Facial Scars and Eyebrow Slits: An Unlived Narrative of Trauma

Image Courtesy: Getty Images / Pascal Le Segretain

It’s hard to think of a concept that binds all of us together more than trauma. It’s something we’ve all experienced to a certain extent. The level of severity differs from person to person, but trauma, especially at a young age, shapes who we are whether we like it or not. We carry our traumas with us in the form of “scars,” the long-lasting or permanent effects of that trauma that can manifest physically or mentally. The physical scars are more obvious and if they form in a certain place and in a certain way, can add a layer of mystique and can give an impression of a rough life that has made the bearer of the scar tough.

These scars can be anywhere on the body that is remotely noticeable. The most effective place to have a scar that will acquire that mysterious, tough aura, is the face. A relatively uncommon place to have a very noticeable scar, facial scarring has been the way into the entertainment industry as a defining feature for actors like Tommy Flanagan and the late Michael K. Williams as well as British singer Seal. Flanagan and Williams, both best known for playing tough-guy criminals on the critically acclaimed TV shows Sons of Anarchy and The Wire respectively, when asked to recall the incidents that gave them their signature facial scarring, give somber, unglamorous recollections of the nights they were slashed across the face by an attacker.

Flanagan (left), Williams (right)

Image Courtesy: Flickr and Demetrius Freeman/The New York Times

When watching the interviews with Flanagan and Williams, I get the impression that if they were given the opportunity to go back in time and prevent themselves from being attacked and gaining their scars at the expense of a lucrative acting career, they would do so with very little hesitation. Obviously, their scars have brought them a lot of advantages and far be it from me to speculate on the mental state of two people I never met, I doubt they would consider the physical and mental trauma of the event that scarred their face worth the later success they had.

Thankfully, intentionally recreating scars like Flanagan’s or Williams’ isn’t something that has become a popular trend or is even that common. However, the desire for having a facial scar or at least, the aesthetic of it, remains in the public consciousness. Again, fortunately, self-harm for the sake of scarification is not common, but this desire has manifested itself in the form of shaving a narrow, often diagonal line into the eyebrow to mimic the common scar that some have that resulted from a cut across their eyebrow.

When I talked to a coworker about the topic for this article, they remarked, “Well this one’s real”. It made me think about how I had never really noticed it before, and struck me as odd because they felt the need to affirm to me that their scar was real, their trauma was real, unlike others who are painlessly removing a thin line of hair from above their eye to look like they have been through trauma they haven’t.

With this anecdote, I don’t mean to imply that you shouldn’t get an eyebrow slit or that if you do, you’re a “trauma faker,” in fact, most real eyebrow scars are just the result of minor childhood accidents. I don’t see it as any different from getting a piercing or a tattoo, which involves doing damage to yourself for an aesthetic goal. However, piercings and tattoos aren’t imitating trauma, they are clearly intentional. Unlike the eyebrow slit, which comes from seeing the common scarring pattern that comes with a cut above the eye. Regardless of how they are acquired or the actual effect they have on the person that has them, scars are the result of trauma. So why is it trendy to recreate them?

I used to ask myself that question when I looked down on people who got them for the reasons mentioned before, assuming the simplest and most obvious answer is the tough aura, mystique, or aesthetic that having a facial scar brings. However, maybe the impression that people are going for is deeper than that. Maybe my coworker’s response to me writing this article wasn’t just a shallow attempt to avoid judgment from me for having an eyebrow slit.  As I mentioned before, trauma binds us all together, and mental trauma, that’s less visible, tends to be the most powerful. Since you shouldn’t go around verbally announcing your mental trauma to anyone who looks your way, maybe shaving an eyebrow slit is a subconscious way for people to show that they have overcome their trauma and say “I’m still here.”

Strike Out,

Writer: Matias Civita

Editor: Racquel Gluckstern

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