped and falsely arched brows that they look like closet cross-dressers.

I suppose this is part of the metrosexual grooming trend with its porn-star emphasis on hairlessness. But all I can think when I see a man with such highly groomed brows is that he plans to apply eyeshadow, liner and mascara later.  

I shouldn't be forced to think such thoughts. I should be looking into his eyes instead of at his brows. 

Guys, leave a few rogue hairs up there for me, would ya?  

Your brows should not be more carefully sculpted than mine.  You're supposed to be more rugged, more male, more hairy.

Please, just be MEN.

P.S.  I couldn't exactly walk up to a guy endowed with a unibrow and ask to take his picture, so I made my own unibrow man.  Isn't Jack cute with a unibrow?  He doesn't have any brows in his "real life," but I think he looks pretty cute with one.  

Comments

[perfumeshrine]

LOL!!How very true!

It's rather strange that the Victorians didn't advocate the use of tweezers though. (Hair plucking is known since antiquity). I gather the book doesn't say though or you would have mentioned it.
Interesting perspective about criminality :O

[scentsignals]

hi, helg, nice to hear from you - he doesn't mention tweezing, he only says not to pluck the uniting hairs in the unibrow. i looked for other mentions of tweezing, but didn't find any.

he does suggest brushing ladies' brows in the direction in which they naturally grow, but says it is in bad taste to dye them. although he makes an allowance for white lashes and brows. in that case, you can dye them with india ink!

and, oh, yes, he recommends against shaving the brows. i have a friend who shaved hers off years ago and has regretted it ever since, so he is right on with that advice.

[chayaruchama]

Brows fascinate, and i have no objections to whatever Nature deems to give you.

Totally in agreement regarding the overly fastidious male grooming thing; I'm not big on peacocks.

If you're an angel- I'll let it pass.
Here's an example :

I worked, from time to time, with the kindest, most loving young Latino man, who transported patients to their tests, etc.

Neither his heinous cologne, nor his perpetual uber-bling, nor his silly garments, nor his over-the-top grooming could mask this man's soul.

It was a soul of spectacular beauty- and I adored him.

Not everyone is equally amazing enough to overcome such a burden of 'beautifying'.

I loved Frida.

[scentsignals]

hi, ida - yes, the angels do get to get away with a lot more when it comes to grooming. yours sounds like a lovely man.

[Bobby]

Very interesting post :)
This line made me laugh so hard “…when I see a man with such highly groomed brows is that he plans to apply eyeshadow, liner and mascara later.” Lol

Oh by the way, Jack looks cute and hilarious with his "unibrow"

Bobby

[scentsignals]

hi, bobby. thank you for stopping by. glad you enjoyed the article and jack. it was certainly fun for me to write and shoot this one.

[Nathalie]

When it comes to eyebrows, I always have in mind Frida Kalho and her fierce and beautiful face.

I dont groom mine too much, just a little bit. I found that when you do it ligthly, it gives you a more juvenile and innocent look.

I hate it when heterosexual men get too "précieux", it represents for me a kind of degeneration. I had a boyfriend who would spent hours in the bathroom, he did not stay in mine very long hopefully… :)