A quick haircut, a shave, and maybe a splash of aftershave so strong it could double as a biohazard—that was the standard playbook. Eyebrows? They were as neglected as the Game of Thrones finale in a list of rewatch-worthy TV. But with the rise of social media and every face being one Instagram story away from scrutiny, more men are finding themselves at the salon, awkwardly muttering, “Can you just…make them look, like, normal?” Thanks to the influence of globally groomed icons like Timothée Chalamet and Harry Styles—both of whom seem to have cracked the code for effortless, yet suspiciously perfect brows—brow taming has gone from taboo to trend. And honestly, it’s about time.
“I remember getting my brows done as a teenager,” recalls Shashwat Sankranti. The 22-year-old Delhi-based literature student shares how he first started grooming his brows. “I wanted to get rid of my unibrow, but I had terrible vision, and I couldn’t trust myself to tweeze my them properly.” Realising the risks of botched at-home attempts, Sankranti decided it was best to hand over the reins to a professional, even though it felt a little awkward at first.
More men like Sankranti are now paying attention to their brows, realising just how much they can transform a face. And let’s face it: it was inevitable. Eyebrows play a huge role in shaping the face, and for decades they’ve been quietly doing their job—whether that job was making a man look brooding, surprised, or perpetually confused, like he’s trying to figure out the difference between a top sheet and a fitted sheet. But with the rise of celebrity grooming culture and the increasing availability of services specifically tailored for men, eyebrows are no longer taking a backseat. Sheya Kurian on why Indian men of all ages are starting to jump on the browscaping bandwagon.
