House of lashes

A couple of years ago, I was in discomfort after a routine eye exam at the optometrist.  As if something was poking my eyes.

I went back to the optometrist. The guy (yes, a guy) looked at my eyes again.  He decided that maybe I needed polarized lenses.

The annoying poking never went away.

I figured I needed a real doctor, not these fake "doctors" of optometry.  I went to an ophthalmologist.

I had barely finished explaining my problem to her (yes, a woman) when she figured out what it was.  "You have two eyelashes curving inward and they are poking your eye.  I will pluck those two and you will be fine."

She picked up a tweezer and plucked them.  "If it happens again, go to a beauty shop. It will be much cheaper," she joked.

The problems that I have to deal with because of my long and beautiful eyelashes! ;)

Why do we have eyelashes?

Some scientists believe that if eyelashes even have any real function, it’s to diffuse airflow that might threaten to dry out the eyeball, and that their length is generally determined in relation to the size of the eyeball itself rather than the gender of the mammal they belong to.

But, keep in mind that anytime we talk about hair, there are gender and beauty ramifications.  It is one thing for me to walk around with facial hair, but a bearded woman is, well, out of the ordinary, to say the least.  As mammals men and women have hair, yes.  But, all hair is not created equal.

Even though both men and women have eyelashes, they have increasingly become a thing of beauty for women.  But, we shouldn't fool ourselves to blaming Cosmo for this!

The earliest documented efforts to emphasize the eyelashes date back to as early as 4,000 B.C.; if you’ve ever watched any movie or TV show set in ancient Egypt, you’ll know all too well that in certain regions, eye makeup was worn on the lids, brows, and lashes of wealthy and royal men, women, and children. (It was used sometimes as a cosmetic, and other times for religious purposes like warding off evil spirits, though in 2010, researchers found it may have also inadvertently served some medicinal purposes.) Fast-forward to today, though, and products like mascara, false eyelashes, eyelash extensions, and lash-growth serums — both over-the-counter and prescription — are marketed almost exclusively to women. According to a 2017 Washington Post story, “99.9 percent” of leading false-eyelash manufacturer Ardell’s sales are to women (and those sales saw a dramatic 30 percent spike from 2016 to 2017). Drag queens, in turn, often say their oversize false lashes are a key part of their look.  

So, why the femme eyelash fetish?

For one thing, the eyes and mouth are more reliable “attraction magnets” on the face of a woman than that of a man, says Marianne LaFrance, professor of psychology and gender and sexuality studies at Yale. “What eyelashes do is like what lipstick does, and eyelashes may actually even do it more: They draw a contrast between the eye itself and the eyelid, like lipstick draws attention to the contrast between the lips and the surrounding area.” Attractiveness indicators in men, she says — facial features whose larger size and more striking definition suggest a man possesses traditionally “masculine” qualities, like confidence and assertiveness — are more likely to be the eyebrows and jawline. Emphasizing the eyes and mouth, then, by contrast, diverts attention away from these qualities that might suggest a female face looks masculine.

Hmmm ... if eyebrows and jawline are the facial masculine qualities ... Too bad you can't see my fluttering eyelashes as I wonder if that is also a reason why most men don't sport a beard even if they can?

Source

Curvy women with long eyelashes ... break wind?

A couple of years ago, I went to an ophthalmologist to get rid of the irritation in my eye.  She looked into my eye.

As she got ready to tell me what the problem was, I felt so compelled to ask her, "doc, will I be able to play the violin?"  You know, the old joke?  The doctor replies, "of course you will be able to."  The patient then says, "wow, how about that!"  And then adds, " because I don't know how to play the violin."

But, I did not.  For once, I was "normal."

She put her gear down.  "You have two eyelashes curving inward and they are poking your eye.  I will pluck those two and you will be fine."

Imagine that!  I could have gone to a beauty salon and gotten this taken care of for less than a tenth of the cost :(

After hearing this, a friend joked, "that's what you get for having long eyelashes."  So, now I was the joke, instead of me kidding around.

Why do we have eyelashes anyway?

Surprisingly, the real reason eyelashes evolved has remained unknown. Research shows that those who lack lashes, which some people do, suffer higher than average rates of eye infection. That suggests they have some sort of protective function. But exactly what this is and how it works has been a mystery. Some people hypothesise that lashes protect eyes from falling dust. Others think that they act rather like an animal's whiskers—detecting foreign bodies before they can do harm, and triggering a protective blink.

I can add one more--to poke me in my eye!

Oh well.  So, anything new from the world of science?

David Hu of the Georgia Institute of Technology and his colleagues think they have cracked the problem. Eyelashes do not protect eyes directly, they believe. Rather, they change the flow of air around the eye in ways that stop dust and other irritants getting in, and moisture getting out.

How does Hu know what? (yes, a lame joke!)

no matter what species of mammal he examined (and he studied 22 of them), the length of its lashes was on average a third of the width of its eye.

So?

Nature has, it turns out, arrived at the optimum eyelash length to keep the cornea moist and dust-free. By reducing air flow over the cornea, eyelashes create a boundary layer of slow-moving air. That stops dust getting through, and also promotes water retention, since moisture is not blown away. Up to a point, the boundary layer grows thicker as the lashes grow longer. But long lashes also act as a funnel, channelling moving air into the eye and disrupting the protective layer. 

No kidding!

Eyelashes have, like many other bodily features, acquired a second function as a signal. But their main job, if Dr Hu is right, is to be a wind break.

So, the next time a pretty young thing flashes her long eyelashes at me, I should decode that as she is breaking wind! muahahaha ;)

Speaking of women, what's up with the curves anyway?  Why so different from men's bodies?

The simple answer, suggests Mr Bainbridge, a British reproductive biologist and veterinary anatomist, is that those curvy bums and boobs, the straight “enviable pins” that newspapers salivate over, ensure the future of humankind.

 Ah, yes, only the Economist will report about "curvy bums and boobs" when reviewing Bainbridge's book!

the book’s ultimate question, what does it mean to be a woman and to balance the “ancient conflicting demands of food, shape and success in a modern, unnatural world”, is one worth asking, even if Mr Bainbridge does not quite answer it.

Now, does the title of this post make sense? ;)

Of course, from there!