A client walks into Murray Hill’s Ramy Beauty Therapy Studio with a photo carefully ripped from a magazine, depicting the perfect celebrity inspiration, and hands it to head stylist Ramy Gafni.
But the picture isn’t of Jennifer Aniston or Kim Kardashian.
Rather, it’s former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber.
“Tiki Barber’s eyebrows are full and masculine. They actually define his face,” says Allan Izikson, a 38-year-old dermatologist with a thick black beard and a tousle of hair popping up from under his polo shirt. “It is really important to have really nice, defined brows for a guy.”
He’s just one of the many male clients of celebrity makeup artist and brow guru Gafni who look to macho sports stars and TV personalities for grooming motivation.
The male brow-grooming industry has skyrocketed in recent years. Grooming Lounge, the men’s retailer and salon, reports that in the second half of 2014 it saw a whopping 33 percent increase in eyebrow waxes from the first half of the year. And online, sales of its top-selling eyebrow trimmer grew 300 percent from 2013.
Now it seems guys are taking a page from women, who for generations have been inspired by their favorite celebs at the salon — bringing in magazine clippings of haircuts, dye jobs and eyebrows.
The guys’ No. 1 request? Barber’s mega-masculine, perfectly thick brows.
Gafni says he’s seen an uptick in requests for the Barber brow in the last couple of years, getting from five to seven requests a week from both gay and straight male clients.
“One of my ex-girlfriends used to do my eyebrows — cut and tweeze them — so she encouraged the whole eyebrow thing,” says Skender Pervizaj, a 40-year-old doorman from Ridgewood. “All of my buddies get them done. I like to get my brows done, but make it look like I’m still a man.”
That means no arches and a full, dark brow.
“It is all about having a natural look — that’s why I reference Tiki Barber’s eyebrows,” says 50-something executive recruiter Craig Thomashauer, who’s been requesting the Barber look for two years. “They are thick, but still remain masculine-looking.”
For Barber, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
“I’m flattered,” the football great tells The Post, who has a twin brother, Ronde, with identically must-have eyebrows. “I guess this means Ronde is also up there?”
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According to Gafni, who’s actually groomed Barber’s brows, “The key is subtlety.
“I leave a few stray hairs. I make sure to not make it look obviously done.”
The Barber brow costs $85 and is a pretty straightforward process.
First, the stylist trims the hair down, then tweezes the obvious strays. Next, he brushes in his product “When Hairy Met Sealy,” which colors grays and slicks down any unruly hairs.
The process takes up to 20 minutes, and clients come in as often as every other week to maintain a fresh face.
But for Idan Bail, 26, who works in digital media advertising, it’s worth the high price tag and the fuss. He’s been going to Gafni for a year and a half and says his Barber brows are just plain good for business.
“When you work in advertising, it’s not what you say, but how you say it,” Bail says. “The same thing goes for your facial expressions — they speak for themselves. I think that is what goes into play when thinking about getting your eyebrows done.”
Another manscape idol for Bail is “The Twilight Saga” star Taylor Lautner.
“Taylor Lautner has really strong features, and I think his eyebrows tone it down,” Bail says. “He has a superstrong jawline, but his eyebrows are very soft in comparison to the rest of his features, so it brings his look down a little bit.”
According to Ramon Padilla of Browhaus in Soho, threading — a technique in which a thread is rolled along the skin to pluck hair — is the best way for guys to achieve a look that’s not overdone.
“Threading gives brows a more natural look, versus the straighter lines that are associated with brow waxing,” says Padilla, who counts Jake Gyllenhaal and Zachary Quinto among his clients’ favorite celebrity “brow-mances.”
“I used to wax them, but now I go with threading,” Pervizaj says. “Waxing is played out.”
Joseph Bleu at Hush Manhattan, a Chelsea day spa for men, says Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Brad Pitt and Tom Brady are some of his hottest brow requests.
Shawn Woodrow, 45, says Farrell is his brow doppelgänger, and that he knows it’s time to go to Hush for a touch-up when his girlfriend begins touching his incoming monobrow.
“I’ve got big brows,” Woodrow, who works in insurance, admits. “She wants me to look less animal-like and more human.”
Bleu says grooming is about so much more than brows.
“They want to be what the fantasy is,” Bleu explains. “It’s not just the eyebrows that they want — they want to become what they think that picture is. It’s like when a woman sees a dress on a celebrity and decides she wants it, too, even though her body type is much different and it wouldn’t look the same.”
And getting tweezed is no longer a hush-hush affair. Even the most macho celebs are sidling up to the salon chair.
“I have done Timothy Hutton, Joe Montana, as well as celebrity chef Bobby Flay,” says Gafni, who has trademarked the term “Guy Brows.”
“It’s the same thing as buying a new outfit for a special occasion or getting a great facial. Everyone wants to look their best, and that stands true for men, as well.”
— Additional reporting by Kirsten Fleming and Lindsay Putnam
What the pluck?! The Post tries out the guybrow trend
We sent editorial clerk — and brow-grooming virgin — Kyle Schnitzer to Ramy Gafni’s Murray Hill studio for a professional pluck. Gafni’s inspiration? Actor Josh Duhamel.
Though the 15-minute procedure hurt a bit, Schnitzer was pleased with his new look.
