Threading - the new hair removal phenomenon

Western society often looks to the East for their health and beauty secrets, look at yoga, meditation, aromatherapy, henna tattoos and jewelled body art, to name just a few practices that have successfully crossed hemispheres. One of the latest imports is threading, a hair removal method that is catching the attention of many people, including celebrities like Nigella Lawson, Sophie Dahl and Liz Hurley. In fact, in America threading salons have grown in popularity, while express threading bars are commonplace in shopping centres across England. It is also favoured by many of the top models as it offers a fast, precise relatively painless hair removal technique. Bollywood brows have certainly overtaken Brazilian bikini lines as the hottest depilatory fashion, or so the beauty experts tell us. Never one to miss a new beauty fad, I brought my extremely bushy brows (a week in bed sick meant they were untouched) to Geraldine’s Health and Beauty, Castlemaine Street last week to test threading out for myself, especially as I’m not so keen on waxing with sensitive skin, or tweezing when you’re left with stubble and pinched skin. “It was developed in Asia as a form of hair removal when there were no tweezers of wax,” Beauty Therapist Melissa Donaldson from Beechville explained, adding that the technique can be used all over the body and is particularly effectively on the face, lips and eyebrows where it gives very precise arched results. After training with an English expert in threading recently, Melissa is a real dab hand working her way through my bushy brows with ease as I chat away. She holds a thin double length of twisted cotton rolled along the skin, trapping hairs and pulling them out from the follicle, which in my opinion is much gentler than tweezing, often something that makes you squirm and jump. It may make your eyes water slightly and I got a mad urge to scratch my nose during the treatment, all normal reactions during threading, Melissa said. There are obvious advantages to the express treatment that is so fast you can have new brows in just 15 minutes during your lunch break. “The hairs grow back finer because you get them at the root and there is no stubble afterwards. You also end up with a lovely shape with threading and it’s great for blondes who have a lot of downy hair,” Melissa enthused. “At the moment the thick arch shape is on-trend, the overly skinny or very thick brow is gone and it’s a happy medium now, something you do easily with threading.” Another happy plus is that there is no scalded red look or irritation on your brows straight after the technique because it simply glides along, something that can’t always be said of waxing. Like plucking, results can last up to two to four weeks depending on your hair growth. Everything sounds great but the real tester is the finished result, having had a few bad experiences in the past where over enthusiastic practitioners practically denuded me of my brows, I was a little apprehensive but I need not have been. Highly professional, Melissa left me with fantastic brows that look so sharp and defined, a finish that I would never have managed myself as I either tweeze too much or too little leaving me looking like Attila the Hun. Looking in the mirror, my face looked clearer, eyes bigger and more defined, essentially framing my face. It’s certainly a quick, inexpensive make-over in advance of Christmas at just €15! Geraldine’s Health and Beauty Clinic, 2 Castlemaine Street, Athlone is currently running a number of special offers in the run-up to Christmas including an offer where you book two facials and get one free. Waxing is also half price every Wednesday. For further information call 090 6474127.