From stopping dust and dirt getting into the eyes to prompting our blink reflex, eyelashes do more than just look pretty.
Which makes it hard to explain the social media trend of men trimming down — or even entirely shaving off — their eyelashes in a bid to look “more masculine.”
Videos posted to TikTok, Instagram and X in recent weeks show men braving blades very close to their eyes, in barber shops from Turkey to New Zealand, in a quest for stubby lashes. While some barbers are seen wielding buzzing electric clippers, others are freestyling with just a pair of hairdressing scissors and, hopefully, a steady hand.
“Eyelashes are vital for both visual experience and eye health,” said Vickie Lee, a consultant ophthalmic and oculoplastic surgeon at Imperial College London, in an email interview. “As well as acting as a barrier and a trigger for the protective blink reflex, eyelashes help reduce airflow over the eyes… maintaining moisture, keeping the eyes healthy and comfortable, filtering intense sunlight, reducing glare and improving visual quality.”
While Lee said eyelashes follow a natural growth cycle, shedding and re-growing over time, she added that there are many reasons why removing them, per the methods seen on social media, is a bad idea. “Improper removal can lead to complications… Cutting or trimming eyelashes can cause discomfort and irritation as (it) can leave a sharp stubby end rubbing on the ocular surface,” she said, not to mention the risk of “causing potential injury to the eye.”
The rise of ‘masculine energy’
Lustrous lashes have been a signifier of femininity or attractiveness for centuries, depicted in art (including works by John Singer Sargeant and Pablo Picasso), poetry (Thomas Hood) and literature (F. Scott Fitzgerald), And there may be an evolutionary imperative, too: Scientific research from 2005 found that women with more attractive faces also possessed higher levels of the female sex hormone estrogen, which equates to increased fertility and fecundity — genetic traits that are appealing, in reproductive terms.
But in today’s increasingly masculine political climate, fueled by controversial online “manosphere” figures such as Andrew Tate and tech bro jocks like Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg (who recently voiced his support for more “masculine energy” in the corporate world, telling podcaster Joe Rogan in January: “A culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits”), it is easy to see why some men are eager to repress anything about their appearance that could be construed as overtly feminine.
Amid the recent rise of “masculine energy,” some men are eager to repress anything about their appearance that could be construed as overtly feminine. – Yukari Schrickel/CNN
Even Vice President JD Vance, an outspoken defender of men’s right to “masculine urges,” has fallen foul of new masculine beauty standards when it comes to his eyes. During his televised election debate in October 2024, the internet was awash with speculation that Vance had worn eyeliner to achieve his dark, heavy-lashed look. The chatter became so widespread that disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos weighed in: “Vance does NOT use eyeliner,” he wrote on X at the time. “I’ve met him in person before he was a senator and I can confirm he has long eyelashes and they cast a shadow on his waterline. Grow up people!”
While none of the eyelash-shaving barbers approached for this story replied to CNN’s requests for comment, I do speak to one long-lashed male friend, 48-year-old, Spencer Bailey. “I’ve got a lot of flak over the years about my thick, dark eyelashes,” said the London-based IT professional. “But I definitely wouldn’t take the clippers to them. Comments are usually from other men who say they’re ‘girly’ — despite the fact I’m also 6-foot-2” — and ask if I’m wearing eye makeup or, more recently, if they’re fake… My wife likes them, but they seem to really bother some guys.”
After decades of decline, gender traditionalism is on the rise among Republican voters in the United States, according to recent data cited by The New York TImes. In the Views of the Electorate Research Survey (run by The Democracy Fund foundation in conjunction with YouGov), which was carried out after President Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024, Republicans increasingly endorsed what the survey called “traditional notions of masculinity,” with more than three quarters of Republican men and women agreeing with the view that “what it means to be a man has changed and I don’t think that has been good for society.”
The same study found that 48% of Republican men agreed that women “should return to their traditional roles” in society — significantly up from May 2022, when the figure was 28%. The proportion of Republican women agreeing with the statement meanwhile increased from 23% to 37% in that time.
Who wants thick, long lashes?
While these opinions are just that (or, at least, there is little evidence that these thoughts have translated into real-world behavioral changes — more women of “prime age” are employed than ever before and rates of marriage and childbirth are declining), it’s a stark reversal of the trends of the past half century, in which time the percentage of respondents in the American National Election Studies (ANES) saying that “women’s place is in the home” decreased steadily — from almost 30% in 1972 to 6% in 2008, when the survey’s researchers stopped asking the question.
With women increasingly being perceived and treated as “less than” men, it is perhaps no surprise that some men are eager to avoid being perceived as “feminine.”
“The more conservative, regressive or perhaps the more ‘traditional’ a society makes itself, the more it will really endeavor… to try to create two genders who look very different to each other,” Meredith Jones, honorary professor of gender studies at Brunel University of London, told CNN in a telephone interview.
“Eyelashes are a strong binary,” Jones said. “There is currently a fashion for one sex to have eyelashes which are outrageously long, thick and black. These are seen as an indicator of high ‘uber’ femininity and… therefore, the opposite has to be ‘true’ for the opposite gender.”
“The example of JD Vance being mocked for the appearance of wearing eye makeup during the election was fascinating,” Jones added. “Because President Trump obviously wears makeup, but his makeup endeavors to make him look more tanned, more toned, more chiseled… more ‘masculine.’”
Meanwhile, influencers and celebrities appear to be eschewing bold lashes in what has since been dubbed the #fullfacenomascara movement. Could women also be moving away from the archetypally feminine big eyelash trend?
While the ‘no mascara’ trend has been gaining traction, with a growing number of people showcasing their natural lashes as part of a broader shift towards minimalist beauty, mascara remains one of the most widely used cosmetic products, Clare Hennigan, principal analyst of beauty and personal care at research firm Mintel, told CNN. In fact, it remains the most commonly applied eye makeup in the US, she noted, indicating that “the no-mascara trend will take considerable time, if ever, to gain widespread adoption.”
But trends are, indeed, cyclical. And for every action there is a reaction, pointed out Jones: “Fashions spring out of the times we are living in,” she said. “The 1960s were a classic example. One of the complaints of conservatives during that period was that they could no longer tell the difference between men and women due to the prevalence of bell-bottomed trousers and long hair worn by both sexes. In the ‘80s, in reaction to conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, London’s club fashion became very adventurous. These movements are always cyclical.”
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