Unibrow: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 05:47, 7 August 2009

A unibrow (or monobrow) is a "confluence of eyebrows"; i.e., the presence of abundant hair between the eyebrows, so that they seem to converge to form one long eyebrow. The condition of having a unibrow is synophrys.

The words unibrow and monobrow are now in the Oxford English Dictionary, and unibrow was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2006. Medical dictionaries, such as Dorland's Medical Dictionary, now contain the word synophrys.

The unibrow conventionally has negative associations in western culture, and is the reason why many people remove excess hair between the eyebrows.^{[citation needed]}

Beauty culture

Aiden Francis Has One

In Western perception the unibrow may make a person seem ugly, fierce, grumpy, or over serious, so much so that the unibrow has become something of a cliché in fiction, especially with cartoon characters.

Among Western women, the region between the brows is often plucked, waxed, shaved, or treated with electrolysis or other forms of depilation. Unibrow separation is often the only form of eyebrow grooming (a stereotypically feminine behavior) among men. However, in some non-Western cultures this facial hair does not have a stigma, and may even be seen as a sign of feminine beauty, as in Caucasus, where connected eyebrows are a sign of virginity and of being unmarried.^[1]

The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo often depicted herself with an exaggerated unibrow and a thin moustache, which was seen as unconventional and purposely unflattering by Western audiences.

There have apparently been no scientific studies of the unibrow in culture or whether certain ethnic groups are more prone to developing a unibrow or not (or less likely to pluck them or not).

Waxing and tweezing are the most efficient methods for removing eyebrow hairs. The eyebrows can make a considerable difference to a person's appearance. Eyebrows can help shape the eyes and give character.

Science

Medically, some cephalic disorders, particularly Cornelia de Lange syndrome, could be associated with synophrys. However, the vast majority of persons with a unibrow have no such condition, and the connection to developmental disabilities is wildly exaggerated in the popular imagination.

The "Benham" disorder is well known to cause monobrows as well as excess facial and nasal hair.

While the prefix of the scientific term "synophrys" links the latter to the preferred medical term, many discount the idea that it stems from developmental disorders. It is notable that most people with unibrows do not appear to suffer from any serious disorders of any kind.

Superstition

Unibrows have been the subject of various misconceptions and superstitions. Victorian criminologist Cesare Lombroso identified unibrows as a sign of criminality ^[2]. In earlier times they were associated with werewolves; in the 1984 fantasy film The Company of Wolves, the grandmother (played by Angela Lansbury) comments to her granddaughter, "Beware of windfallen apples and of men whose eyebrows meet". She is later eaten by the werewolf.

In France the creature with what is said to be a unibrow has the historically same name as the U.S. werewolf. Werewolves were often pictured to have unibrows, or monobrows, and France often believed these creatures to be similar to Werewolves, being intimidating, cruel, vicious, and harmful. The overall image of unibrows leads society to believe that one idolizes or mimics the acts and images of a Werewolf.