Don’t do it. Those are the words that I’ve said under my breath over and over again as I scroll through my TikTok feed, filled with videos of girls shaving off their eyebrows.
That’s right, forget laminated brows (opens in new tab), because the straight eyebrow trend is here, and it’s taking over the internet (much to my dismay).
Racking up a casual 2.2 billion views and counting, straight eyebrows have grown in popularity thanks to the Bella Hadid filter on TikTok.
The filter lifts your brows, and many people are commenting on how it can change your entire face shape.
In fact, people are loving the filter so much that they have started shaving the ends of their eyebrows off to recreate the look in real life.
@heyitsnichole_ (opens in new tab)
♬ original sound – 🖤Nichole🤍 (opens in new tab)
@paigegold (opens in new tab)
♬ original sound – PAIGE GOLD (opens in new tab)
I get it, we all want to try out the latest trends, but as someone who over plucked her eyebrows at the age of 13 and has regretted it ever since, I am urging you to give this one a miss. Why? According to Dr Greg Vida, senior surgeon at Harley Street Hair Clinic (opens in new tab), your eyebrow hair might not grow back, and if it does, it will be a lot more sparse than before. “By removing eyebrow hair through plucking or waxing, you are damaging the follicle,” Vida explains.
I can personally attest to this. I vividly remember looking at pictures of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie back in the early 00s, when thin, straight eyebrows were all the rage, and stealing my mum’s tweezers in a desperate attempt to recreate the look. I ended up plucking off the majority of my beautiful bushy brows, and the result was disastrous.
Not only did I look as far from Paris Hilton as possible, but my brows have never returned to their normal selves. When thicker eyebrows (opens in new tab) came back into style a few years ago, I had to turn to some of the best eyebrow products (opens in new tab) and ended up spending hours of my life filling in my missing hairs, knowing what could have been.
It seems I’m not the only one. I spoke to Shavata Singh, celebrity brow stylist and founder of Shavata Brows (opens in new tab) salons, who said: “In all of our Harvey Nichols salons, we regularly see the results of over plucking both recently and in some instances, from many years ago.”
It’s important to remember that every face is different, so just because straight eyebrows might suit someone you see on social media, that doesn’t mean that it’s the right style for you. I’ve had enough beauty disasters over the years to realise that we should all be embracing our natural features.
So please, take it from me, these trends might come and go, but your eyebrows are forever.