Just one of those things

Those who live with a monobrow can now proudly step out of the shadows thanks to the folks at Monobrow.com, who believe one brow is better than none. Created in 2001, the site highlights unknowns and such singular sensations as artist Frida Kahlo, Bert from Sesame Street and former R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry.

“The site gets 3,000 visitors a day and countless submissions of candidates,” says co-creator Reuben Raffael, art director for the Web design firm Zoltron.com of San Francisco. Several brows have been rejected, Raffael says. “Liam Gallagher from Oasis is on there and he’s popular, but his brother, Noel, he tweezes, so he’s out.”

The site eschews the term “unibrow,” says comedian Arj Barker, official “spokesmono” for the site, who wears his monobrow as a badge of honor. “ ‘Mono’ means one; ‘uni’ sounds like you could have a horn or something. We’ve chained the lexicon of a caterpillar growth on people’s heads.” Barker was riding the monorail with Raffael in Amsterdam when the idea hit them between the eyes. “I have one eyebrow, and little skater kids were laughing at me. To my mono brothers and sisters, you are not alone. Your brow may be, but you are not.”

The brow movement is coming together, Barker says. “There was no mention of monobrow before, and now there’s a band called Monobrow, a monobrow mail server and endless imitation sites. So we’re planning several forehead-affirming seminars, including ‘Less Is More,’ and ‘Your Monobrow and You,’ and ‘Don’t Tweeze to Please.’ ”

There’s only one drawback to his hairy predicament, Barker admits: “It’s hard to look suspicious when you only have one eyebrow. You tend to look surprised.”

-- Michael T. Jarvis