In today's TOI (actually yesterday's, since it is 12:30AM as I blog this), I came across
this interesting article titled "Fashion's victims", which is about women's eyebrows.
The article starts off like this :
The West's great fashion dilemna at the moment can be summed up thus : to shave
or not to shave. But this is not about male stubble or hairy female legs. It is about
women's eyebrows, and the question is, should they ever be completely removed?
OK, the article goes on to talk about famous women of ages ago who shaved off their
eyebrows because it was fashionable then & because men of that age liked it that way.
I am too lazy to type it all here - go check out the paper if you want to really read it -
it is on the bottom-left side of Page-12, just below the editorial columns.
I found the article interesting because I have known women who thought that having
well-kept eyebrows either makes them look more beautiful or it looks good or that it
makes them noticeable to men.
My first tryst with a woman's eyebrow-fixation was in 1995. I was working then in
a small organisation which was lucky to have a decent %age of good looking women.
Anita was one of them and while she fared average on facial looks/features, she had
a figure that women would kill for. And she knew that the guys in the office noticed it.
It started of as any other day, with me being at work around 9AM. I was the first to
reach work that day & since I had a key on me, I did not have to wait for anyone to
open the office for me.
I am going through the work for the day when the door opens and in saunters Anita.
Did I already mention that she had a killer figure and that she knew about it ? Well,
she did and she also knows that no other dress accentuates a woman's figure like a
saree. And guess what, she was wearing a saree that day also.
After wishing me a smiley Good Morning, she does the normal women routine of a
quick restroom visit (a quick make-up check?), she comes over and sits bang opposite
me. As I go over the day's mail, she feels kinda ignored and clears her throat.
Hey B, look over here.
Yes.
Look at me. // I am now looking at her face, feeling uncomfortable.
Yes.
What is different about me today ?
Huh ?
Tell me what is different about me ?
Hmm. Hmmm...
Can't you see anything different about me ?
I have no idea what is different about her face. Looks the same like yesterday. But I
suddenly remember the poster we had stuck on our hostel wall in college, "Hell hath
no fury like a woman scorned" and I know that time is limited and I need to answer
her before she goes ballistic.
I think hard and the only thing I can think of is that her bindi is different.
No. This is the bindi I always wear. Can't you be a little more creative ?
I am cornered and like a gnu in the African savannah staring into a lion's face, I am
considering my options. Not that I have many options.
Her face is polished clean, like always and I don't see anything there that wasn't there
the day before. I admit defeat.
She is both elated and depressed by my admitting defeat. And then goes on to break
the suspense.
I had my eyebrows trimmed. What a dumbo ? You could not even notice this ?
Ha! That was the first time I knew that women trimmed eyebrows. Which is not really
surprising given that my girlfriends never indulged in this fashion exercise. Thank God.
Anyway that was my first brow encounter.
Later on in life, many years later, I came across another friend who regularly spent a
fortune trimming or shaving eyebrows. I still did not notice the difference until I was
told about it. And even when told, I thought to myself, "What a waste of good money ?
The eyebrows looked good as-is, instead of being shaven to look so artificial".
But then, women think differently. They think having a shaven eyebrow makes them
prettier. I did not have the heart to tell her that she looked better as she was normally.
Infact a shaved eyebrow reminds me of the funny thin-pencilled moustaches sported
by some men in their 60s - I guess in their time, this was considered fashion & movie
stars also sported this.
I can't speak for all men, but given a choice, I would anyday opt for some genuinity &
character in a women rather than a shaven eyebrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment