Eyebrow threading is a hair removal method which originated in Asia. It involves removing multiple strands at a time by trapping a row of hair in a twisted cotton thread. As it pulls the hair from the root, one can remain hair-free for longer. Trust me, the pain is worth it.
I had full, bushy brows before getting mine threaded for the first time. I was 14. I begged my mum to take me, but only during the school summer holiday so it wouldn’t be as noticeable. But instead, she took me on a Wednesday after school and of course, everyone noticed the next day.
Surprisingly, I didn’t care too much about who noticed and who didn’t. My skin was still pretty red and sore but 14-year-old me felt like a woman.
I remained faithful to my eyebrow lady for seven years, even after starting university in a different city. Only when I moved abroad I had to find someone else.
During my first few weeks in Spain, I would visit every salon and ask, “¿cejas con hilo?” Some would have no idea you could remove hair with a piece of string, and others would offer wax, which was my plan B, but I hadn’t given up on my mission.
Eventually, I found a place that charged an eye-watering €20, which is super expensive than Leicester’s £2 - £7 rate.
I knew I should have turned away after learning the price, but even more so after seeing a bindi-wearing woman surrounded by hundred of Buddha and Ganesh statues smiling at me. Everything screamed cultural appropriation. But I sat down in the chair anyways.
I could sense the nerves in the lady’s voice as she told me about the Bollywood films she watched as a child and how much she loved Indian culture. I’m not sure if she was trying to convince me of her cultural appreciation, but it naively made me relax a little.
She began her work by slowly and painfully pulling out one strand of hair at a time. I knew I was going to be sitting in the chair for ages. To this day, I am sure that I was the first customer she had tested her threading skills on.
Whilst trying to pull out eyebrow hairs, she managed to catch my freshly pierced nose stud in her thread and violently pull it out.
It was a moment full of blood, pain, shame, and embarrassment. I took it as an early sign that the new city did not want me.
After 5 minutes of holding a tissue to my nose, she continued silently. And she still charged €20.
This week is the first time I’ll be going back to my eyebrow lady after two years. My eyebrows have suffered a lot during the pandemic— from growing them out to attempts to thread them myself, I realised I should leave it to the professionals.
I miss the feeling of freshly threaded brows. The pain weirdly feels therapeutic, and sometimes I fall asleep on the salon bed. It’s comforting hearing the auntyjis chatter away whilst waiting in line to get them done.
Even though the actual process of hair removal is quite mundane, there is something special about actually going to get your eyebrows threaded. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen my eyebrow lady for two years— I’m not entirely sure. But I am looking forward to sitting in the chair again this week.