Wednesday, 04 August 2004 | Razor

When I was in second grade, just in time for school pictures, I accidentally shaved off one of my eyebrows. I was sitting in the bathtub when I bumped a razor that was perched on the edge of the tub, causing it to fall in the water with me. I distinctly remember grabbing the razor and placing it back on the porcelain rim. I distinctly do not remember the razor ever coming near my face, but when I climbed out of the water and saw myself in the mirror, I was horrified to see that I was short one eyebrow.

My mother came to the rescue by painting a faux eyebrow in the vacant space above my eye, but of course it didn't look at all natural, so we opted not to buy the school photos that year. (It's really too bad, because it would be nice to have a copy of those.) When my face eventually recovered, my mom took me to a photo studio for a re-make of my second grade portrait.

My turn came years later, when Richard got a square bald spot shaved into the side of his head. I colored in the bare scalp with black eyeliner.