How to Thread Your Own Eyebrows

The concept might be terrifying at first, but once you get the hang of it, learning to thread your own eyebrows is a great skill and a total time and money-saver! Why spend between 5 and 10 dollars twice every month to have this done in a salon, when you could do it for free in the comfort of your own bedroom or bathroom? The steps are quite simple, but remember before you begin: this is a skill that takes a LOT of practice, and is something that should be done very carefully and slowly the first several times you do it.

Step one. Cut a length of any sewing thread about 18-20 inches long.

Step two. Tie the length of string into a simple, one-knotted loop as seen in image #1.

Step three. Now begins the more difficult part. In image #2 (blurred so that you can see the crossover), you can see that I have begun to twist the loop in the middle. Twist it about 4-6 times so that you have two loops on either side of the twisted string, like in image #3. I suggest holding the loops in a "cat's cradle" style, with just your index finger and thumb as I am doing in image #3. Now, you will notice that I am holding the thread with one loop expanded and the other is pulled small by the twisting in the center. By separating your thumb and forefinger, you can slide the twists across the thread to make the loops bigger or smaller. Practice this movement a few times before moving on to step 4.

Step 4. Decide which brow you would like to begin with, and examine it. In which direction is the hair that you would like remove growing? The hair below your eyebrow tends to grow back, towards your hairline.

Step 5.This is very important: Whenever removing hair, you need to remove it by pulling it away against the growth. Refer to pictures 3, 4 and 5. Hold the twisted section of your loop against your skin, with the smaller loop closest to the tips of the hair that you want to remove. With your fingers in the cradle position in the loops, carefully spread your fingers in the smaller loop apart. You will notice that the smaller loop gets bigger, and the twisted thread rolls across your skin, yanking the hair out by the root.

I won't lie to you - yes, this does hurt. But it is much faster than plucking, and much less messy than waxing. The best thing is that you do not have to be totally exact when you thread; you can always clean up the stray hairs with tweezers, so do not worry about getting super close with the thread! In fact, I would recommend that you stay as far away from your main brow as possible. Be careful of getting too close, because in each of our eyebrows we have something called a nerve-line. The nerve-line is exactly what it sounds like - a line of nerves that are below the skin where your eyebrows are rooted. The nerve-line is a very thin line, located beneath the middle of your brow. However, if you pluck or thread hair that was rooted in the nerve line, beware. This hair can take weeks or months to grow back, and in some cases may not grow back at all! So always take precautions and move slowly with your thread until you gain experience. However, once that day comes you'll be glad that you learned - I certainly am!