In everyday work, brow artists often face the need to correct eyebrows as quickly and neatly as possible. However, when a client has a lot of vellus hair in the brow area, working with tweezers alone can take a long time. A successful way to handle this task is to use threading (removing hairs with a cotton thread).
What is threading?
Threading is a fairly common technique for removing unwanted hairs with a cotton thread. It is especially popular among brow artists because it allows you to correct brows very quickly and cleanly and to clear the area even of the finest vellus hairs. Where working with tweezers would take considerable time and effort, threading helps get it done in minutes.
Which areas can be treated with threading
By the way, threading is appropriate for removing hair across the entire face, including on the most sensitive skin.
- Eyebrows. Threading is suitable both for classic shape correction and for thorough cleaning of the area around the brows, where clients often have a lot of vellus hair;
- Upper lip (mustache). A very sensitive area above the upper lip with fine peach fuzz, for which threading is an ideal option.
- Cheeks and sideburns. A common client request is the delicate removal of vellus hair on the cheeks and in the sideburn area.
In general, threading can be used on any hair-growth areas where the hair is thin, soft, and requires careful correction.
Benefits of threading
In their practice, brow artists use different methods: tweezing, waxing, and threading. Let’s look at the advantages of threading and when it’s worth choosing it over other hair-removal methods.
- Fast, clean treatment of large areas and vellus hair. In cases where working with tweezers on fine peach fuzz is difficult and wax isn’t suitable for all clients, thread work becomes the best solution.
- Atraumatic even for sensitive skin. Cotton thread is hypoallergenic and mainly contacts the hairs. Unlike wax, threading is better suited for people with reactive skin prone to irritation and redness.
- An additional service in your price list. Once you master threading, it’s easy to expand your menu — for example, “upper-lip threading” or “cheek threading.” These procedures can be performed in parallel with the main service — brow tinting or lamination.
How to work properly with a thread for threading?
The principle of removing hairs with a thread is quite simple, but the technique itself requires practice, coordination, and habit:
The thread is specially twisted (into a figure eight) and fixed over the correction area at the twist point. With a smooth movement, the thread tightens, twists, captures, and removes even the thinnest and shortest hairs.
There are two basic threading techniques:
- With the thread fixed around the neck. This is the most common option among brow artists. The main work is done by fixing the thread in the correct position over the correction area and with light, controlled movements of the artist’s body.
- With the thread fixed between the fingers. The thread is tied into a closed loop with twists in the middle. The correction is performed by movements of the wrists and fingers. This method requires greater dexterity and is not always convenient for prolonged work.
