Thread Bare

The scene after your last eyebrow wax appointment: chafed red skin followed by a breakout the next day.

Talk about Apocalypse Brow.

There is a more, um, highbrow way of maintaining those perfect arches.

Eyebrow threading removes facial hair (on brows, but also on your upper lip and other areas) by using a loop of twisted thread to grab a straight row of hairs and gently pull them from the root. It’s a more precise way to shape arches than waxing, but more important, it’s less painful – like tweezing, it only removes the hair, not the top layer of skin as waxing often does. And if you use skin care products with retinol ingredients, you’ve probably learned the hard way that your skin is more prone to become irritated and tender from waxing.

Threading originated in India and has been used for centuries by women in the Middle East and Asia . It’s widely available and popular on the mainland, but it’s still catching on in the islands. There is one spa on O‘ahu that offers the service – Bellaviva Salon at Windward Mall. Book an appointment with Cathy, who was trained in threading techniques in her native Vietnam and has been doing it for more than 20 years.

So you can say aloha to over-grown or over-tweezed arches – and the pain that goes along with keeping them in shape.

Brow you’re talking.

Eyebrow threading, $20 plus tax, available at Bellaviva Salon and Spa at Windward Mall, 808.234.0500.