Beauty by a thread

Binita Patel works in Florence, but is bringing a little of her Indian culture to the city with the art of eyebrow threading.

Patel, a manager at N2 Experience-Aveda Salon in Florence, said she’s the only person in the area who offers the service, which is slowly gaining popularity.

One Thursday afternoon, Patel stood over one of her regular customers, Jackie Briggs, and skillfully removed hair from her brow line using a cotton thread.

Patel holds one end of the thread in her mouth and the other end in her hands, forming a triangle with the thread.

By moving the thread, hair becomes trapped in the triangle and is removed from the body, Patel said.

Briggs has been getting her eyebrows threaded for about three months. She said she heard about the technique two years ago, but never tried it until she met Patel. 

“It doesn’t hurt to me,” Briggs said. “It’s better than waxing. The waxing just feels like it’s snatching the hair out of my face but this, this doesn’t feel that way. It’s just a gentle pull.”

Some clients have even said it’s less painful than tweezing or waxing, Patel said.

“It’s gentler than tweezing. It pulls four or five hairs out, instead of just pulling one hair out,” Patel said. “Very few people turn red or get bumpy ... with waxing, irritation can last for more than a day or two.”

Eyebrow threading is more popular in larger cities and states because of their more diverse population, Patel said.

No one really knows where threading originated, but it has been practiced for centuries in the Middle East, India and China, Patel said.

“Well, nobody waxes eyebrows in India, only threading,” she said.

Patel, who has been threading in Florence for about a year, said she trained for three months in Anand, Gujarat, which is in eastern India.

She said she spent hours threading her own legs for practice. It took about an hour to master how to hold the thread, but it took several weeks to learn the entire process.

“(I threaded my legs) to get my speed up. The whole year I’ve been doing it,  I’ve seen my progress,” Patel said. “I’ve been getting faster and faster.

“You can get your entire face threaded — from your sideburns to your upper lip,” she said. “It’s better for your skin because it’s (a) wrinkle-reducer.”

Waxing pulls at the skin, which can cause it to wrinkle, Patel said.

Patel indicated with a firm head nod that she wished she had someone in Florence to thread her eyebrows because it’s impossible for her to do the procedure on herself.

Patel also is a trained Indian bridal makeup artist and is trained in applying henna.

For more details on eyebrow threading, call Patel at N2 Experience Salon-Aveda at (843) 673-0009.