In middle school, while everyone was trying new makeup, wearing tighter clothes, and attempting to style their hair, I was at home, attempting to tame what my mother called, my "Brooke Shields eyebrows" I bought myself a waxing kit at Walmart, thinking it would be easy. Before I read the instructions, I decided to wing it and throw the container in the microwave. After a few seconds, the microwave started to make loud beeping noises. That didn't seem good. I fled the house, avoiding the problem, but my mom turned off the microwave and brought me back into the house. Trying to explain myself, I simply cried, "Why am I so ugly?" My mother kept telling me I was beautiful, but I would have to realize it myself.
I was born with platinum blonde hair and blinding black eyebrows. I came out of the womb and the first thing the nurses said was, "She has her mother's eyebrows." Thick, defined eyebrows run in my family, but I was lucky enough to be born in a time period where thin, beautiful eyebrows are the norm. Even as a toddler, several people asked my mother if she had dyed my hair platinum blonde. As if my mother would color a two month old's hair or eyebrows. C’mon, people. As I got older, people my age didn't see it as cute. In elementary school, my eyebrows brought the kind of attention nobody wants. In fifth grade, I was asked why I had a unibrow. I proceeded to go home and ask my parents what that was. That was the beginning of my struggle with self-confidence.
My mom was nervous about my self-esteem. She brought me to get my eyebrows done after that incident. It was very uncomfortable having someone smear hot wax on me and painfully rip it off. When the stylist was finished, I looked in the mirror and cried. I saw myself as a new person. My eyebrows were thin like everyone else’s. I began to spend countless amounts of money getting my eyebrows done. The pain was worth the beauty.
When I transitioned into high school,I was awkward and unsure of who I was. I joined new clubs and started making new friends from other schools. Of course, as soon as they met me they commented on my eyebrows. At that point, I was beginning to accept them. People actually started telling me that they were awesome. They made me feel special. One of my friends actually made a Facebook page about them, which included pictures of me Photoshopped into famous movie scenes and celebrities, perfectly framing my eyebrows. The page actually got over one hundred likes from my classmates. I’ve always been seen as a funny person, and I enjoyed seeing everyone get a good laugh from the page. People started approaching me and joking with me about it, and it actually helped me to make new friends. If something like this had happened in middle school, I would have been devastated. Since I started to view things in a different perspective, I started to see my eyebrows as something that made me special and separated me from everyone else. I still get my eyebrows done everyone once in a while, but it is not a constant routine. Sometimes I’ll be out and people compliment my eyebrows, making me realize I am truly unique. I've come to accept them as part of who I am, and I've gained a lot of confidence in the process.
