A Hairy History of Eyebrow Trends

The Roaring '20s was rife with major changes to women's fashion, like bobbed hair and flapper dresses. The decade marked the beginning of women taking fashion cues from the silver screen. Some historians believe that since silent movie stars had to use their eyes to create emotion, makeup artists preferred thin brows, the better to show the eyes. Actress Marlene Dietrich popularized incredibly thin brows. In fact, she was known to pluck hers all the way off, then draw them back on super-thin and straight with a pencil above her natural arch! She wasn't the only one, however – Clara Bow and other actresses followed suit with enthusiasm. Most everyday women didn't go quite so far, but still embraced the uber-thin brow. Some also used petroleum jelly to keep wayward hairs in place and add shine.

The '30s saw a slight softening compared with the severity of the straight-line brows of the '20s. Although style remained thin and dark, women sported them high and rounded. Those with a finger truly on the pulse of high fashion dared to carry the brow all the way out to the temple. Film stars like Jean Harlow and Merle Oberon flaunted this look with aplomb.

Although they still liked to pluck, women in the '40s longed for a more realistic look. Stars such as Lauren Bacall and Joan Crawford led the charge, with brows that were arched, yet far fuller. Even Dietrich joined the party, with brows that remained thin, but were huge compared with her 1920s style.

Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor are arguably three of the most famous women ever to walk the red carpet. So it's little surprise that when they sported dramatically thicker brows, regular women followed suit. The shape wasn't all that different – a high arch was still in vogue, although a subtle point at the peak was common. However, most fashion-forward women darkened their brows using pencils to help them really pop.

Whereas brows were the eye-catching feature of the '50s, women in the '60s longed instead to play up their eyes, especially those fans of Twiggy's mod look. As a result, brows became less enhanced and thinner, with focus shifting to the lashes. Brigitte Bardot sported an understated brow, although some stars maintained a slightly fuller, rounded brow, like Nina Simone. Sophia Loren took brow-styling to the next level by shaving them off completely, then using a light hand to draw them back on with a pencil using a surprisingly natural-looking technique.

Everything seemed to get bigger and glitzier in the '70s, except for the eyebrows. They were plucked and waxed into submission until they turned into ultra-thin, high arches. Perhaps stars like Donna Summer preferred it that way to make room for more eye makeup? Liza Minelli was another notable member of the mega-hip, mega-thin brow crowd. The style was hardly uniform, however. Diana Ross favored a sharp arch, whereas fellow diva Aretha Franklin preferred a more natural, yet nicely groomed, appearance.

The '80s were go big or go home in so many ways, and eyebrows were no exception. It Girl Brooke Shields set the trend for thick, natural, borderline bushy brows. Some stars took the full effect to the next level, with Whitney Houston brushing hers upward to make a statement we still don't understand, and Madonna completely eschewing tweezers altogether. This was the decade when we saw the rise of the "brow specialist."

All the excess of the '80s made everyone dial way, way back in the following decade. Probably too far back. Barely there brows became the norm in the 1990s, with stars like Drew Barrymore and Pamela Anderson tweezing theirs into lines so fine you almost didn't notice how much darker they were than their bottle-blonde hair. Kate Moss ruled the high-fashion catwalks of the '90s, and her brows were practically nonexistent, adding further fuel to the trend.

The decade of overindulgent eyebrow tweezing that was the '90s saw many people scrambling for the pencil when the fuller, more natural brow came back into play in the early 2000s. Although far from the bushy days of the 1980s, the 2000s saw women sparingly waxing, tweezing and filling brows in to make them long, consistent and arched. And just in time too, for the next decade.

Actress and model Cara Delevingne kicked off the 2010s with a bang, brow-wise. Her thicker, more natural brows inspired many women to fatten up theirs. Those who couldn't do it naturally could pull it off with the help of eyebrow kits, which include some combination of eyebrow waxes, powders, brushes and pencils. (The Guardian reported that Net-a-Porter had 20 brow products for sale in 2013; by 2016, it had 150.) Starlet Lily Collins is another trendsetter whose thick, dramatic brows have become a trademark aspect of her overall glam look. So are the Kardashians. There's even a trend called the "Instagram brow" that some people find truly scary.

And though the 2020s are just beginning, the thick eyebrow is still on point.