The Unexpected Way Your Eyebrows Can Make You More Attractive

Just like our opinions, our features are unique to us. While you may believe your mouth is too small and your thighs are too big, a potential mate may be seduced by your proportions. Yes, beauty is subjective, but science is finding more and more surprising traits that are commonly considered to be attractive. 

As it turns out, the 90's trend of pencil-thin eyebrows may not be making a comeback any time soon. In a study of 1,000 participants done at Oakland University in Michigan, researchers found that thicker brows on women were considered more attractive than thinner eyebrows. Dr. Lisa Welling, the study's senior author, told the The Sun, "Thicker eyebrows were preferred in female faces." She continued, "It could be that relatively thicker eyebrows signal other qualities, such as a tendency towards more grooming. It is also possible that this preference reflects current fashion trends. Whatever the associated trait, it seems to be particularly desirable in a long-term mating context, such as marriage."

Welling makes an excellent point that standards of beauty are subject to current fashion trends (to which men could be more in tune than they get credit for). Eyebrows are definitely having their moment, and have been for awhile now: USA Today dedicates a whole article to the "power brow " and how celebrities like Cara Delevingne have popularized a thicker eyebrow shape.

In addition to bushier eyebrows being on-trend, the facial feature may hold clues to our personalities. Dr. Justin Mogilski, co-author of a Frontiers In Psychology study on the attractiveness of eyebrows and other traits, has a theory. He tells The Sun that a person's eyebrows may say more about a person than previously presumed. "We expect that what's going on is that eyebrows indicate a more complex array of partner qualities than just a person's sexual behavior," he says. Adding, "Our data suggests that people are drawing more information from a person's eyebrows than previously documented."

Since beauty is subjective, though, keep tweezing those brows if you prefer a more defined look. But if you're sick of the pluck-and-wax upkeep, go ahead and give the power brow a whirl. You could end up turning heads over it.