Unibrow

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The artist Frida Kahlo often portrayed herself with a notable unibrow.

A unibrow or monobrow, medically known as a synophrys, refers to a "confluence of eyebrows"; i.e. the presence of abundant hair between the eyebrows, so that they seem to converge to form one long eyebrow.

The words unibrow and monobrow are now in the Oxford English Dictionary, and unibrow was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2006. Medical dictionaries, such as Dorland's Medical Dictionary, now contain the word synophrys.

The unibrow conventionally has negative associations in Western culture, and is the reason why many people remove excess hair between the eyebrows.

1 Beauty culture
2 Science and superstition
3 Famous people with a unibrow
4 Fictional characters with a unibrow
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Beauty culture

In Western perception, a unibrow may make a person seem fierce, grumpy, or over-serious, so much so that that the unibrow has become something of a cliché in fiction, especially with cartoon characters (see below).

Among Western women, the region between the brows is often plucked, waxed, or treated with electrolysis or other forms of depilation. Unibrow separation is often the only form of eyebrow grooming (a stereotypically feminine behavior) among men. However, in some non-Western cultures this facial hair does not have a stigma, and may even be seen as a sign of feminine beauty, as in Turkey and the Caucasus.[1]

The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo often depicted herself with an exaggerated unibrow and a thin moustache, which was seen as unconventional and purposely unflattering by Western audiences.

There have apparently been no serious scientific studies of the unibrow in culture or whether certain ethnic groups are more prone to developing a unibrow or not (or less likely to pluck them or not).

[edit] Science and superstition

Medically, a synophrys is associated with some cephalic disorders, particularly Cornelia de Lange syndrome. However, the vast majority of persons with a unibrow have no such condition, and the connection to developmental disabilities is wildly exaggerated in the popular imagination.

Unibrows have been the subject of various misconceptions and superstitions. Victorian criminologist Cesare Lombroso identified unibrows as a sign of criminality [2] (later discredited). In earlier times they were associated with werewolves; in the 1984 fantasy film The Company of Wolves, the grandmother (played by Angela Lansbury) comments to her granddaughter:

"Beware of windfallen apples and of men whose eyebrows meet" (she is later eaten by the werewolf).

[edit] Famous people with a unibrow

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Russian Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov has a prominent unibrow.

[edit] Entertainment

Entertainment
Name	Comments	Link to photo	Reference(s)
Jim Adkins, lead singer of Jimmy Eat World	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Bill Berry, former drummer of R.E.M.	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Adam Carolla, American comedian and actor	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Jennifer Connelly, American actress	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Colin Farrell, Irish actor	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Kimberly Williams-Paisley, American actress	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Chris De Burgh, singer/musician	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Erika Eleniak, actress, model	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Liam Gallagher, singer and guitarist of Oasis	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Angie Harmon, actress	"Angie Harmon:"It would be shaping my eyebrows. Being half Greek and half American Indian, I have the unibrow. So once I started working on them, I really did see a change. You create another kind of beauty."[3]	-	^{[citation needed]}
Josh Hartnett	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Salma Hayek	"actress Hayek said she misses the days when she had one eyebrow because it would have come in handy for the movie in which she plays the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, notorious for her thick, connecting eyebrow. (September 2002)"[4]	-	^{[citation needed]}
Tamer Hosny, Egyptian pop singer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Kajol, Indian actress	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Matisyahu, Hasidic Jewish reggae artist	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Matthew McConaughey, American actor	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Fredy Miler, Slovenian singer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Jack Osbourne, star of The Osbournes	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Tyrone Power, Sr., British born American actor	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Al B. Sure!, American singer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Richard Trethewey, plumber for This Old House	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Frank Zappa, musician	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Jan Plestenjak, Slovenian musician	-	-	Example of his unibrow

[edit] Politics

Politics
Name	Comments	Link to photo	Reference(s)
Leonid Brezhnev, one-time leader of the Soviet Union	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Bob Casey, Jr., Pennsylvania State Treasurer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Alistair Darling, United Kingdom politician	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Denis Healey, United Kingdom politician	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Rudolf Hess, Deputy-Führer of Nazi Germany	-	-	^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Sport

Sport
Name	Comments	Link to photo	Reference(s)
Moe Berg, American Major League Baseball catcher and spy	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Giuseppe Bergomi, Italian footballer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Éric Cantona, French footballer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Luke Cummo, ultimate fighter	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Bobby Holik, ice hockey star	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Mahela Jayawardene, captain of Sri Lankan cricket team	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Lon Kruger, American basketball coach	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Mike Lamb, professional baseball player	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
José Mourinho, football manager	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Alexander Ovechkin, hockey player	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Wayne Rooney, English footballer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Pete Sampras, tennis player	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentinian footballer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Matt Stryker, professional Wrestler	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Ronnie O'Sullivan, UK snooker player	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Zinedine Zidane, French footballer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Other

Other
Name	Comments	Link to photo	Reference(s)
Ted Bundy, serial killer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster Britain's richest aristocrat	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Seth Finkelstein, computer programmer	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Frida Kahlo, Mexican artist	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Simon Rattle, classical music conductor	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Salizhan Sharipov, Russian Cosmonaut	-	-	^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Fictional characters with a unibrow

Unibrows are popular in puppets on the television show Sesame Street. Here we see the "Beautiful Day" monster and Bert.

Fictional characters with a unibrow
Name	Comments	Link to photo	Reference(s)
Bert, Grungetta Grunge, and Oscar the Grouch, all characters on Sesame Street	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Ed, of the Cartoon Network's Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Groundskeeper Willie and Baby Gerald (Maggie's arch-nemesis) on The Simpsons	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Count Olaf and Jacques Snicket from the A series of unfortunate events book series.	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Helga Pataki, Arnold's nemesis/love interest on the cartoon series Hey Arnold!	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Morgana Rothschild from the novel Brave New World	-	-	^{[citation needed]}
Squilliam Fancyson, Squidward's rival	Squid mentions it in the episode "Band Geeks"	-	^{[citation needed]}
Unibrow, pseudonym for an early writer in the Church of the SubGenius	-	^{[citation needed]}
Phoney Bone from the Bone comic book series	-	^{[citation needed]}
Wyvern Radamanthys from Knights of the Zodiac	-	^{[citation needed]}