What The Pluck?

For many of us ladies, and a growing number of gentlemen, eyebrow grooming and maintenance is serious business. I've been waxing mine since my early 20s, and have always gone to a salon because I wouldn't know what I'm doing and would probably accidentally wax off my entire brow. Plus, I've got what's been described as "strong brows" (which is a nice way of saying big 'ol brows), so I think it's best to leave that kind of heavy lifting to a professional. 

I've been to a variety of places, from a bargain mall shop to a super fancy spa. Brow services have set me back anywhere from $10-12 on the low end, to $30+ on the high end. My experiences have taught me that you usually get what you pay for. $10 got me shoddy work, which I had to go home and attempt to clean up afterward. The more expensive spa brow work delivered great brows and extas like paraffin wax treatments on my hands. Very nice, but not always budget friendly. I found my groove in the $20 - $25 range, that offered both quality work and elevated service (no leftover wax on my face, free samples of products, etc.) that still felt like I was being pampered. But the cost still added up, and no matter how much I spent I still ended up with pink irritated skin that broke out after a day or two. So I started to wonder, was there a solution that would keep my brows tamed, money in my pocket and skin clear?

 I started seeing threading salons popping up everywhere I went, and although I'd heard about threading, I'd never actually tried it or seen it done. It originated in the Eastern world and is done by twisting cotton thread and rolling it over the area where you want hair removed. The hair is removed at the follicle level, and can be done one row at a time, which means you can get clean, straight lines in one pass. For some reason I always dismissed the idea of threading, thinking it was expensive and too extreme. Imagine my surprise when I learned the price at a nearby salon was only $11! It was so much faster than waxing, I was done in less than 15 minutes and my brows were perfect. My BFF, a lady who has been around the brow block, commented that she'd noticed my brows were looking "fantastic" lately and asked what I was doing differently. That is the true test of brows, if your best lady friends tell you your brows are raising brows, you're doing something right.

The only con is that it is more painful than waxing or tweezing. I've got a high pain threshold, and threading still makes me squirm and make the "ouch face". The sting from waxing lasts only a few seconds, I felt the sting of threading for about half an hour afterward. However, the pros vastly outweigh the half hour or so of discomfort: 

Perfect brows - Threading is much more precise than waxing, and much faster than tweezing. You can get laser beam precision in a fraction of the time. 

No skin irritation or breakouts - After the pain fades, you're good to go! Unlike after some waxing experiences, your brows and skin will look fierce at the same time.

Price - Half the price of my regular brow routine! Half. The. Price.

I made the permanent switch to threading about a year ago, after my first session. If you're curious, you can ask around or go on Yelp to look up salons and read reviews. You can also go in and lurk on the customers, or just ask whatever questions you might have. If you're really scared, you can always offer to treat a friend to some threading and not mention that you're using them as your guinea pig. Just kidding! Unless you have a brave friend with a good sense of humor...