MINER’S VERNACULAR
In many affluent, Western cultures, physical beauty is measured by means such as symmetry and cleanliness of the face. It has been common practice to remove facial hair and apply makeup to accentuate curves and lines of facial features. Trends such as the eyebrow slit or “cuts” have been in practice for centuries. It is claimed that the act of shaving tiny lines into your brows creates dimension. In urban settings in Nacirema, many have become obsessed with grooming the microscopic hairs that protrude through the skin above their eyes. The importance of getting these hairs to be just perfect has been of such concern for so long that generations of beauticians have studied this ‘art’ in an effort to perfect it. They have been known to attack these hairs with sharp pointy objects that pull them right out the skin before they’re even done growing. Some choose to melt burning liquid onto the skin below these hairs and then place paper onto the liquid to rip it off as fast as it is laid down on the skin, pulling out many hairs at a time. Many have resorted to grinding two pieces of string together, catching single hairs between the threads, bringing tears to their eyes as another way to remove unwanted hairs. Others will even subject themselves to bodily mutilation (in the form of using sharp blades to scrape their skin and force a foreign black substance underneath) in the hopes that the skin will heal darker and more prominent.
Previously, the Nacireman were known to minimize the presence of these hairs, but can now be observed to be attempting to reverse this trend and seek to accentuate what decades of others have been obsessed to remove. Retail markets have begun to carry specialized items marketed to enhance (darken or thicken) the appearance of these hairs. Females will often gather at these places of market to obtain special tools and skills to improve the appearance of these hairs to meet society’s liking and approval, spending their savings on seemingly frivolous “necessities”. As this bizarre practice is commonly performed by the females, males have been witnessed to mock their efforts and find humor in this behavior. Often, other females can be seen gawking in envy or even disgust of others’ presentations of these supraorbital rim hairs.
COMMON VERNACULAR
In affluent geographic areas, the Nacireman people are very focused on grooming their eyebrows so they are just perfect. There are many different ways to perfect them, including tweezing, plucking, waxing or threading; all of which can be very painful and irritating to the skin. Some will resort to using razor blades to shave off the hairs or use a form of charcoal face mask to remove them, similar to how the hairs are removed via waxing. Others seek to enhance the prominence of their brows in a process called micro-blading, where razors cut the skin and a layer of tattoo ink is rubbed into the cuts.
Previously, the trend in eyebrow grooming was to have very thin, plucked brows. However, the modern day trend is now toward thicker and darker eyebrows. Makeup brands such as L’oreal, NYX, Revlon, etc., now sell multitudes of products that specialize in making your eyebrows darker to keep up with the common trends. While the eyebrow slit trend (popular during the 90s hip-hop era) can be interpreted in many different ways, some claim this form of dress can be viewed as cultural appropriation rather than self-expression, as it could symbolize an ethnicity mark in some cultures. Females are more interested in maintaining their eyebrows than men and invest their money in eyebrow products so that they can get their eyebrows to be perfectly to their liking. Women observe each other’s features and will often offer compliments on how well kept and sharp their eyebrows appear.
TMD 224 Group 2 