Y2K fashion is back with a vengeance, and it seems that it’s bringing its beauty with it.

We have seen the rise of the 90’s brow on Instagram and in high fashion over the past 12 months. Now the likes of Bella Hadid, Amelia Gray and even Madonna have taken the plunge (or should we say, the tweezers) to rock some thread-like brows. It’s official, the ‘skinny’ brow is back in mainstream media. And Millennials are triggered.

Anyone who lived through the 90’s in real time knows the consequences of this particular trend were not great, to say the least. Most victims or observers of this movement are navigating some serious brow trauma at the thought of history repeating itself.

Continual tweezing, waxing and shaping brows into tiny threads had consequences, and boy did Millennials experience them. The aftermath was pure horror.

Permanent damage to hair follicles from continual hair removal meant that regrowth was often only a result for the lucky ones. Even after years of regrowth we have an entire generation of brows that are difficult to grow, ill shaped and sparse. This resulted in women feeling self-conscious, being unable to express themselves with new brow trends and having to spend thousands on product and permanent solutions like cosmetic tattoo to course correct. In fact, Brow stylists are still fixing 90’s brows over 20 years later. No wonder there is a legion of women whose hearts jump into their throat every time they hear a whisper that the 90’s brow has returned. 

The fear of this style of brow being the next ‘in thing’ may put shivers down the spine. However, Millennials can take solace in the fact that if Gen Z wants to jump onboard there is one thing that they have that Millennials didn’t – the beauty of hindsight.

Gen Z have the knowledge that brow trends are ever changing.

Beauty trends that have the potential to permanently alter their appearance are more considered than they were in our less educated beauty days. We can see from Tik Tok that the weapon of choice for brow removal is a razor, ensuring that no damage is caused to the follicle of the hair. The ability to regrow? Totally intact! We also know that Instagram is often highly curated, edited and face-tuned (funny that not one single image has any regrowth in sight). Gen Z are well aware that the images on Instagram often don't translate well in reality when they are sans filter. I think we might find the skinny brow train might have a few empty carriages when the passengers are backed with all this knowledge. 

So to every triggered 90's brow victim, you can sleep tight! History might be repeating itself, but thankfully the consequences aren't likely to be as severe this time round.