The commodification of image is part of the evolution of the division of labour with the emergence of image consultancy professionals (Wellington and Bryson, 2001 Bryson and Wellington, 2003) including specialist eyebrow stylists and technicians. This innovation is part of a much more complex development in the application of capital to the transformation of the face and includes an ever-increasing emphasis on the presentation and projection of image and impression management. The female eyebrow is becoming big business. Third, there are beauticians and specialist eyebrow ‘service centres’ including those that specialise in eyebrow cosmetic tattooing and training in eyebrow maintenance routines. Second, is the stylist and fashion industry which uses narrative and image to persuade potential consumers that their lives or eyebrows will be transformed through the application of new forms of cosmetic. First, there are cosmetic companies who are developing eyebrow products reflecting the well-known timeless process of brand stretching and product diversification. A new industry has emerged that has three subsectors. Nevertheless, the current capture by capitalism of predominantly the female eyebrow involves eyebrow makeup. There has rarely been an age in which the eyebrow has not been subjected to tampering through plucking, threading, shaping and piercing. There is, however, an on-going and interesting process of eyebrow commodification. The human face has always been subjected to alteration and transformation. One on-going process of commodification concerns the continued transformation of the human face into a commodity, or more precisely an object which is transformed through the application of commodities that are often applied as services and are part of the ever-deepening of the experience economy. Commodification goes hand-in-hand with commoditization in which differentiation by quality, brand, colour, functionality or quality of service is replaced by competition based solely on price. One timeless theory is the on-going process of commodification in which goods, services, ideas and people are increasingly transformed into commodities or objects with both a use and exchange value. These reconfigurations include changing behaviours, expectations, places, business models, flows of goods/services and information and values. These timeless theories and processes continue to explain capitalism’s on-going evolution and reconfiguration. There are a number of ‘timeless theories and timeless processes’ theories and processes that will continue as long as capitalism survives. Change, transition and transformation are the norm and persistence is unusual and needs to be explained. Our economy and society are a continual state of change or becoming – they never become.

The highbrow