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I’ve got some pretty serious eyebrows. First of all, they’re dark. Like, pushing jet-black territory. And secondly, they’re thick—essentially the opposite of the pencil thin brows of the ‘90s—with a slightly straighter shape.
When I was growing up, I honestly hated them. I felt like they selfishly demanded all the attention from my face and that when people looked at me, they saw my Sharpie brows and then the rest of me. It’s no secret where I got them from. I have photographic proof of three previous generations of my Japanese family—my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather—all rocking the power brow. Of course, that didn't make living with them any easier.
That's me with my dad #browtwins
I grew up in a quiet suburb of Washington, D.C., and had a lot of American friends. But in the back of my mind I'd always wonder, Why do I look so different from everyone else? I specifically remember going on a school field trip to an amusement park once, and my friends and I all decided to get our caricatures done. To my chagrin, the artist made my brows even more prominent, and I ended up with a sketch that brought front and center the feature I so yearned to downplay.
After years of begging, I finally convinced my mom to take me to get my brows waxed at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door salon, where she had been going for years. My mom was “blessed” (in my eyes at the time) with full but otherwise quite average arches. She'd get them done every so often, sometimes even letting me tag along to the spa, which only made me wish even more to be let in on this grown-up beauty experience. I told her my brows made me feel “not pretty” and that getting them done would make me happy. That was in seventh grade, and I continued to book regular appointments throughout high school, which led to a pretty close relationship with my brow lady, Ruth. (Hi, Ruth!)
This was followed by a period of overzealous tweezing on my part—a beauty rite of passage of sorts. It wasn’t until college that I started to see my natural brows' true potential: I entered NYU as a journalism-French double major, and in my sophomore year, I wanted to get serious about breaking into the world of fashion and beauty. That year, I would end up getting my first internship—in the fashion closet at Glamour, actually!
The result of Ruth's waxing and shaping: perma-surprise face.
I religiously read fashion magazines up to this point, but for whatever reason, I still didn't think my brows fit into the idea of “pretty" that I saw in glossy pages every month. It wasn't until an editor asked me to fill in backstage that I learned the power and potential of a big, brushy brow. Here, behind the scenes in this small corner of New York, were people actually pushing for diversity in ethnicity, body shape, and gender. Finally, I saw people who looked like me. It was so inspiring as a young woman working in the fashion industry, which had a reputation of having narrow ideals of beauty.
Catching my reflection in the sea of glam squads’ vanity mirrors, I couldn’t help but think, You know what? My brows are pretty badass. Also, it probably didn’t hurt that an up-and-coming model at the time named Cara Delevingne was paving the way for bold brows. Within months of her appearing on the runway, suddenly they were “cool" and her individuality was being celebrated as beautiful. (Although for a current brow crush, I’d like to point everyone to this stunning photo of Indian model Bhumika Arora.)
My brow essentials: Personalized tweezers (yup, they're that special to me) and Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel.
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Even though I’ve grown quite fond of my brows, I still keep tweezers around to nix any stray hairs—but nothing else. I've learned that unless you are a serious brow whisperer, you should leave the shaping to the pros, lest you risk irreversible damage. Also a big fat don't: Snipping hairs at home (which can lead to patchy results) and using the wrong shade when penciling brows in. “You shouldn’t be going darker,” Maral Balian, a brow expert at Warren-Tricomi, told me. “It should be one shade lighter.” (Read more on that here!)
Nowadays, I rarely get them done (sorry, Ruth), and when I do, I hop into protective mom mode and insist that the aesthetician only clean up the stray hairs and leave the shape basically as is. To maintain them at home, I use a beloved set of engraved Tweezerman tweezers for any strays, and to keep them in place, I love Anastasia Clear Brow Gel, which dries quickly with a natural finish. On the rare occasion that I have an artist do my makeup, my brows now garner compliments—and sometimes I'll get the slightest hint of envy from my twin, who reaches for brow pencil on a daily basis.
I see now that my brows are living proof of my heritage, and I love how they add expression and character to my face. I wouldn’t be “me” without them. Beauty trends come and go, and inevitably we’ll be seeing a resurgence of tweezing a few years from now. But staying true to yourself? That's always in style.
Watch Cipriana Quann, the Cofounder of Urban Bush Babes, on Embracing Your Imperfections:
