Like a lot of people with medium brown or lighter hair, my eyebrows tend to be very light in color - especially in the summer when the sun bleaches them almost blonde. (The one advantage of having light colored eyebrows is that I have been able to keep them plucked and no one has ever noticed or said anything). However, I was jealous of several GG's I know who have about the same color hair as I do, and yet have very well defined eyebrow hairs, i.e. dark!

That was it, I was going to have to do something about mine. I very quickly decided that eyebrow pencil was definitely out; too much trouble and too noticeable. Dying the hairs would have to be the answer. Fortuitously I happened to see a TV ad for one of those men's "get rid of the gray gradually" products, and it occurred to me that's exactly what I wanted to do - gradually.

So I went to the local drug store and bought a "Grecian" type color in mid brown. It came in two containers, a clear liquid and a color gel. I certainly didn't need to mix the whole bottle as you would for doing your hair, so I poured a spot about the size of a quarter onto the bathroom tile. Then squeezed a similar sized blob of color and mixed the two together with a small cleaning brush I got with an old electric razor. Then I liberally brushed it into my eyebrows - being very careful not to get any in my eyes.

The longer you leave the mixture on your hair (eyebrows in this case) the darker it gets. They recommended no more than 5 minutes. I gave it about 3:30, and I could already see the color darkening. I immediately wiped the excess mixture off and washed my eyebrows. It had made a difference, but not quite as much as I'd wanted. So the next evening, I repeated the process, but left the mixture on for 4:30 this time. They aren't kidding about the rate at which it darkens! When I looked in the mirror, my first impression was that of Groucho Marx! I panicked and immediately wiped and washed my eyebrows. They were noticeably darker, though fortunately, not quite as dark as I'd thought they'd be. However, I was sure people would notice my eyebrows on two counts.

Firstly, they were much darker than normal for me and I couldn't help but think they jumped out at you.

And, secondly, because the hairs were so much darker, it was very much more obvious that I shaped and plucked my eyebrows. Which, in a perverse way, was the whole point of the exercise in the first place.

But after surviving several days without comment, I decided that it was a good idea, and I enjoy looking at my feminine shaped eyebrows. Now I'm going to have to be much more diligent about plucking.

Be careful what you wish for... you might just get it!