What is the purpose of eyebrows?

Answer 1

Block dust and other particles, just like eyelashes....
but mainly it's an aesthetics thing, heh. ;)

Answer 2

The main function of the eyebrows is to prevent moisture (mostly sweat and rain) from dripping into the eye. The typical curved shape of the eyebrow (with a slant on the side) and the direction in which eyebrow hairs are pointed, make sure that moisture flows sideways of the eyes (mainly along the side of the head but also along the nose). Eyebrows also prevent debris such as dandruff and other small objects from falling into the eyes, as well as providing a sense of something being near the eye.

Answer 3

Eyebrows serve two basic functions from what I know.

The first is to keep dust and dirt from falling into our eyes. This is why those with bushy eyebrows generaly have much better eyesight than those with thin eyebrows. Over time their eyes are subjected to less wear and tear from dust and dirt.

The other purpose is to aid in communications. The eyebrow play a part in how we use facial expressions and can signal anger, surprise, humor, etc. >:-)

Answer 4

Eyebrows are a very significant aspect of our appearance. They are one of the most distinctive features that make up our faces, and we pay a lot of attention to them. We think of some types of eyebrows as attractive and some as unattractive, and many people spend as much time preening their eyebrows as they do applying makeup to their eyelashes or lips. Eyebrows are also one of our most expressive facial features. One of the clearest ways to tell somebody what you're thinking is to simply move your eyebrows up or down -- we all know what different eyebrow positions mean.
So, eyebrows obviously serve a lot of functions in our culture today -- beauty, nonverbal communication, distinctive appearance. But why are they there in the first place? As we evolved and lost most of the thick hair on our bodies, why did we keep that little bit over the eyes?

Scientists aren't entirely sure why we kept this hair, but they have a pretty good guess. We know that eyebrows help keep moisture out of our eyes when we sweat or walk around in the rain. The arch shape diverts the rain or sweat around to the sides of our face, keeping our eyes relatively dry. The most obvious advantage of this is that it lets us see clearly when we're sweating a lot or out in the rain. Without eyebrows, getting around in these conditions is a little more difficult. The shape of your brow itself diverts a certain amount of moisture, but eyebrows make a significant difference in your ability to see. Diverting the sweat away is also good because the salt in sweat irritates the eyes, making them sting a little.

There are a number of ways these qualities might have helped early man survive. Being able to see more clearly in the rain could certainly help you find shelter, and there are several circumstances when keeping the sweat out of your eyes could save your life. If you were trying to outrun a predator, for example, it's a good bet there would be a lot sweat running down your face. If all that sweat flowed right down into your eyes, you wouldn't be able to see that well, and your eyes would be irritated, which would certainly impair your ability to escape! Because of this slight survival advantage, nature would most likely select for humans with eyebrows over humans without eyebrows.

Answer 5

Depends where u r from! In England they are used to frown upon silly questions like this, but in the likes of the Eastern Block Countries where they mainly have monobrows it helps to distinguish men from women, the men also having one just above their top lips.............erm I suppose that goes for their women too...hmmmm! In the far east they have slanted eyebrows because they are all avid fans of Startrek!

Answer 6

To protect the eye acting as a barrier to dust, sweat and filtering light and UV rays. Bonus: to enhance facial features, expressions and language.

Answer 7

way back in the bushy unarched neanderthal days, they used to block the sun outta the eyes and stop the sweat from rolling straight down into the eyes

Answer 8

The purpose of the two is to grow in to one. One lovley unibrown! Makes you look intelligent.

Answer 9

To annoy women by growing all over the place so that they need to painfully rip them out once a week... and on men: to give women something to make fun of and try to pluck to annoy the man.

Answer 10

it's got nothing to do with sweat or dust.if you look nearly all animals have markings near their eyes to distract other animals when they get into a fight,these markings are usually darker than the eyes so something lashing out at them would normally strike at the markings.the same applies to us humans......although i do like aston martins answer......

Answer 11

to catch water. if it rains, its meant to go from your forehead down to your eyebrows and drips off to the side instead of going in your eyes. x