One of the points on my life list that I’ve been working on recently is the maintenance of my eyebrows. When composing my Life List I vowed to get my eyebrows regularly threaded for one whole year which might sound trivial and ridiculous but when you’re a darker haired lady like me who has had to cope with a monobrow since the age of 12 the eradication of facial hair is a fairly big deal. Not only is there the slug that sits above my eyes, but I’m also contending with a moustache and the beginnings of – gasp! – chin hair! One persistent chin hair, anyway, but I digress.
The thing about shaping your eyebrows is that it chances your face more than you could ever imagine. Beauty gurus spout crap about how your eyebrows can complrtely change your face and it is actually true. If you have lovely neat and shaped brows I always feel you look well turned out and can get away with wearing less makeup, and anything that allows me to walk out my door without a) spending more than 5 minutes slapping makeup on and b) gives the appearance of having more than 4 hours sleep the night before is a total winner.
Now, the first time I got my eyebrows threaded it was done by a work colleague of mine who leart the art of threading from her cousin. The results were subtle and I don’t remember it hurting. Fast forward a few years (past the period when I became BFFs with my tweezermans and took care of my own eyebrow maintenance) and I decided to go to a salon to get reacquainted with my threaded self.
Firstly, it freaking hurt. Like someone taking a hot poker to my eyebrows and scratching it around a bit. I’d say the pain was equal to the worst breastfeeding pain. Yeah, like I was breastfeeding through my eyebrows. Ow.
Secondly, my eyebrows were so perfectly shaped I was left feeling a bit like this:
But with less smiling.
And so it was that I fell out of love with threading. But I still needed help, my unruly eyebrows left me feeling a bit underdone all the time.
This is when I met Kaisa, who recommended a local beauty therapist to me. She lives a five minute walk away, only charges £7 and seriously, my eyebrows have never looked better. I feel like I can go out with no makeup on and not feel like a total scruffbag, or I can have a full face on (including this amazing BrowZings kit from BeneFit) and look really polished. To quote the fancy beauty people, they now really ‘frame my face’.
Let me demonstrate –
Before
Messy and bushy and urgh. The bit that annoys me most is the above-eyebrow part… 1980s Brooke Shields, eat your heart out.
After
And a quick side-by-side zoom:
OK, so I still like to slap on some makeup before leaving the house lest I terrify the villagers and have also developed a taste for coffee so I give the appearence of being awake, but at least my face is framed.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE getting my eyebrows waxed. Is that weird?
NO! I find it really relaxing, don’t mind it at all!
waxing is torture that I just can’t bring myself to sign up for. Tried it on my legs years ago, but I am so fair and my hair decided to not grow out again – Oh the pain of ingrown hair!
But eyebrows threading is just genius. I love it. 5 minutes pain, 2 weeks (and more) gain! Funny how different people have different preferences. (love your new brows by the way)
Thank you! I HATE waxing anywhere else on my body… always have to have a couple of glasses of wine before waxing my bikini line. x
Oh, you’ve convinced me to make the effort to go get mine done too – they look great.
Thanks! I always feel like it makes such a difference x
Yes I concur. Threading is THE best thing for eyebrows. I love how it opens up my face and makes me feel all refreshed despite the sleep deprivation. What’s even better, mine only costs £3. Oh the joys of living in East London : )
Ooops just realised you DON’T like threading?? Oh either way your brows look fab. Off to get some sleep lol..
Heh… thank you! I did like threading but there’s only one place in my neck of the woods that does it and the pain, OH the pain!!! Love the cheap East London threading studios though.
They look fabulous! I might have to travel to your lady from Hertfordshire to get mine done. I haven’t found anyone in years who can do the top Brooke Shields part well. Ah, it’s the little things in life isn’t it!
Hi Alice, (new visitor!) Having my eyebrows done is THE most important thing to me. I feel so much better when they are nicely shaped and I look like a different person indeed. I have enormous dark caterpillar eyebrows so it is an absolute must, but if I have them done then I feel very confident to trot around with no make up etc because I feel great :) So know what you mean about threading though – weirdest most annoying pain. Give me plucking or waxing any day. But I also think it depends who does it. I used to go to an amazing Iranian women and it didn’t hurt one bit, she made them look amazing – I miss her!!
Found you on Top Baby Blogs…I’ve always wanted to get by brows threaded, but I’ve heard it really hurts..either way I’m too lazy to get down to the salon to get it done!
I love them. They look magic! My eyebrows are so rubbish – they’re all patchy and silly. I’d rather how too much I pull wax down than ones with massive gaps in!
Ooh I thread my eyebrows at a place called Blink Bar it’s close to painless but costs an awful lot! It feels soo good having freshly shaped brows, I have to agree!!
Loving the brows! I am a threading girl myself, think it is genius, albeit that it smarts a bit! I decided to try threading on upper lip pre holiday and f*!k me it hurt – properly brought tears to my eyes and everything! But it was less than 30 seconds and results are amazing so I’ll brave it and do it again. X
I freaking hate eyebrows threading!! It hurts so much I actually cried and I can cope with a lot of pain, I promise.
After reading this entry I spent some time on mine on Saturday morning and what a difference it made! I did it myself though, could not be bothered to go into town for it.
They look great – subtle difference but natural/groomed, and with hair up too you look really fresh faced and eyebrows set the tone (says the girl with fringe… )I’d love to go back to threading- instead of hiding and last minute tweazing! Thanks for inspiration :)