The videos started popping up on TikTok in January, the powered razor dancing dangerously close to a closed eyelid. By the time the video ends, the man has no eyelashes left.
It’s part of a small batch of videos of men cutting off their eyelashes to appear more masculine. It’s a move experts say is dangerous for a number of reasons — and symptomatic of broader cultural problems that have popped up time and time again in other body-focused trends.
“We’ve seen it from eyelash-shaving to chin and jawline fillers,” Rhea Ashley Hoskin, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo who studies gender and femininity, told the Star in an email. “While these trends appear varied, they share a common thread: They involve transforming or suppressing traits that are culturally coded as feminine.”
Here’s what’s behind these videos — and why experts warn it’s problematic.
‘Client wanted to look more masculine’
It’s not wide enough to call a trend, but the men shaving their eyelashes have certainly caught the attention of TikTok users.
One video, posted in March, has since racked up more than 42,000 comments and 2.2 million likes. Another — “client wanted to look more masculine by trimming his eyelashes,” it says — triggered a reaction as well.
“Whyyyyyy???” one user commented. “IVE HAD ENOUGH,” another wrote.
These videos are the latest in a long line of masculine, looks-oriented trends. Last year, mewing — a tongue exercise meant to sharpen your jawline — took over parts of TikTok. Experts warned it fed self-esteem issues and insecurities among young people.
Is it dangerous?
Marisa Sit, a comprehensive ophthalmologist at UHN’s Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute, said no one has come to her clinic with complications from cutting their eyelashes. But the idea gives her pause.
“My first thought,” she said, “is of concern.”
Her primary worry is simply bringing sharp objects close to the eye. In videos, barbers use both electric razors and scissors to trim the eyelashes down to their base. This could lead to inadvertent eye damage, Sit warned.
“You don’t want to damage or cut your eyelid,” she said.
Further, eyelashes serve a purpose. They act as a protective mechanism for your cornea, alerting your body to something nearby and causing your eyelids to slam closed. Eyelashes also catch dust and debris and reduce air flow around the eye, preventing it from drying.
While eyelashes will eventually grow back over weeks and months, Sit said it’s a bad idea to cut them off.
“My advice,” she said, “is no.”
What is behind these trends?
Available research shows no evidence that differences in eyelash length, density, thickness or curl are linked to sex, although representations in media — such as Minnie Mouse’s long eyelashes — often show the opposite.
Hoskin said trends like eyelash shaving and mewing are driven by a “cultural discomfort with femininity.”
“People of all genders are taught to fear or reject anything that might be seen as ‘too feminine,’” Hoskin said. “Trends like shaving eyelashes are often framed as ‘self-improvement’ or ‘optimization,’ but they’re really about disciplining the body to conform to narrow ideals.”
Those ideals mean suppressing traits seen as feminine, like softness, roundness and emotionality, in place of harder and sharper appearances, Hoskin said.
“These trends are dangerous because they reinforce the idea that femininity is weak, excessive or undesirable,” Hoskin said.
In recent years, online pockets espousing similar views have grown. The “manosphere” — an informal collection of influencers and online communities promoting male supremacy and misogyny — is dominated by figures like Andrew Tate, who espouses that a woman’s “value” is dictated by her age, appearance and fertility. He has said women are “barely sentient.”
“If they are removing those eyelashes in an effort to separate themselves from visible markers of femininity, they may also be increasing their likelihood of moving further down a path of feminine rejection and devaluation,” Hoskin said. “It could end in a much more dangerous place, for their own well-being and perhaps even that of others.”
