Is It True That Eyelashes Don’t Grow Back?

Science has, as far as I can tell, never tried to prove or disprove this theory on eyelash and brow hair, which really makes me wonder whether the unsubstantiated fear is one that’s been instilled by mothers globally as a cautionary tale against going to sleep without having first washed our faces. Still, the question remains.

And because my trichotillomania may or may not be migrating south for the season — I’ve left my eyebrows alone to reproduce whatever hair I’ve forcibly-though-innocently pulled out but that my eyelashes are safe from nothing — I am especially concerned. So, please, before I potentially erase my human right to blink without tearing, tell me, is it true that if and when eyelashes fall out, they don’t grow back?

Original image shot by Nina Andersson for Swedish Inside Magazine