A professional beautician shaped her 12-year-old goddaughter's unibrow before receiving her mother's consent.
The young girl, whose name is Mia, had been subjected to much mockery at school because of her thick dark unibrow.
So she asked for help.
But when the godmother went ahead with the cosmetic procedure, Mia's mother was none too pleased even though her daughter was happy with the results.
Redditor "eyebrows__"—the mother's best friend—asked AITA (Am I the A**hole) for doing her goddaughter's eyebrows without permission.
"Yesterday Mia's mom (my best friend) called me because she finally got a double shift at work and needed someone to be with Mia."
"I'm just chilling at home so I told her to drop her off. Mia and I are really cool. We always watch a couple of movies and pop some popcorn when she comes over."
"Mia is blessed with beautiful, dark full brows. They contrast her lighter hair, in a very nice way. It gives her a very unique look. She does have a a unibrow though."
"I do hair and eyebrows professionally, so I always notice and compliment Mia on them. She is self conscious about them."
The OP said Mia "teared up a bit" after complimenting her unique feature and subsequently discovered she was incessantly ridiculed at school because of them.
"She said that she is being bullied badly in school and that they send around a meme on Snapchat of a smiley face with a unibrow to mock her."
With school closures increasing in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Mia's bullying continued.
"She was so happy when school got cancelled (but they are still sending the meme!!!)"
"It broke my heart, I asked her if she told her mom and she said that her mom told her that they were just jealous. She asked me if I do my eyebrows, and I said 'yes. A lot of ladies do their eyebrows.'"
"She asked me if I could to anything to her eyebrows, I said maybe."
"I text her mom to ask, explaining what I was going to do, and we watched a movie. The movie went off and I didn't get a response. So I went ahead and did her eyebrows."
"I plucked the middle and shaped them up slightly, mostly maintaining their natural shape."
Mia was a satisfied customer.
Most importantly, the new look was a confidence booster.
"She was so happy. She probably stood in the mirror for half an hour looking at herself. She just lit up and came out of her shell."
The mood quickly soured when mom arrived.
"When her mom showed up to get her, Mia was eager to show her new eyebrows. Her mom was sooo mad though. She started yelling at me in front of Mia."
"She's all, 'Who told you to do this? Got my baby looking grown, she's a little girl you don't need to be doing anything to her face.'"
"I was like, 'girl she loves it, she is so happy. I will do all of the upkeep for free no problem, and I'll teach her how to do them herself. You do your eyebrows too!'"
"She didn't care what I had to say, and took Mia (crying) off. She sent me texts later saying that she was disappointed In me."
"She doesn't have any family and depends on me as a friend to help her with Mia, I'm one of the few people she had and I let her down."
"I tried to explain how happy Mia was but she's not hearing it. I was feeling so good about helping Mia out until this happened. I'm feeling a bit confused, am I the a**hole for doing her eyebrows?"
This empathetic Redditor had a similar level of low self-esteem as Mia and said the OP was NTA (Not the A**hole).
"NTA. I was Mia at her exact same age. My mother told me I was just a child so I couldn't do my eyebrows. I ended trimming them by myself with my nail scissors- you can imagine the awful results, and it was pretty dangerous to put scissors so close to my eyes."
"I know my comment will be downvoted a lot because she's not your child, you should have wait for her mother's response, and lots of reasonable things."
"But I was Mia and all I want to do is to hug you. You care for her and for her wellbeing. And ffs... she's not a little child at 12."
"Also you didn't do any permanent procedure and brows grow back (awfully) quickly. I just hope Mia's mother understands why it was important for her daughter."
The mother's overprotective reaction was seen as an indication of substandard parenting skills.
"She's just a baaaaaaaaaaaaaby!!!!"
"Then Mom should definitely be more sympathetic to her emotions, and take steps to help her daughter when she's in crisis. She also needs to be shown the meme."
"Keeping your child a baby for your own enjoyment: A - isn't parenting, and B - doesn't work." – VeryVeryTexan
"It's crazy her mom would rather her be bullied then have trimmed eyebrows." – alakaiex
"You're not keeping your kid a kid by giving them something for bullies to latch onto, you're cutting their childhood, some parents are just clown shoes." – NothappyJane
"Hair removal seems age appropriate to me for a middle schooler. I think her mom is maybe emotionally responding to her child growing up." – Appropriate-Energy
"The mum could do with a little empathy. Her daughter is getting bullied and her response is 'to just ignore it because other kids are jealous'? Not a good way to address or resolve the issue." – rhyleyrey
A once hirsute Redditor saw the OP's work as a blessing.
"I am South Asian with super dark, thick hair and my mother for whatever f'king reason wouldn't allow me to do anything to it so I had both a moustache and a unibrow and got bullied for it and it killed my self-confidence."
"I used to cover my mouth with my collar when talking because I was so self-conscious. The change in my demeanour when my sister waxed my upper lip and eyebrows can't be exaggerated."
"I've maintained them for years and there's no thinning or issues so NTA op, you did Mia a favour." – btokendown
What's the big deal anyway?
"I was 12 years old was when other girls, AND BOYS, started making comments about my eyebrows and how i didn't shave my legs. JOKES ON THEM I STILL DON'T."
"So yeah i'm gonna go with NTA on this one because being bullied based on your appearance sucks. and the fix is so easy... like why not." – Chococow280
"NTA. Should you have waited for an answer? Probably. You could have waited and talked to your friend about how genuinely upset Mia was (sometimes it means more coming from an adult than a kid), and that mom's 'they're just jealous' tactic isn't working."
"But honestly, it's a couple hairs. They'll grow back."
"You can try talking to mom again after she's had time to calm down. 'I'm sorry I didn't wait for permission, I just couldn't stand to see her so worked up over it.' might be a good approach." – BroadElderberry
Friendships are more permanent.
"NTA but maybe just apologize because life's too short and Mia needs a cool Aunt like you in her life."
"Your friend will get over it eventually." – Lu232019
The point is, there was no permanent damage.
"They are eyebrows, they will grow right back. You didn't permanently alter her or anything."
"12 was around the time that my eyebrows started to get bad, so I feel her. It's sad that her mom is trying to keep her from 'looking grown' at the cost of her self esteem. Especially when there are Literally memes circulating about her." – happysapling
"NTA. At 12 shes old enough to know if she wants something done with her eyebrows. No kid wants a unibrow and it's not like you did anything extensive. What's important is she was happy with it."
"Her mom is an a** for not caring that she was being bullied and being mad that you cared enough to help her daughter's confidence." – Ghostedtwilight
"NTA. You plucked her eyebrows, you didn't pierce her or tattoo her or anything like that. It's hair, it'll grow back."
"My mom was doing my eyebrows since I was 12. I looked better, period. it's not much different from buying good looking clothes or glasses that complement your face." – Akabi_Yoru
Hopefully, the mother will have a change of heart and stop with the brow-beating.