Everyone loves a makeover. It's what makes films such as Pretty Woman, Grease and The Devil Wears Prada classics (did I just call The Devil Wears Prada a classic?).
And it's why teens everywhere can't stop posting their own makeovers online or, as they call them, Glow Ups. But these aren't quite instant makeovers, these are transformations of ugly ducklings into swans over the space of a few years. So it got some of us at Refinery29 thinking about our own Glow Ups and it turned out a lot of them were pinned to our eyebrows – or rather our gratitude that they ever grew back.
Like guitar bands and Freddie Prinze Jr, overplucking was ubiquitous in the '90s and '00s. Fast-forward to 2018 and everyone's into hip-hop, Timothée Chalamet and thick, bushy brows. That's progress for you.
To honour how far our brows have come, even after tweezing them into oblivion, we present you with our Brow Ups.
Natasha Slee, Social Media Manager
2007 – present
I had naturally full brows until 14 when my aunty pinned me down and plucked them into tadpoles. It’s been slow going ever since.
Sarah Raphael, Editor-at-Large
2005 – present
I was artistically expressing myself in every way but my eyebrows.
Georgia Murray, Fashion & Beauty Writer
2009 – present
I kept those festival wristbands on for far too long...
Anna Jay, Art Director
2009 – present
Happy to leave these brows and scarecrow locks in 2009.
Kara Kia, Editorial Intern
2008 – present
Reflections of the times. Scene kid versus Insta baddie.
Natalie Gil, News Writer
2011 – present
My 2011 whiskers (I can't bring myself to call them "brows") were decidedly not on fleek.
Gillian Orr, Content Director
1999 – present
Guys, it's Chris Kraus, calm down.
Sadhbh O'Sullivan, Social Media Assistant
Depression is nothing to joke about, except when it makes your brows look like this. God bless anti-depressants and losing my tweezers!
Katy Harrington, Managing Editor
2008 – present
My eyebrows are a 10-year long work in progress. Patience caterpillars.
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