It is all in the eyebrows – whether you will be rich or poor – at least according to some fung shui masters. And fung shui master Mak Ling-ling says you can give your fortune a helping hand by keeping your brows neat and tidy – or even by having them professionally shaped.

Readings begin with the shape of the eyebrows, says Ms Mak. People with moon-shaped eyebrows are outgoing and open-minded, while straight eyebrows signify independence and slanted brows that look like the Chinese character ‘eight’ are found on people whose lives are emotional roller-coasters.

When it comes to the general shape, Ms Mak says people with a sharp arch in their eyebrows are brave yet emotional, while straighter eyebrows represent a lack of confidence.

People with thick eyebrows are often absent-minded and do not pay much attention to detail. Men who have such brows are popular among ladies, Ms Mak says. Women with thick brows are passionate. Thin brows represent a conscientious and attentive personality.

Ms Mak says the gap between the eyebrows and the eyes tells a lot about what kind of family relationships the person will have. People with higher eyebrows are more caring towards their family, and people who have lower eyebrows are less so and can be vengeful.

The kind of hair in a person’s eyebrows also reflects a lot more than most people realise, according to Ms Mak, particularly how wise they are. People who have eyebrow hair that grows upwards are sharp-witted and love to take risks, she says, adding they are also perceptive. People whose hair grows downwards are often afraid of taking risks.

She says people with eyebrows that slope towards the outer corners of the eyes are just and wise, while those with shorter eyebrows can be erratic.

No one is born perfect, but there is no reason to be a victim of your eyebrows, says brow artist Maki Ho of Benefit Cosmetics.

She says even men are becoming increasingly conscious of the shape of their brows. ‘Actually not many guys are shy about this [eyebrow shaping]. We wax the hair … in a very short while, so it doesn’t hurt as much,’ she says, adding that the number of men coming to her for the service had ‘increased significantly’ compared to the past.

‘Most of them think their eyebrows are too messy or bushy.’

Ms Ho says waxing removes excessive hair, especially in the space between the eyebrows, and the shape could be maintained for up to four weeks with thinner hair growth. She explains it is the best technique for tidying up bushy eyebrows.

Waxing makes it possible to remove 50 hairs in one go, rather than painfully removing them one at a time with tweezers.

If you do it yourself with tweezers, Ms Ho says, you have to be sure the two brows match.

‘Nicely shaped eyebrows will make you look stunning, even if you’re not wearing make up,’ she says.

Why are your eyebrows essential?

Rule number one: Thwart the temptation to tweeze the “lifeblood” out of your brows – and we mean that quite literally, too. Take this dramatic declaration from a doyenne of the ancient arts: “No face must lack eyebrows,” emphasizes Lillian Too from Worldliness. “Your eyebrows guard against ‘attacks’ [so] without eyebrows, you cannot succeed at anything!”

Here’s another tantalizing tidbit from feng shui shifu Mak Ling-ling, who notes that the direction of growth can be a tell-tale sign of your temperament: “People who have eyebrow hair that grows upwards are sharp-witted and love to take risks, while people whose hair grows downwards are often afraid of taking risks.”

Bonus: Booze may be to blame if you’re sporting blemishes between your brows. Spots in this hotspot are said to be symptomatic of a stressed liver, so try abstaining from absinthe shots at the club, and hydrate with lots of (non-alcoholic) fluids.

Meanings of Eyebrows in Physiognomy

Eyebrow, known as (baoshou guan, organ of longevity) in physiognomy, is equivalent to the life line in palmistry. It shows a person’s fortune between 31 and 34. While the long eyebrow suggests longevity, the short eyebrow, same with the short life line, does not necessarily mean short life.

Eyebrow is also known as ‘ (xiongdi guan, organ of brothers) which represents the relationship with brothers and sisters. For men, the left eyebrow suggests brothers while the right suggests sisters; for women, it is the contrary. Generally, long eyebrows indicate the deep affection with brothers and sisters while the short suggests weak affection. In modern society, eyebrows mainly represent the attitude towards friends: the long indicates many friends while the short suggests few.

The eyebrow indicates one’s nature and temperament while the eye is the window of heart. Eyebrows can reflect one’s wisdom, thought, and individual behaviorism. The brow represents sensibility while the tip suggests sense. The arrow-shaped brow suggests the poor ability in dealing with sentiment while the loose tip indicates asking for troubles.

Nose represents wealth while eyebrow symbolizes rank. Those with good-looking eyebrows tend to enjoy wealth and rank.

Meanwhile, eyebrows represent arms: the bushier eyebrows suggest greater strength; the broken eyebrows indicate the risk of broken arms.

→ Eyebrow Shapes and Personality

What is a good eyebrow?

The glossy black, beautiful, tidy and silky eyebrows, longer than the eyes, with medium density, no retrorse hair and loose yet undispersed tip are the best. Also, the eyebrows shall be neither too close nor too far from each other.

Length

Long Eyebrows: People with long eyebrows are righteous, helpful and like to make friends. If the eyebrows are longer than the outer canthus, it indicates the blessed life with wealth and rank. The longer the eyebrow, the longer longevity it suggests. Long and beautiful eyebrows indicate the early success.

Short Eyebrows: People of short eyebrows are restrained, have few friends, poor conjugal relations and poor fortune, and tend to live a poor life. Women with short eyebrows are harmful to their husband and lead a bad marriage.

Width

Wide Eyebrows: Those with wide eyebrows are generally masculine, active and impulsive, and pay attention to the thick lines rather than details and trivial matters.

Narrow Eyebrows: People with narrow eyebrows are feminine, passive and indecisive yet attentive and pay attention to details.

Thickness

Thick Eyebrows: People of thick eyebrows are sweet-tempered and active while the overly thick tend to be evil, cunning and self-centered.

Sparse Eyebrows: Sparse eyebrows indicate endocrine dyscrasia and people of this kind usually have no ties of friendship, get in emotional entanglements and suffer martial disharmony between the age of 32 and 36. In general, they have no good luck for wealth.

Thick Brow and Sparse Tip: The thick brow and sparse tip suggest starting off with a band but ending with a whimper, poor relationship and limited help from brothers.

Few Eyebrow: People with no or few eyebrow, prominent cheekbone, big face, and high nose tend to be lonely. No or few eyebrow and flat cheekbone suggests harming between brothers. Women with few eyebrow and black hair harm their husband, remarry and lead the solitary old age.

Location

High Eyebrows: People with high eyebrows (far from the eyes) are sweet-tempered, family-oriented and accomplish something early.

Low Eyebrows: People with low eyebrows can hardly retain their composure and they are generally insidious and troubled by family affairs. Also, they are realistic and consider the immediate rather than long-term interests.

Too Low: If the eyebrows are too low (very close to the eyes), the people is usually narrow-minded, like to bear grudges and inclined to be a voyeur.  

Different Heights: For people with eyebrows of two different heights, one of the parents will be prone to accidents. Men with higher left eyebrow enjoy high position in family while men with higher right eyebrow often abide by their wives; for women, it is on the contrary.

Compactness

Compact Eyebrows: Those with compact eyebrows are generally easy-going, especially to their friends, thus have good relations with friends and often get their help.

Loose Eyebrows: Those with loose eyebrows at the tip often become estranged with friends and can hardly depend on their brothers and sisters.

Arrangement

People with glossy eyebrows growing in the same direction are very lucky and honest.

People with messy eyebrows growing in different directions have the average IQ and can hardly make achievements in society. Their words are not matched by deeds and they are generally hypocritical and have incompatible parents.

Broken
If the eyebrow has a break or is thin in the middle, it suggests the death of one parent, brother or sister in early years, or hand fracture and injury.
 
Inverted Eyebrows
Eyebrows growing towards the ophryon are inverted and suggest bad luck and influence on family.

People of this kind are not good at handling emotional and interpersonal relationships. They are poor in youth and things change better in middle age.

If only the left eyebrow is inverted, it represents being not good at handling emotional relationship before the age of 30 and failure to pay last respects to father. The inverted right eyebrow represents being not good at handling emotional relationship after the age of 30 and failure to pay last respects to mother.

If both of the two eyebrows are inverted means the people couldn’t handle emotional relationship well in the whole life and will be failure to pay last respects to both father and mother.

Vertical Eyebrows

People of vertical eyebrows are bold, impulsive, and cruel, do not like thinking but solving problems by force, thus often suffer from mishaps and lawsuits. In terms of love relationship, they are rude and not gentle and considerate husband or wife. The vertical left brow harms children while the right harms wife, indicating the unsmooth five years from the age 28 to 32.

Eyebrow Distance

Ophryon is the space between eyebrows. If it’s two fingers wide, that’s the best.

People with wide ophryon (three fingers or above wide) never think or worry too much, they act with no plan and are free from mental burden caused by stress. Generally, they are indolent, irresolute and indecisive.

People with narrow ophryon act in a planned way, think and worry too much, and suffer mental burden caused by stress. Also, they are narrow-minded, bear grudges and have poor respiratory system.

Brow Tip

People of downward brow tips are sympathetic and helpful nice guys who start well and end well.

People of upward brow tips are of strong self-esteem and personality, and they never compromise but lack of coordination, which is their advantage yet disadvantage. When they are supposed to be decisive and bold, they can quickly take measures to make a figure. This kind of people are often admired by others.

Brow Ridge

The slightly raised brow ridge is the best. Those with overly raised brow ridge are impulsive, arrogant and often offend others.

People with flat brow ridge are generally timid and overcautious, don’t like to argue with others, have no ambition but poor adaptability.

The sunken brow ridge suggests scheming and vengeful character.

Withered and Yellow Eyebrows

It doesn’t matter to have golden yellow rather than withered eyebrows. The withered and yellow eyebrows suggest poor health and bad luck for husband, as well as no brother to depend on and no help from friends.