Should Threading be Regulated?

Threading is growing in popularity as a means to remove facial hair – in particular keeping eyebrows neat – and a growing number of beauty salons are starting to offer it.

But while licenses are required for almost all beauty and spa treatments in California and other parts of the USA, legislators are still deliberating about regulating this practice. Although the procedure has been done for thousands of years threading is something which girls of Middle Eastern and Asian origin mostly learn at home and there is no official training.

Update : This post originally pointed to an article which is no longer available in the San Jose Mercury News about the dangers of unregulated threading and how hair removal legislation needs to catch up with actual practice. However if practicing technicians needed a hair removal license how would that be granted as there is no official training? It’s a bit of a catch 22.

Give Threading a Try

Threading, which originated in India in ancient times, is a great way of dealing with unruly brows. Although plucking and waxing are more common, threading has been gaining in popularity recently as a way of dealing with eyebrow hair, and with good reason.

Threading is quite gentle on the skin compared to waxing which tends to pull and irritate the skin – the action of the thread merely has a light exfoliating effect. An experienced beautician can treat eyebrows just as quickly too and the action is very precise compared to having wax painted around your brows to remove unwanted hair from the area.

Eyebrow threading

Eyebrow threading

While plucking (or tweezing) is slow, removing one hair at a time, threading can cover a larger area faster and it is a safe way to remove hair from above the brow as well as below which is more difficult with tweezers. You get a cleaner finish that way. Threading can trap the smallest hairs so you don’t need much regrowth to have another tidy up and stay looking your best.

If you have never had your eyebrows shaped in a salon (or it is a while since you had it done) why not treat yourself to a treatment – professionally shaped brows can really “lift” your eye area and your whole face benefits from the change.

Look out for “brow bars” in stores too, where you can easily have your eyebrows done during a shopping trip or lunch hour.