This weekend we packed it up and went to the mall. There really isn’t much to do there. Hell, there isn’t even a Gymboree. Its like a wasted plot of land with crappy Alabama shops. If it didn’t have a Starbucks, it would be more like an indoor flea market.
So as I was walking back from the book store, I passed a little kiosk with about 12 people milling around staring at something. Anytime there is that big of a crowd, it makes me want to look too.
Could be something awesome like a dead body.
Or a hoedown.
As I approach I realize that they were surrounding two Indian women (as in from India, not American Indian) who were ‘threading’ someone’s eyebrows.
Now I understood the crowd. This was fascinating. They were taking normal thread off a spool and seamlessly removing hair. No wax, no drip, no plucking. Just thread. Even more spectacular, I couldn’t even see anyone wincing in pain as the hair is being removed. They were doing eyebrows, upper lip, nose.
NOSE for goodness sakes!!
(note to self: Thank God I don’t have nose hair)
Curiosity got the better of me and I thought “I haven’t gotten my eyebrows done in at least…..9 months….so I am going to do this”. It cannot be that bad.
If you don’t know what threading is, its an Indian created/perfected technique that combines two pieces of thread that pulls hair out of your face in one line. Its supposed to last several weeks longer than waxing and easier to shape your eyebrows since its done at one time, instead of in separate pieces. It also doesn’t leave you red or with ingrown hairs, etc.
Youtube it.
As I am sitting there waiting for my turn, the girl in front of me manages to lean up a little bit from her chair and MOUTH’S to me “THIS HURTS”.
Then she wipes a tear from her eye.
A TEAR.
That should have been some internal sign to RUN. I stayed. Apparently I am a glutton for punishment. Or stubborn. Probably both.
I have birthed a child, burned myself on a curling iron, gotten a paper cut. Surely I can handle this. I laugh at the face of Pain.
HA HA HA.
And judging from the hair under the pits of this girl, maybe she has thick coarse eyebrows. Speaking of that, seriously, shave your pits. I get if you missed a day or two, but one of the great freedoms of this country is to be hairless. Take advantage.
So the girl gets up, pays, and is on her way. I don’t get a chance to talk to her but her eyebrows look great. That’s enough convincing for me.
They gesture to the chair and I sit down and lean back. Some baby powder get soothed on my eyebrows.
So far so good.
Then she has me put one of my hands up to stretch my skin from the eyebrow line on the top and the other hand on the bottom. Basically I am pulling my own skin for her while she threads.
Then it starts.
HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.
Every piece of hair I can feel one by one ripping out from the follicle. Every piece.
Rip. Rip. Rip.
Pain is laughing at the face of me now.
Am I paying for this? Why did no one wince, scream out for mercy? I think they were possibly stunned into silence. And of course, here am I holding my skin in place for her to do it.
It’s like extra special pain when you are part of the torturing procedure.
Just when I thought this cannot possibly get worse, she starts threading my FOREHEAD. Do I have hair there? Why yes, yes I do. I can FEEL it being RIPPED out.
Crap, is it going to grow back BLACK now?
Chris said you can see the empty holes in my face where my hair used to be. I now know why it lasts longer…cause the hair is afraid to grow back.
The worst part of the whole thing is that they look great. Which means I can look forward to this every few months.
Fab.
I should have been a man.
~Trisha
I have been getting threaded for years and I love it. It is much more precise than waxing and better for your skin.
My skin stays red for almost a day when I get waxed and you cannot even tell after threading.
Threading is almost always cheaper than waxing.
Also I think that you get used to the pain!
I have been getting my eyebrows threaded for years and I love it. I am much more used to the pain now then when I first got it done.
I actually made my husband get it done once just between his eyebrows so he could feel the pain. He was so made at me that he did not speak to me for the rest of the day.
Threading is actually much easier on your skin than waxing. I have very sensitive skin and waxing would leave my skin red for almost 24 hours. With threading, I could walk out of the shop and you could not even tell. Plus threading (at least here in Atlanta) is much cheaper.
You’d have to pay me to do that. Waxing is bad enough. I usually bleed a little when I get waxed because me hair is so coarse.
I had it done once and the lady breathed ALL OVER ME! No kidding it was disgusting. She got really close, which apparently they don’t have to do, and just breathed on me, really heavy out of breath type breathing too. Don’t know if I could ever do it again.
Lee
Oh boy, I wanted to get this done but my SIL squealed said it hurts like hell. I still want to try it though. It has amazing results and really does last longer. You look great!! LOL @ “I now know why it lasts longer…cause the hair is afraid to grow back.”
I was just wondering how that worked, and how uncomfortable it is. Thanks for sharing your story, especially in such an entertaining way!
Oh my word, I laughed so hard! That was such a great post… and so something I would do! lol
Amazing what people do to be beeeeautiful.
I think I’ll stick with plucking.
Funny you write this…I haven’t had my eyebrows waxed for over a month. I’m supposed to go and get threaded with a local blogger friend. Stay tuned for my painful post soon.
bring a video camera and vlog it!~
I’ve always wondered about threading. They just put up a kiosk in our crappy mall too. I almost got it done, but I had the kids with me and I couldn’t lay back and close my eyes for fear of someone running off with one of them.
I think maybe I’ll stick to waxing and plucking. Thanks!
I did a post on this a few months back with the Lindo tool. I’m sure it hurts because it hurt using that! Your eyebrows do look good
it almost sucks that they DO look good. But today i woke up red, even though i wasn’t when i got it done. Its kinda swollen. I probably picked up some crazy thread disease.
I was actually just looking up about doing eyebrows and heard about this but didn’t look for it until I read your blog post about it. It looks so painful but looks like it lasts longer. And you can do it from home…I’m tempted now. LOL!
LOL! Many of my friends get their brows threaded. I pluck or get waxed.
Oh what we do to look pretty!
Ah you poor thing! IDK why this is all the rage right now! It’s in our malls as well! Since I’m an Aesthetician I have had clients try it and come back to me saying waxing is by far less painful and they both last the same amount. Plus waxing is so much quicker! And if you go to a good Aesthetician they should be able to give you great results! Your brows do look great tho!!
PS I have not been on your site in forever! Guess that’s what having a baby does to you huh!
yes, come back to the site!!!!!!! i have missed you!
I’ve heard about it, but never had it done. But yes, I’ve heard it can be very painful.
O.K. So I think we have the same mall in our towns. Could be a weird TwinPeaks thing-only I haven’t got the threading eyebrows. I’d much prefer that instead of a creepy massage parlour thing-I don’t dare go into!
wow you are certainly brave! I think women just have a much higher threshold for pain than men do
you are right about that.
I had that done for the first time a few months ago. I really liked the look and does last longer than waxing. It wasn’t painless, but it wasn’t awful either. Sometimes it depends on who you have do it.
LOL I don’t think I could do it!
I’ve stood and watched them do that before. Now I know how much pain they are really feeling.
You look great!!
thanks, matt! Yes, they are in pain.
Haha! I am not sure whether or not to laugh… Hahahaha! Yes, they do look great though!