Q Dear Miss Abigail:
I have a lot of hair on my eyebrows; they connect like one big eyebrow. I have been teased ~ not all the time, but you can definitely notice them. Should I pluck them to make them two separate brows? I really would appreciate your help!
Signed,
Casey
A Dear Casey:
I can’t really tell you what you should or should not do with your eyebrows; it is, after all, your life. But what I can do is provide this advice from Helena Rubinstein’s book titled The Art of Feminine Beauty, published in 1930. I really like what she has to say about the importance of a woman’s individuality. I just never knew it was so tied to our eyebrows.
1930: The Eyebrows
For taking care of the brows and lashes you will need a special small brush with which you will brush them into shape night and morning. An eyebrow cream is equally effective and perhaps more pleasant to use. The best eyebrow cream comes darkened, so that if you wish to use it in the daytime as well you may do so without fear of its being unattractively obvious. To promote the growth and beauty of the eyelashes, pure castor oil applied on a tiny eyebrow brush will prove excellent.
I am happy that the fad of plucking, shaving and otherwise slenderizing the eyebrows is far less popular than it has been in the past. I have steadily preached against overdoing it, believing that it detracted from a woman’s individuality and produced a standardized look that was far from attractive. ‘The eyebrow that goes with your type’ has always been one of my beauty slogans. Arch it, if you will, pluck stray hairs that tend to make a straggling, uneven line. Pinch it with the thumb and forefinger, so that the little fine hairs may grow properly; brush them with your little brush, and apply your eyebrow cream. A good stimulating hair tonic massaged in daily is also excellent.
The same cream that is used on the eyebrows can be used on the eyelashes at night, applied with the same little brush, and eyelashes should be brushed upward to encourage them to curl. Such a cream cannot injure the eyes themselves, and will not only preserve brows and lashes but stimulate their growth.
Source: Rubinstein, Helena. The Art of Feminine Beauty. New York: Horace Liveright, 1930.
~ pp. 52-53 ~