Threading is a method of hair removal which involves rolling twisted cotton threads over unwanted hair. The hairs get trapped between the threads and are pulled out by the root. This is a temporary method of hair removal most used on the face especially the brows. It is great for trapping and removing all the fine hair above the brows as well as below and leaves a very clean look (at least it does with an experienced practitioner!)
History of Thread Hair Removal
Threading is an ancient art which has been used for centuries in the Middle east and Asia and is thought to have originated in Turkey. It was used for removing all hair from the face including the eyebrows, sideburns, upper lip, hairline and cheeks at one time giving a very smooth look.
Can You Do It Yourself?
Threading uses ordinary cotton thread - cheap and cheerful
Girls in the parts of the world where hair threading is commonly used learn at their mother’s knew but if you are just starting out at the age of 23 you would need a lot of practice to do it well. My advice is to go to a skilled practitioner. If you want to have a go, visit a salon first to get a idea how the professionals do it and then practice on a part of your body which is less sensitive than your face and where the results won’t distress you. It can be quite painful if you don’t have the skill.
Hair threading removal just for faces?
It’s most commonly practiced on facial hair in the West but experienced practitioners can use threading to remove hair anywhere from your waist to your toes too. I just can’t imagine a Brazilian threading somehow but no doubt it can be done if you have the skill!
What’s Good About Threading?
It’s a very quick and inexpensive method of removing hair and it is less painful than many other methods although hair is pulled right from the roots. It seems that because threading is so fast and a whole row of hairs is removed at one time you don’t feel so much pain as you do with something like tweezing where hairs are pulled individually and the skin does not react as badly. As the top layer of skin is not removed with the hair, it is less likely to cause irritation or ingrown hairs. With facial threading you may find that some hair follicles become permanently damaged and the hair does not regrow so much but you can’t bet on this. Threading is quite long lasting in any case and you’ll be smooth for anything from 2 weeks to a month. You can pop into a threading salon and have your eyebrows done in just 15 minutes and in some place it costs just $5 or $10 – an easy lunch time job. As a result city center threading salons are spring up all over the place in recent years.
What’s Not So good?
Threading works best on flat areas of skin so it can be tricky to perform on some parts of the body (such as that Brazilian I was talking about). Like any method of hair removal which pulls hair from the roots you can get a bacterial infection called folliculitis but it is not very common. It’s also not great for skin with acne or other irritation but that is true of many methods of hair removal. Redness may occur after treatment to sensitive areas so it is not a good idea to have threading upper lip treatment or other face threading and then to go straight out on a hot date!