Brow Beating

It’s always nice to visit friends and family, don’t you think?

But there’s one sure way to know when it’s time to leave.

When your eyebrows grow back.

I find that if one has a little tidy up of the brow line just before packing the car for a trip to the ol’ home town, as soon as you notice stray hairs come a-creeping it’s time to cram everything back in some semblance of how it started the journey, and hit the frog & toad for the homeward run.

Sure, there are other ways to judge if one’s overstayed their welcome… when between you all you’ve managed to use up the entire supply of toilet paper (including the secret stash behind the laundry door)… when the good old sibling rivalry of your youth kicks back in with a vengeance… when you’ve made all the requisite visits to those you promised to catch up with last time you were in town… or when you simply cannot fit another thing into your car for the return journey (more of my mother’s campaign to make space at her place I suspect)… but for me, there’s no better way to tell the right time to say “Adieu”, than using my eyebrows as a yardstick.

I don’t mean that literally, of course. Call it vanity but I have too much pride to allow any cranial caterpillars come crawling across my crest. And I cannot begin to tell you how the very thought of a unibrow makes me feel. (My Beloved knows one sure way to stir me up is to swipe a thumb along my brow bone against the direction of the hair growth. He has to be feeling mighty brave to attempt such a foolhardy act though…)

I know that there are others who are similarly distracted by disgraceful eyebrows.

Take the former Australian Prime Minister John Howard for example, anyone else notice how the unruly brows of his time as Opposition Leader mysteriously disappeared into something more akin to a certain style (go on, Google the images if you dare). It seems that even Aussie PMs are not to immune to manscaping (although, if you believe this blogger, the best leaders probably needed it).

I also have it on good authority from the girls at the beauty salon that there is a fair whack of fellas lining up for a little shape and define above the eyeline (not to mention the other areas requiring hair removal. No, seriously, let’s not mention them).

And just look at the plethora of professional tools available to ensure you too can have a streamlined browline. The February issue of Cleo dedicates a whole page to it. There are even templates and stencils you can follow to make sure you get it right (– on a site billed as “your online source for beautiful brows”)! Hey, I may have brow-envy, but even I don’t go that far.

Even poor Susan Boyle has caved into peer pressure and had a little styling done, after her eyebrows all but upstaged her on that TV show.

So I know I’m not alone in my preference for neat brows.

I’m simply sharing my secret about how said brows can help you avoid sticky social situations.

While it’s nice to see friends and family - ‘tis the season for it after all- but when my brows come back I know it’s time to go.


Jx
©2010