Young men are cutting off their eyelashes to look ‘more masculine’ – and we have questions

Sharp tools don't belong near eyes

We can accept growing out beards and brows, but it hurts to see the most recent way young men are trying to look more masculine. Videos are popping up online of barbers taking trimmers and scissors to beautiful long eyelashes.

While women around the world are tinting, perming, curling, lifting and adding extensions to their eyelashes to try to make them look longer and fuller, some men are trying to get rid of theirs.

It can be hard enough to get many of them to let you come near their eyebrows with tweezers, yet some of them are paying to let someone come even closer to their eyes with a trimmer or scissors. 

In an attempt to look more masculine, men are cutting off their eyelashes. Which is wild considering so many women find long lashes attractive on their male counterparts. 

Commenters on one video mourned the loss of the genetic blessing, saying “that’s funny because I think long eyelashes make a guy more attractive, if you show up with shaved eyelashes I’m out”. Another male viewer wrote “I have really long eyelashes. Do you know how many compliments I got about them from women?? My girlfriend loves them why are you getting rid of them”

We’re still unsure if the videos are just trying to rage-bait us, but it’s working. Not only are trimmed lashes a sad sight to see, they also come with a slew of health risks.

Is it safe to trim your eyelashes?

While it could be argued that some of the treatments, chemicals and glues many of us put on and around our lashes to try to make our eyes pop can be risky, eyelash trimming just looks ten times more dangerous.

And it is. “It’s not wise to get sharp objects, like scissors, close to your eye,” ophthalmologist Dr Ashley Hayden told HuffPost. “It is hazardous and very easy to damage the delicate surface of your eye, the cornea.”

A barber taking scissors to your eyes is one thing, but doing it yourself is a recipe for disaster.

If you’ve ever tried to curl your hair while looking in a mirror, you know it’s extremely difficult to figure out which direction to move your hands in. Senior medical reviewer at All About Vision, Dr Thomas Stokkermans said, “if you are trying to (trim your eyelashes) while looking in the mirror, it is almost impossible to coordinate your hand movements with the flipped image of your eyelashes, creating the perfect setup for an accident”.

On top of the possibility of injuring your eye with a sharp object, just removing your eyelashes can lead to a number of health issues.

Eyelashes aren’t just there to frame your eyes, they do a lot to protect them too. Image: iStock

Eyelashes serve an important purpose

Eyelashes aren’t just there to frame your eyes, they do a lot to protect them too.

Protect your eyes from irritants

Those fine hairs stop small particles from getting into your eyes and causing irritation or scratches.

On top of catching foreign matter, eyelashes work as a warning system for bigger objects like fingers or insects.

Stokkermans said, “The eyelashes sense an object as it is about to hit the eye’s surface, triggering a blink reflex”.

“Trimmed eyelashes will give the eyes less time to close, making you more likely to have a corneal abrasion or another eye injury.” 

Our eyelashes help to distribute tears when we blink, which cleans and moisturises our eyes. Image: iStock

Avoid dry eyes

Our eyelashes help to distribute tears when we blink, which cleans and moisturises our eyes. Giving yourself shorter lashes can put you at risk of dry eyes or tearing, which isn’t ideal when many of us already have dry eyes from staring at screens all day. 

Provide some sun protection

While they can’t block out all rays, our lashes can help to filter out the sun, giving us some protection from light. We all still need to be wearing sunglasses to properly protect our eyes, but eyelashes can reduce the sensitivity we feel, so cutting them could make glare feel even more irritating than it already does. 

According to Specsavers, eyelashes ‘can take up to two months to completely grow back to the way they were’, so let's hope these men like how they look and feel lash-less. 

Originally published as Young men are cutting off their eyelashes to look ‘more masculine’ – and we have questions