the Price of Eyebrow Threading

I had read about threading before, but hadn't known anybody who had actually done it, nor had I even seen it until I was walking through our local mall one day. I spotted a threading kiosk, where one woman was bent over another, who was reclining in a comfy-looking chair. I waited my turn, anxious to try the service for myself.

The procedure was surprisingly painful, but it was a tolerable pain that was somewhat easy to get used to. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that having little hairs ripped out of their follicles would hurt, but really, there were a couple of times that I almost had to cry uncle and ask her to stop!

The process involves a practitioner holding a piece of thread in such a way that it spins against the skin, catching any hairs and pulling them out. The results were at least as effective as waxing, if not more.

The service cost $14, and I left a tip in the amount of $6 because it took a fair amount of time, and she was kind enough to remove some other hair on my face that I didn't even know existed!

My skin was very smooth afterward, with less redness than I get with waxing. It was definitely more painful than waxing, though I am told that you "get used to it," and then it doesn't hurt as much. Unfortunately, I won't find out, because the kiosk where I went has since closed. One thing worth mentioning is that the practitioner held one end of the thread in her mouth, and that piece eventually made its way to my face. A little disgusting, for certain, but even more important, the germs! When hair is yanked out of the skin, a tiny opening is left, and those openings are an excellent place for bacteria to enter. The same is true with waxing, though, so I don't know which would be more likely to result in infection.

If I have the opportunity to do this again, call me a weenie, but I will take some ibuprofen before I go! I'll also check to see that the practitioner does not hold one end of the thread in her mouth. I'll ask her to remove several feet of thread from the spool in order to get to a piece that has been inside the coil, and therefore less exposed to her hands. Maybe I'm getting carried away, but I'll bring my own antiseptic wipes to use on my face before the procedure, because I have learned (the hard way!) that staph infections, specifically the pesky MRSA, can live on the skin and then enter when it has the opportunity. My daughter got an MRSA infection from having her eyebrows waxed at a salon, so I know how easily it can happen once those little entrances are opened, whether by threading or waxing.