What are the most attractive eyelashes?

For female faces, long eyelashes are certainly more attractive than very short eyelashes (the least attractive being), but they are also somewhat more attractive than very long eyelashes. For male faces, however, very long eyelashes are the least attractive. Eyelash lifts are one of the most popular eyelash trends recently that men are starting to fall into. Many men prefer the lash lift trend because it's a little more subtle than buying a full set of extensions, but it still gives lashes a long and beautiful curl look.

Eyelash lifts also give the illusion of big eyes. From an evolutionary perspective, the ideal eyelash length to indicate health and, therefore, attractiveness, should be between long and short. The general findings suggest that there is an optimal length at which eyelashes are perceived as more attractive, which has an adaptive evolutionary basis. As research on this topic is scarce, study authors Farid Pazhoohi and Alan Kingstone set out to systematically investigate the influence of eyelash length on perceived attractiveness.

Interestingly, participants rated the most attractive eyelash length differently for men's and women's faces, suggesting the interference of a cultural gender norm. However, this differed between men and women, as women were considered more attractive with longer eyelashes, while men were considered less attractive. The data also shows that excessively long eyelashes are just as unpleasant as eyelashes that are too short, something scientists call the “inverted U function of eyelash attractiveness”. An experiment published in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences suggests that the most attractive eyelash length is approximately one-third of the width of the eye.

While some researchers have suggested that eyelashes are perceived as more attractive the longer they are, long eyelashes can also indicate diseases, such as immunodeficiency.

Désirée Bruski
Désirée Bruski

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