Eyebrow statements - A guide to where a girl is from ... in England

IT'S not always clear what a woman is trying to tell you if she raises an eyebrow in your direction.

But brows are becoming imbued with new significance if researchers at one leading department store are to be believed.

They claim the shape of a woman's brows can reveal where in the country she is from - and it can be a quicker indicator than waiting to hear her accent.

You can tell a woman is a southerner if her brows are thicker than average, a look seen on actress Keira Knightley and the Duchess of Cambridge.

Women with 'South brows' are also more likely to opt for natural shades of eyebrow pencil to mimic their hair colour, with 93 per cent more of these products sold in Debenhams stores in the south than in the North.

In Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds ladies are giving their heritage away by opting for dark, arched brows, dubbed the 'Scouse brow'.

Perhaps hoping to emulate footballers' wives such as Coleen Rooney, they buy darker pencils and eyebrow wax for a highly defined look. And you can tell a woman is Irish if she asks for tadpole-shaped brows - thick and round at the inner corners, before sweeping into a thin arch - when she books an in-store beauty appointment. However, sales figures at Debenhams show that Ireland sells the least amount of eyebrow products.

Women from Birmingham and the West Midlands are more likely to shape their brows into half-circle shapes dubbed the 'happy eyebrow', while Scottish ladies prefer the 'plank' an almost straight brow shape.

Women booking appointments in Wales request 'soft arched brows', favoured by Hollywood actress and former Swansea girl Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Sara Stern, beauty director at Debenhams, said that women are increasingly making a statement with their brows, wherever they are from, thanks to celebrities who have adopted the trend.

She said: "The number of women adopting signature brow styles for the region that they live in is so high that it's like having a brow-o-meter; you can instantly guess what area they are from.

"The Scouse brow is still hugely popular in the North, but southerners have their own interpretation.

"Londoners have created their own trend, the South brow - still opting for big brows, but going for a more natural look.

"Women used to pluck, thread and wax their brows within a millimetre of their lives, but it's now about making a statement."

- Daily Mail