By Maysoon Salah
When it comes to hair removal, every woman (and lots of men) are interested in becoming “silky smooth”. Experimentation with hair removal most likely ensues—bleaching, shaving, plucking, waxing—until she or he finds their preferred method. It isn’t fun, nor something any of us looks forward to.
For the majority that seek out hair removal help from professionals, it can be an embarrassing and an expensive chore. Which is why we should look to thousands of years of wisdom to find the best method of hair removal. While these techniques are currently experiencing a new surge of followers, they are anything but modern. In fact, they are older than we can trace, and they rely on the ancient wisdom of touch and 100% natural ingredients.
THREADING
Also known as “Khite” or “Kheit”, threading is a form of hair removal that uses only a thin, twisted cotton thread to pick up multiple hairs at a time from the follicle—unlike plucking, which is one hair at a time. Threading comes from ambiguous origins: somewhere in the Far East, someone decided to experiment with a piece of thread and body hair.
And the quick, amazing precision the effect produced was catching. Threading was also discovered to be the safest and easiest way to get rid of unwanted facial hair. The feeling of a twisted thread touching your skin and pulling off a line of hair from the root is hard to imagine. But it’s real, more efficient than waxing, and far less painful.
The Pros
Threading offers the finest definition, speed and minimal side effects compared to any other hair removal method out there. It is the fastest form of facial hair removal and it can also remove fine vellus facial hair (a.k.a. peach fuzz). Hair removed with threading does not grow back longer or thicker since it is removed from the follicle. In fact, regular threading minimizes hair growth due to the natural lifespan of hair follicles.
It is the only safe alternative for people on Retin-A, Accutane or skin thinning medications and a highly sanitary procedure. The twisted thread is usually secured at one end either in the threader’s mouth, or wrapped around their neck. While this has turned some off of threading due to the bacteria implications, the portion of the thread in your practitioner’s mouth will never touch you. Threading also offers the fastest, most precise and finest definition in eyebrow shaping.
In comparison to waxing or sugaring on the face, it does not contribute to the skin wrinkling over time and there is very little to no redness, since only the hair is touched and removed, and not the skin. Additionally, there is no mess beside loose debris of dead skin and hair—no trash can of wax pieces to look at or bits left on the skin once you get home.
The pain one may experience is subjective based on hair length, area, and individual threshold of pain. The threader can minimize the discomfort with the amount of pressure and speed used on the surface being threaded, and by stretching the skin. This minimizes discomfort while also reducing the possibility of cutting or welt marks on delicate, mature or thin skin.
The Cons
There are some possible negative outcomes to threading such as follicitus (small pink or red bumps), which occurs mostly from the first threading experience in areas where the hair has never been pulled from the follicle before. However, it’s not common to occur again the second time around.
Another thing to be wary of is the level of experience and passion your threader has for her/his trade. While the good part is that threading is becoming more popular, the bad part is, not everybody who learns how to thread will be good at it. It requires skill, talent, practice, and an artistic inclination on how to shape eyebrows.
With the emergence of threading kiosks and the quick commercialization of the skill (three day training) and the lack of knowledge of the average consumer on what is considered good vs. bad threading, unfortunately a lot can go wrong. Please choose your threader and threading salon wisely. Make sure they do not give a menu on how you would like your eyebrows to be shaped. The natural eyebrow shape should always be respected because you should only work with what you have.
The thread used should be 100% cotton and not a cotton-polyestor blend that is sharper and leads to nicks. You will be able to feel the difference! The threader should always require the client to the stretch the skin when threading eyebrows. If a tweezer, eyebrow scissor and brush is used, they should be disinfected before your service, and a toner with antibacterial/calming properties should be offered after the service.
The Pain
Individual experiences range from clients sleeping through the service to squirming in their chair. There may be some sneezing and tearing up during the service, especially when the threading is being done near the eyes or the upper lip.
Keep in mind that one threader is different from another, and if you do have a bad experience—try it one more time with someone different. Use the referrals of friends to choose your threader, or ask your threader if they have pictures or testimonials from past clients. The pros of threading greatly outweigh the cons, and for facial hair removal, threading far exceeds all other methods.
SUGARING
Sugaring is a practice that dates back to at least 1900 B.C. It is said to have emerged from the need to find cleaner hygiene practices in sweltering Middle Eastern climates. Sugaring the underarms and pubic hair became a regular practice in order to minimize the odor and discomfort that resulted from the heat of the desert. It then became customary for a woman to remove all her body hair after she started puberty, and this is still practiced today in many Middle Eastern cultures and Muslim countries.
The Pros
Sugar is full of wonders and in comparison to wax, offers many advantages for a client who is seeking a gentle form of hair removal for her body. It is made only of sugar, water and lemon juice (or citric acid). It can be applied at room temperature, lukewarm or warm-hot.
Sugaring is a great exfoliant and humectant that draws moisture to the skin, so unlike wax it leaves your skin moist and soft rather then raw and tender to the touch. It is 50% less painful then wax because it does not pull strips of your live skin cells off, which is why waxing can should never go over an area more than once. This makes sugaring suitable for even the most sensitive skin types and redness of the skin does not last as long as with waxing.
It is also safe to be used on areas with spider and varicose veins. If sugar is used in a professional salon setting, cross-contamination of bacteria is nearly impossible with sugar because bacteria cannot breed in sugar. Sugar paste is also used in the medical field as an anti-bacterial on chronically infected wounds to prevent staph infection.
The Cons
Although the hand pressed method of sugaring is preferable, sugaring can be done by applying the paste with a spatula and removing it with a muslin cloth, similar to waxing. Some clients feel uncomfortable with the amount of pressure necessary in the hand method and/or being touched skin-to-skin by a stranger or on certain parts of the body.
The hand method also promotes greater exfoliation because of the possibility for repetition. Although sugar is more wondrous then beeswax for hair removal, it still does not eliminate (but greatly minimizes) the possibility of skin irritations, ingrown hairs and breakouts.
The Pain
While much gentler than waxing in general, the amount of pain you experience while sugaring will be determined by the area of the body being treated and your personal threshhold.
HOW TO CHOSE
With all this newfound appreciation for the old, modern day estheticians are finding themselves in need of ancient history lessons! Threading, sugaring and other natural beauty techniques are the best solution for clients of varied skin types.
Through the education and emergence of organic salons and threading bars, waxing and tweezing are slowly coming into question as potentially harmful practices—both in terms of discomfort and long-term effects on the skin. While accreditation and official training are important factors when seeking out a credible spa/salon/practitioner etc., it is equally important to remember that these ancient practices are also ancient art forms. Allow your threader’s experience to speak for itself and use the referrals of others in choosing your hair removal expert.
About the Author: Maysoon Salah is the owner of Thread & Sugar Salon in Fresno, CA. She is an experience threader as well as natural beauty enthusiast who regularly makes her own cosmetic beauty products.