This is the Weird Thing Women Are Doing to Their Eyebrows

We’re officially obsessed with hair. But instead of talking about ways of getting rid of hair—don’t pretend you didn’t read about society reaching “Peak Beard or debate the politics of the full-bush Brazilian—we’ve started to talk about adding follicles to our faces.Women are now paying for eyebrow transplants to refresh foreheads that previously resembled plucked chickens, in the hopes of channelling their inner Brooke Shields and sporting bigger, fuller brows. And they don’t trust an eyebrow pencil to do the trick.

Harper’s Bazaar spoke to Dr. Robert Dorin, a NYC Hair Restoration Specialist (because yes, this is 2014 and that is a real thing), about the “technically-demanding procedure.” While Dorin says he has been performing the procedure for 12 years, he’s noticed an uptick in demand recently. He says the permanent procedure, which is meant to jumpstart growth and can take up to 10-12 months for a full renewal, is often requested by women who have over-groomed, along with a number of other reasons.

The rise of the full brow, which has been dubbed the “Power Brow” by news outlets like the Daily Mail and the Telegraph, is no shock. In fact, let’s just call it the Cara Delevingne effect. The British model of the moment is everywhere, alongside fellow bushy-browed beauties like Lily Collins and Kate Upton. Even Michelle Obama was spotted with fuller follicles earlier this year. Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga may have gone full bleach recently, but both pop stars often pose with dark brows in contrast to their platinum locks. In 2012, Dr. Jeffrey Epstein told the New York Post that women are paying up to $8,000 for “the Megan,” an eyebrow style inspired by starlet Megan Fox, so it’s fair to say that this trend has been on the make for quite awhile.

Every few years, the fashion and beauty industries announce an eyebrow revolution after several years of overplucking. Just think of the 1990s, which were full of sex symbols like Gwen Stefani and Pamela Anderson, who tweezed their brows into oblivion. So it’s plausible to think that in a year or two, we’ll be back to Drew Barrymore levels. Either way, we’ll be talking about it. Because if eyes are the windows to our souls, eyebrows are the very important curtains.