If The Substance has tangentially taught us anything, it’s that beauty standards are humanity’s worst invention this side of the atomic bomb and black licorice. Indeed, the manufactured impulse to pick away at every single physical imperfection — imperfections that at once define the humanity innate to us all — is one of the most subtle shared tragedies out there.
Now, is there anything inherently wrong about dolling oneself up for no occasion in particular? No, absolutely not, but at the same time, perhaps undeserved comeuppance is the greatest tool at our disposal to steer us away from our aesthetic obsession. TikTok‘s @demonmodegirl, in any case, probably won’t be messing with her eyebrows from here on out.
The 28-second video starts with Cara holding an eyebrow threader and saying the words “I think if I hold it like this…” That’s really all you need to telegraph how poorly the next few moments are going to go.
Indeed, Cara haphazardly and reluctantly lines up the threader with her eyebrow, at which point the device’s apparent artificial intelligence kicks it into overdrive mode, and begins hacking away at Cara’s brow at warp speed. She quickly pulls it away, but the damage is already done.
Commenters were largely divided on where the fault lay here. Some pinned it on Cara’s apparent eyebrow threading inexperience, while others suggested that the device itself was poorly designed. Most, however, were simply recovering from the secondhand trauma they received from watching Cara’s mishap. “The scream I scrumpt,” read one reply. “The way I GASPED and covered my mouth the exact same way. I felt that…” said another.
Having a personal eyebrow threading device at home makes sense for beauty emergencies, but if Cara’s excursion is indicative of the steady hand required to pull it off, you’re probably better off relying on the pros in this case, especially since it’s not a terribly expensive process. According to InStyle, the average cost of eyebrow threading at a salon is between $25 and $35. Not exactly a lot of bang for the buck, but if you want this particular bang, you might as well make sure it’s not going to leave a very noticeable and unintended mark.
But on the other hand, any threading mistake you do make at home isn’t one you’ll have to deal with for long. A follow-up video reveals that Cara’s eyebrow only took a month and a half to grow back, so maybe the money you’ll save on an at-home eyebrow threader is worth any possible mistakes after all.
At the end of the day, everyone’s going to do what they think is best for their bodies, egos, schedules, and whatever else happens to be in play in their lives. Maybe that’s an at-home threading device, or maybe that’s a visit to the salon. Maybe it’s splurging on microblading, or maybe it’s never touching your eyebrows at all. What’s near certain, however, is that we shouldn’t fixate on others’ eyebrows (or any part of their body, for that matter), and if we ever find ourselves doing so, it might be time to find a hobby.
