BEING OF Italian heritage, I have eyebrows that, when grown out, can rival those of Groucho Marx.
I’ve plucked, waxed and even gone through some laser treatments to get rid of unwanted facial hair. I hate the time-consuming plucking. I’ve been burned by waxing and lasers can’t get really close enough to the brow to give it shape. But still I pluck and wax and wax and pluck just to maintain a feminine look.
But recently that all changed. This past December, as I was wandering through the Stoneridge Shopping Center in Pleasanton, I saw two booths at either end of the mall offering threading. I’d heard of the ancient Asian hair-removal practice, but it never seemed accessible. Now here it was available in these little mall booths. I didn’t have it done that day, but my curiosity was piqued.
A few weeks ago, I finally made the leap. I went back and had my brows and lips threaded. Threading is a form of epilation in which heavy, 100- percent cotton threads are twisted around hair, and it is quickly pulled out by its roots. It’s debatable where the practice started, but it is quite common in India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In fact, many young women learn at a very young age how to perform threading at home from their mothers, aunts and sisters. It’s not unusual, says Mitesh Parikh, co-owner of Threads Beauty Bar and Spa in Dublin, for practiced people of those nationalities to offer threading in their garages or homes for a fee.
It turns out that threading is so woven into the fabric of these cultures that it is not regulated by the state Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, like waxing and hairdressing are. It is considered a cultural custom akin to the tradition of braiding hair in the African-American community, which is also not regulated by the board. As with any hair-removal technique, there is a chance of skin irritation and minor skin tears from threading.
About 15 minutes after I had settled down at the booth in the mall, hair was pulled from my brows, upper lip and chin (and $32 was pulled from my wallet). I immediately turned to Facebook and posted about my first threading experience. I described it as “quick, painful, precise and expensive” though I learned later that $32, plus tip, is a pretty decent price for all the work I had had done. And I love how sleek my new brows look.
Chetna Parikh, Mitesh’s wife and the other owner of Threads in Dublin, says all epilation is somewhat painful because the hair is being pulled from its roots. An interesting aspect of threading, she says, is that the threads can pull out hair at the point where it’s just poking out of the skin.
“Waxing needs to have at least a quarter-inch of hair to pull it effectively,” she says. Chetna Parikh is also an aesthetician, authorized by the state board to perform waxing and other services.
I suppose the quarter-inch rule is why a waxing session usually ends with a bunch of tweezing. I hate that.
Chetna Parikh says threading is precise because the threads can pull out multiple hairs at once or one hair at a time. The work is done in lines around the hairy patch so brow arches, for instance, can be intricately defined.
Mitesh Parikh says his wife is too shy to admit that she is one of the top threading professionals in the country and speaks of the practice at national cosmetology events. Her method of threading is weaving the string in between her hands and pulling the hair in short bursts. Many threading professionals anchor the thread in their mouths, which Chetna Parikh says is still a clean and sanitary way of doing it.
“In our country, this isn’t at all disgusting,” she says, referring to India. “There’s absolutely no way we would get it done ourselves if there were any chance it would be unclean.”
When the Parikhs opened their first 200-square-foot store inside the Holiday Inn Express in Dublin in 2005, they were quickly overwhelmed by demand. They opened their current 2,500-square-foot store in a Dublin strip mall nearby a year or so later. Although they offer a host of other services, they say 90 percent of their business now is customers getting their hair threaded, about 300 clients a day.
One of those clients, wedding fashion designer Zalikha Safdari of San Ramon, says she’s been waxed once, but she prefers the threading method.
“It’s convenient and cleaner and less aggressive on the skin than waxing,” she says during an eyebrow treatment.
Mitesh Parikh says even men are jumping into the threading trend, shaping their eyebrows and removing wispy fuzz from their cheeks.
“Men are learning if they do their eyebrows, it makes their eyes stand out,” he says.
Threading is applicable for both facial and body hair, but is not recommended for thick beard hair, however.
As for me, I’d go back to any store that does threading. There was hardly any redness on my brow after the procedure, and Groucho was held at bay for weeks. The average client who relies only on threading for grooming would need the procedure done about once every three weeks.
Originally Published: April 15, 2010 at 1:58 p.m.
