Viral

The secret to looking younger is hidden in your eyebrows

Picture:
Picture:
iStock / DeanDrobot

Maybe the eyebrow enthusiasts of Instagram really are on point.

Scientists have joined social media starts in recommending a 'high contrast' face to look younger.

This won't raise many eyebrows among Instagrammers, who have donned the defined brow look and high-contrast filters for years.

Now Instagram has scientific backing.

The study analysed photos of 763 make-up-free women between age 20 and 80, and found that younger women had more contrast in their facial features.

Basically, their facial features stood out more than older women's - particularly round the mouth and eyebrows.

Next, the researchers created two photographs of each face with different levels of contrast.

Almost 80 per cent of the time, people said that the high-contrast face appeared younger than the low-contrast one.

The findings hold up across ethnicities, suggesting eyebrow pencils and lipstick do actually make most of us look younger.

Though the study didn't actually involve make-up, the authors believe that beauty products will bring the same result.

Co-author Richard Russell told Time:

The way we manipulated features in the photos was very similar to what you'd do with make-up.

And I would be surprised if you couldn't get similar effects.

We know that lips get less red with age and eyebrows get lighter, for instance, and those are both things you could address with make-up, if you wanted. 

Other research suggests that the same rule applies to men too.

HT Time

More: Woman gets stuck at passport control because no one believes how old she is

The Conversation (0)