Reflections | Laminated brow trend has got nothing on eyebrow styles of ancient China – drawn to look like feathers, tadpoles, daggers or silkworm cocoons
- Eyebrows have long been a way for people to express themselves, from today’s bushy laminated brows to ones drawn with the burnt end of a twig in ancient China
- 2,000 years ago, a governor’s career was killed when he helped draw his wife’s eyebrows. The intimate act was branded a scandal for subverting social order
Someone I know just can’t stop doing things to their eyebrows. When I first met them, they were sporting thread-thin perfect arches that looked like they had been inscribed with a pair of mathematical compasses.
Then, it was a pair of severe, straight lines pointed at the ends. I saw a different pair of eyebrows each time we met. The latest iteration was the “laminated brow”.
It was explained to me that the hairs of their eyebrows had been treated with a perming lotion (“laminated”), before they were teased apart, straightened and combed upwards.
I don’t know if it is the intended effect, but they look like a permanently surprised cartoon character with arched, bushy eyebrows. It is supposed to last only a few weeks, and for their sake, I hope that is indeed the case.
The Chinese have a unique word, dai, that specifically refers to cosmetics for the eyebrows.
The most ancient form of dai was the burnt end of a twig. These rudimentary eyebrow pencils were later replaced by powdered minerals like lazurite, mica or talcum, with dyes and scents added. The greenish black powder was applied with a moistened brush.
