Redheaded Jill

My mom texted us all today and said my little sister shaved off her eyebrows. Oh the mishaps of youth. *sigh*

It reminded me of when I was in sixth grade. It was my first time being at a bigger school. I went from elementary school where our class had 27, to the junior high where my class had 100+ kids. (Still smaller than many schools, but my class size quadrupled in size over night.)

I can’t say I was particularly singled out or bullied in school. But there are always those girls who pick on any/everyone in order to make themselves feel better. There was one such girl in my grade who wanted SO badly to be popular. She was the teacher’s pet, but longed to be “cool”. You could see the struggle in her eyes daily.

One day I was introduced to the idea of plucking your eyebrows. I grew up in the era of ultra thin brows, but I had no idea how to achieve that look. I tried plucking and it hurt so bad, so I thought, “I could just shave off the excess and that would be SO much easier.” So I went home and using a full razor (not a brow razor or peach fuzz razor) and shaved off exactly 1/2 of my eyebrow.

Of course I couldn’t hide it (even though I had bangs) and my mom found out. I was so embarrassed. I still had to go to school. And we didn’t have any makeup in the house. I attempted to style my bangs in a way to hide my eyes. I also used a brown crayola marker to draw in the missing part of my brow. (My mom later bought me a brow pencil.) I made it through most of the day without anyone noticing my brow dilemma.

Until…. 7th hour. The girl. The teacher’s pet who wanted to be more. The girl who pretended to be sweet, and then put others down in a backhanded way in an attempt to make herself look cool… she noticed. She noticed and she told EVERYONE who would listen.

Fortunately nobody really cared about what she had to say and nobody stared or made a big deal about it. She asked me, “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYEBROW? IT LOOKS SO WEIRD! DID YOU USE A MARKER ON IT! OMG YOU USED A MARKER TO DRAW ON YOUR EYEBROW!!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” I ignored her. And I would continue to ignore her for the next seven years. Because she never changed. And I should probably pity her for that.

Anyway. I sympathize with my sister. Fortunately I have an eyebrow pencil at home and can help her before we go to my brother’s wedding this weekend and have to be in tons of pictures. Her hair is light so it shouldn’t be too noticeable. As for me, aside from the occasional rogue hair removal I do not touch my brows. I don’t have the confidence or the interest. And that is one of the many benefits of having bangs.

What embarrassing things did YOU do in the name of beauty growing up?