“What does a woman think of when she chooses how to
do her eyebrows? And how old is she when
she makes that decision?” I asked my wife, Mary these questions several months
ago and she responded by saying that she didn’t think most women styled their
eyebrows. But then we have raised only
boys.
I’ve always had some sort of fascination with
eyebrows. Maybe it stemmed from the fact
that my mother had heavy brows that would have met over her nose had she not
regularly plucked them. I have somewhat
a similar problem and certainly now that I am older, I find I have to trim them
or they would get way too bushy.
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John L. Lewis |
Maybe the bushiness is part of my fascination. At an early age I was impressed by the
eyebrows of John L. Lewis, probably the only person who defied FDR and Truman
that my father didn’t admire. Later in
life I remember Mary’s Uncle Mike, who was one of the Dental Board members I
had to work through to get my Wisconsin dental license. His brows were equally as impressive as John
L.’s, but in a nice, warm, Irish way, which suited him well in his acting avocation. Although I never saw him do so, he probably
could wiggle them as effectively as Groucho Marx.
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Lamarr |
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Hepburn |
Eyebrows however are a woman’s realm. The stylist who has cut my hair and Mary’s
for thirty years was more informative when I asked her the eyebrow
questions. She said most girls, when
they are around fourteen get interested in defining themselves and eyebrows are one
of the ways they do that. Most work with
nature and just shape them, accepting what they have as a base coat. This would be true of many movie stars, such
as Audrey Hepburn, Heddy Lamarr, and Elizabeth Taylor.
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Taylor |
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Carla Gallo |
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Hilton |
Others may want to try to improve on nature. One example might be Paris Hilton. My favorite improver is an actor I just saw
recently on an episode of Bones,
Carla Gallo. She has severely trimmed
her brows to provide, not only interest, but also some definition of the
character she feels is Daisy Wick: naïve, impulsive, sensual and open, all at the
same time.

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Abigail Breslin |
And not every movie star feels the need to define
themselves, or if so, not at the age of fourteen. Two examples come to mind. I had the good fortune to work once with a casting
director, who worked with the rising star, Abigail Breslin, shortly after she
did “Little Miss Sunshine”. She said
that Abigail is a delight to work with, modest, fun, and totally without ego. I find her brows kind of cute.
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Young Lohan |
![]() |
Lohan - 2006 |
Another actor, from a different mold, is Lindsay
Lohan, who started out with almost the same eyebrows as Abigail when she was in
“The Parent Trap” but has radicalized them and her life since then.
While I don’t think eyebrows are defining in their
own right, they do represent an indication of how we see ourselves, and how we
deal with our own personal demons. What
do you think? Send me a comment.
In my next post, I’ll share with you a story I
learned on my last visit to the Farmer’s Market. Unless I’m mistaken, you’ll be
surprised.
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