Many of today's beauty procedures simply conceal something wrong with the body. Threading is a method of removing the problem at the source. There is no longer any substance left on the skin. We have stripped away all of the marketing jargon. We have gone straight to the point. It explains what happens when a piece of tensioned looped cotton exerting an antibacterial effect has contact with the surface of your skin. You will see clean lines. Your epidermis will remain intact. As a result, you will have been provided with a shape that frames the entire face.
If you visit any studio in Central London where people are working when it’s busy after lunchtime on Thursdays, they can hear the sound of tensioned thread snapping. They can also hear the drone of conversation. All these people believe that the magic of the service lies within the thread itself; they are all wrong. The angle at which the professional technician holds their anchor hand creates the final result.
It’s all about practice.
Coming back from a bad eyebrow shaping requires about three months of unkempt return hair growth. It takes years to create a standard brow shape. It also takes an understanding of how your face looks before we ever remove any hairs from the brow string.
The Art of Precision Eyebrow Threading
Let’s take a look at exactly how this works above your eye. The practitioner will take a specific type of cotton string and double it. They then twist the centre five times. On occasion, six times for a client with exceptionally coarse hair.
This twisted section of string now acts like a microscopic lasso. When the practitioner rolls the twisted section of string firmly against the skin, the tension on the anchor hand catches stray hairs. It pulls them completely out of the follicle. You are pulling the entire root straight out instead of breaking off the visible stem.
Most magazines will tell you that the speed with which the practitioner makes wrist movements determines the overall appearance of your arch; this is completely backwards. Rather, it’s the tension of the stationary anchor hand that controls the arch line. If the anchoring fingers move when the string is pulled even 1mm away from the original position during the pull, your arch will drop.
The Mapping Phase
Prior to commencing hair removal, the technician needs to establish your natural shape. This is done by measuring the distance from the outer edge of the nostril to the inner corner of the eye with a specialized caliper tool. This allows them to find out where the brow should start.
As you recline in the leather chair and the technician draws the natural arch of your orbital bone with a white cosmetic pencil, you can see there is much more involved in this procedure. It is more than what you would expect in a typical salon appointment.
The technicians will first determine the peak of the arch, then they will measure the tail before using the thread.
Why Choose Threading Over Waxing or Tweezing?
Many customers want to know why to use string when hot wax is so much faster. Here’s the ugly reality of facial waxing that many salons will not tell you. Wax does not only stick to the hair; it sticks directly to the top layer of your skin. Therefore, when the paper strip is removed by the esthetician, there is also some of your skin removed as well. It is a microscopic layer.
You have lost that barrier of protection.
When you use string, it does not touch your skin at all. The string moves across the skin and only takes the hair shaft off. You can also use tweezers to remove an individual hair. You must twist and pull for each individual hair. Be sure you don’t touch the skin next to it.
Then, you must sit under bright lights for 20 minutes or longer. A good threader can get a whole perfectly straight row of hair from your face in less than 3 seconds.
The reason a lot of high-volume shops have no problem with waxing is simple. It allows their estheticians to turn the chair around quicker. They can have more clients per hour and make more money each day. In addition, by forcing the threader to slow down, they are able to focus on each hair individually.
Eyebrow Threading Prices at Our London Clinic
Prices vary greatly in London, with some corner shops charging £5 and Mayfair charging £45 and giving you a free bottle of sparkling water while you wait.
At Patel Sisters Clinic, we ignore both pricing extremes.
Our base reshape starts at £12 and an ordinary tidy up costs £30
So why would a spool of thread be priced at £45? You’re paying for the geometrical mapping of the thread not the actual material of it. The cost of your service includes the time spent, the clinical grade surgical thread used, and the turnover of the chairs.
The floor price is the same regardless of where you’re getting your service done. The cost of providing the service is determined by the geometry of your service. It is not determined by the type of establishment that you are getting your service done in.
Threading Solutions for Sensitive Skin
Skin can turn red after blood floods to a part of skin which has been recently manipulated (for example, after a laser procedure). This is medically known as erythema or skin flushing.
Any place where hair has just been removed will have some erythema. If a provider states that there is no redness, they may not be completely truthful. You will typically have a light pink ring around your eyes when you leave the office.
The key difference is how quickly the redness (erythema) disappears. Waxing typically lasts longer. It can last up to a week. Threading usually settles by the time you get to the tube station. As soon as you finish the threading service, we will put chilled rose water on the swollen follicles.
To always keep our toner at 4° Celsius; putting in cold water after the threading procedure will shock the follicle (pore) closed.
Clinic Hygiene, Safety, and Professional Standards
Take a good look at the way your technician holds the string while he/she works.
Ten years ago, it was common for the technician/trainer to hold the end of the cotton with their teeth in order to maintain tension on the string. In fact, there are still some “old school” shop owners who use this technique. However, according to our policy, we do not allow this technique anywhere in our facility. This is due to a lack of sanitary standards related to this practice.
Instead, we require our technicians to wear the cotton string anchored in place around their neck. It may also be pinned directly to the uniform lapel.
When the cotton touches your facial area, it comes from a sterile spool, and after the end of your appointment, the string immediately is disposed into the medical waste container.
In addition, we do not permit the recycling of the string. We do not permit spools of string to be shared between different stations. You will have a clean execution every time you visit us!
Pre-Appointment Preparation Guidelines
You have to do a little bit of homework before you sit in the chair. Most clients just walk in off the street without thinking about their skin condition. Planning ahead genuinely changes your final result.
The 48-Hour Checklist
Here is what you should handle before showing up for your booking:
- Stop applying retinol creams at least two full days prior to your visit.
- Skip the heavy liquid foundation on your forehead the morning of the treatment.
- Drink a tall glass of water instead of a double espresso if you feel anxious. Heavy caffeine intake visibly increases nerve sensitivity.
- Let your natural brow grow out untouched for at least three weeks so we have a proper canvas to work with.
Giving us more hair to work with allows us to correct past mistakes. We can’t fix a thin arch if you plucked the crucial hairs three days ago.
Post-Eyebrow Threading Aftercare for Long-Lasting Results
The pores are fully open for around 2 hours after the hair root comes out, so be careful how you treat them.
Your forehead should not be touched. Fingertips have oils and bacteria that are not visible to the naked eye. Those will go into those tiny little holes and irritate the follicles.
Around the 14th day after hairs have been implanted, there may be one hair that pops up in the area near your tail. Do not pull out this hair! Pulling it out, will ruin the cycle of uniformity, leaving hairs that can take up to 5 weeks to grow back in the same pattern.
By waiting patiently through the awkward stage when the hairs are growing back, you will guarantee a much better final result after your next professional appointment than if you pull hairs with tweezers from your face in your bathroom mirror, where you have horrible fluorescent lights.
You will be glad to have had patience!
Visit Our Patel Sisters Clinic for Your Consultation
Our Patel Sisters Beauty Clinic location allows you to be in a calm environment that allows you to be focused. We do not play loud club music; we have no crowded waiting areas or loud environments in which to be…we are light and airy with lots of natural light; we use sterile instruments; and our practitioners view the structure of your face as a mathematical equation that requires a solution.
You can schedule an appointment online by utilizing our booking portal; we provide all new clients with thirty (30) full minutes of time in our practice. At your initial appointment, we will take an overall bone structure map of your face prior to using any cotton balls or supplies to work on your face.
Conclusion
The next time you see that the arches on your feet are losing their defined shape when you look in the mirror, realize that getting back those defined arches can be achieved with one simple item and one person…a piece of twine and an experienced professional to know how hard/softly to pull.
FAQs :
What is eyebrow threading?
Eyebrow threading is a historical mechanism of hair removal developed by early Eastern societies. A professional uses a double-stranded twisted cotton thread that is rolled across unwanted hair to trap it by pulling it from its follicle at the root. Unlike tweezer removal, which removes hairs one at a time, a single roll of thread can remove several lines of short hair at one time. This creates very well defined and shaped edges of the hair around the eye.
Does eyebrow threading hurt?
Pain is completely subjective, but clients usually say that the sensation feels like a quick, sharp pinch. It also feels somewhat like static electricity striking your skin. The string only adheres to the hair and does not adhere to your skin, so as soon as you stop pulling, there is no longer any discomfort felt. Your eyes will also tear up from having hair removed in close proximity to your tear ducts. Even if you do not perceive much pain, it still will cause your eyes to tear from this removal of hair.
How long do the results last?
The period of time during which the clean lines will be maintained, from three to five weeks, is determined by the individual hair growth rate of an individual. Removing the hair via waxing involves removing the entire hair from the root. It takes significantly longer for the hair to grow back as opposed to cutting the hair off at the surface. The establishment of routine appointments over a period of time will gradually retrain the hair follicles to regrow thinner and less densely after many months.
Is threading better than waxing for eyebrows?
Waxing is a much safer option in terms of removing hair from your facial skin than using a chemical product. A wax contains several resins and chemicals that may cause an allergic reaction for some individuals, and the heat used in the heating process increases blood flow to your delicate eye area; therefore, using wax can be an unsafe method for removing facial hair. Additionally, the wax tends to cling or “stick” to the top layer of the skin, potentially leading to minor injuries such as tearing or burning if the technician pulls at them too forcefully. Cotton string does not contain any chemicals and only affects the hair shaft itself.
Can I get my brows threaded if I have sensitive skin?
Yes! If you are at risk for any breakout or use topical acne solutions, shaving is considered the safest and best method of hair removal. Teeth shaving your dermis with a razor will keep your skin barrier in mostly its original condition because you are not adding chemicals to your skin and will not tear/produce any type of dermal trauma. Very little redness is typically experienced as a result of shaving your face, and it can typically be resolved quickly by applying either a cold compress or natural rose water immediately after the treatment session without clogging your pores.
What should I do to prepare for my appointment?
To help the technician determine your eyebrows’ actual growth direction, show up with an unmade-up, clean forehead. To avoid skin irritation prior to your appointment, do not use any product on the area that has an aggressive acid (i.e., Glycolic or Salicylic) or any physical exfoliating product that will disrupt the hair follicles for several days before coming in. Lastly, stop tweezing your eyebrows for at least three weeks before your appointment to give the technician a complete, larger canvas on which to create the best arch possible for your face.