A straight upper line without a bump

Look at your upper line in a relaxed photo

I'm Jisun, the owner of London Brow in Seoul. The upper line is the easiest men's rule to check on yourself. Take a photo straight on with your face completely relaxed, not the face you make for a camera. Then trace the top edge of each brow with your eye from the front to the tail. Is there a peak? Where is it, and how sharp? Most men have a small natural peak made by the longest hairs around the arch, and most never notice it until they look for it.

Now take a second photo with your brows raised, the way they lift when you are surprised or asking a question. Compare the two top lines. The raised brow has a higher, sharper peak. That peak is the shape I keep out of a man's design, because a brow that carries it at rest looks like it is asking a question all day.

Why a bump reads feminine or surprised

A clear peak at the arch, with the line curving over it, is the signature of a styled women's brow. It is also what the face does on its own when the brows lift. So a bump sends one of two messages, and neither is the one most men want. The rule I follow is a straight upper line from the arch to the tail, with no curve in it. One record from the first London Brow in 2020 is captioned as a men's straight design matched to the face shape and the man's image. Straight is the word in that caption, and it is the word I would use again: a top line that falls to the tail without rising anywhere on the way.

Straight but not horizontal

Straight is often misread as flat. The upper line can rise gently from the front to the arch and then run straight down to the tail. What it does not do is curve. The angle of that line depends on your brow bone and on where your own hairs sit, so two straight designs can look quite different from each other. It varies by person. What stays the same is that from the arch onward the top edge is a line, not an arc. Hold a pencil along the top of your brow from the arch to the tail: if the hairs follow the pencil, you already have the line; if they bow above it in the middle, that bow is the bump.

What the lower line does meanwhile

The upper line carries the mood of the brow; the lower line carries the fit. While the top runs straight, the lower line keeps a very slight curve that follows the brow bone, so the brow does not sit like a bar. Between the two lines the width grows a touch toward the tail, another of the men's rules. The pairing of a straight top and a barely curved underside is what makes a man's brow look grown rather than drawn.

In the consultation

Consultations at London Brow are translation-assisted over WhatsApp, so say it directly: 'I want the top line straight, no peak.' In the room, ask to see the upper line on the sketch with your face relaxed. Then raise your brows once and look again. If the top edge stays a line in both positions, the rule has been applied. If you see a peak you do not want, point to it in the mirror before anything is fixed.

Common questions