The eyebrowless girl
I read on the internet that the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. I never thought about it. I never noticed, so I checked the Mona Lisa on Google Images and saw that it’s true. The Mona Lisa’s brow appears to have some shadowing on it, but definitely no eyebrows.
Then, I read about a medical condition known as Madarosis. Madarosis is a condition that causes people to lose the hair from their eyelashes or eyebrows. It can affect one side of the face or both sides. This condition may lead to either complete or partial loss of eyelash or eyebrow hair. That means that it’s possible to lose all the hairs in your eyelashes and eyebrows, or you may only lose some of them, which could result in the appearance of thinning hair in these areas.
I have a Grade 11 girl student (2nd Year Senior High School) with no eyebrows. As soon as I met her, I knew something was off.
At first, I didn’t want to say anything, because I thought maybe she is a cancer patient who has lost all her hair, or something. But finally, I did say something. I spoke to her to show her that I noticed her and that I could speak Japanese.
“You have no eyebrows.” Her adjacent friends heard and witnessed the exchange.
She answered me, and I tried to repeat back to her what I thought she told me, as a way of checking my understanding.
“What, you mean a squirrel ate your eyebrows?” Her friends giggled.
She tried to explain again.
“You mean, you sold your eyebrows for money?” Her friends giggled some more.
It turns out she was saying, “It’s my identity.”
It’s funny how “It’s my identity” can sound like “squirrels ate my eyebrows.”
The fact that this girl can attend school with no eyebrows reflects how much the notoriously strict Japanese school rules about grooming have been relaxed over the years. Make-up and jewelry are still pretty strictly policed. This particular school still enforces a no-phones policy by collecting all phones in a box at the front of the classroom at the start of each period. Students comply.