I was out with friends last weekend, when one of the guys in our group asked, “What’s threading? Why is there a whole salon dedicated to threading?” On the one hand, I was surprised he’d not heard of threading … on the other hand, my husband won’t let me come within 3 feet of him with tweezers, so I wasn’t surprised.

Threading is (yet another) method of hair removal. It’s a precise, chemical-free and fairly painless technique that has been used in Middle Eastern cultures for hundreds of years. It became popular on the east coast in the mid-to-late 1990s — I first got my brows threaded in 1998 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The demand for skilled threadists has grown, thus the increase in the number of threading salons.

I will admit, it’s not completely painless, but ladies, we’ve endured worse (Exhibit A: my three children); however, it’s quick and inexpensive. It’s also sanitary. You’ll want to wash or sanitize your hands — the threadist will ask you to hold your skin taunt — and there’s no double dipping, which happens when you’re using wax.

Here’s a video displaying several “before and after” photographs:

https://youtu.be/M3uKxyDT0g8?t=1m25s