Comb-overs and unibrows, like all fashion fads, are no longer relegated to the 1970s.
They appear to be back, and one model is blazing a road for the latter, as she proudly wears hers and displays the world ‘her greatest feature’ via her TikTok videos.
Despite receiving harsh remarks online from trolls calling her names like “caveman” and “caterpillar,” model Kenah Jonel rocks her bushy brows.
The 21-year-old American refuses to give in to the abuse and refuses to pluck her brows.
Instead, she is embracing her appearance and claims she hasn’t used tweezers on her prominent brows since she was 16.
She hopes to inspire others to follow her example and love themselves, and it appears to be working, as she has begun to receive praise on TikTok from followers for her ‘beautiful’ and ‘amazing’ brows.
But, along with the good, there has been a lot of terrible.
“I’ve had a lot of people say very nasty things to me, to the point where I’ve wondered how deeply that hatred is entrenched in terms of the projection in regard to my unibrow,” she explained.
“On the internet, it’s frequently referred to as a ‘caterpillar.’
“I’ve had males send me direct messages saying things like, ‘you’re an ape,’ ‘you should kill yourself,’ and ‘you look like a neolithic Neanderthal.'”
“Some comments just make me sad, and not because of my brows, but it’s definitely a reflection of misogyny, and that bothers me; otherwise, it is what it is.”
“Men make the majority of the unfavorable comments.”
“I get a fair amount of bad comments from women as well,” he says, “but anyone who’s ever taken the time to DM a truly awful horrible message, it’s usually always a man or an account that you don’t really see anybody behind.”
Kenah, from Austin, Texas, thinks it’s all worth it if she can inspire others to be true to themselves and reject societal “beauty standards.”
“Be someone you’re proud of, happy with, and believe is attractive,” she advised.
“I feel the most confident with a unibrow and don’t think I’d feel happy looking at myself if I clipped or plucked it.”
“I also tell myself that if I wouldn’t heed their [trolls’] advise in real life, why should I listen to them on the internet?”
If I saw that person in person and they said, “I hate your eyebrows,” I’d say, “OK,” and that would be the end of it.
“I believe that giving others the authority to decide how I wish to look, dress, and present myself in daily life would not yield satisfactory outcomes.”
“And so, even though people take the time to be rude to me on the internet, and this may seem harsh, I don’t care what their opinion is.”
“So why would I alter my life to make them happy?”
“I’ve always had bushy brows,” she said. But I recall having incredibly hairy brows and a unibrow when I was younger.
As a result, my mother would always pluck them.
She didn’t have to do that as much as she used to because I enjoyed them and didn’t think it was necessary for me to pluck them simply because everyone else did.
“So it wasn’t meant to make a statement, and I wasn’t thinking ‘I want a unibrow,’ it was more that I liked my brows the way they were and wanted to keep them that way.”
“I’ve been told my entire life that I have amazing brows, that they’re flawless, and that everyone loves them.”
TikToker’s most recent videos have received thousands of views and comments. Some of the responses mention how her self-assurance has motivated them to be more self-assured.
“It’s not really about the unibrow, it’s about encouraging other people not to feel like they have to match the current quo, whether that’s their eyebrows or not,” she added.
“Sometimes, individual comments like that, where people tell me that it was encouraging for them, that it uplifted them, and that my platform means a lot to them, mean a lot to me.”
They make me feel like I’m doing something right by being myself and encouraging others to be themselves.
And, at the end of the day, I believe that’s all you can do, and that’s the point.
“It’s to break out of that box and make others feel more at ease being themselves.”