Eyebrows! Who knew people (besides me) were so passionate about eyebrows? At Play received dozens of e-mails from readers offering opinions, tips and ethical arguments in response to our Oct. 13 story, “Is it OK to spend $160 to have your eyebrows plucked?”
“Spend the money on your eyebrows,” wrote Patricia Hofstra. “What those ethicists missed is that you are contributing to the economy. By paying a service provider, you are providing employment to someone who might otherwise be unemployed and you and the service provider can make a charitable contribution. It is far better to give someone work that a handout.”
Eben Carlson wrote that $160 eyebrow jobs essentially fuel the economy. “If we just stop spending our money, we’ll crash the world economy,” Carlson wrote. “If we keep spending it on mid-price disposable and poor quality products, we’ll ruin the planet. The one solution I can see (and where a lot of consumers are already headed) is to high quality, customized goods, services, and content.”
Judy Peyton wrote that the salary paid to Princeton ethicist Peter Singer could be put to a better use. “And who is to say that the university that pays Peter Singer a mighty salary to do nothing more than tell other people what is right and wrong is making an appropriate use of that money, better given to the Red Cross,” Peyton wrote. “Enjoy your eyebrows.”
Several readers offered an alternative to the $160 pluck: threading, a procedure typically found in Indian salons.
“A little painful, but I can assure you it’s magic,” wrote Renu Ann Joseph. “Having done it for over 13 years, I know! The topping on the cake–the price…all for $5.”
