threading
january 06, 2005
this
week has been rather exhausting. i haven't been sleeping much, eating much
and i've been spending many many hours at the office working trying to forget
my problems. all i wanted to do when i get home is to close my eyes and fall
asleep before my mind actually can begin thinking. i've been walking around
in a zombie-like state not unlike someone giddily walking on air actually.
i'm proud of myself for still being rational, logical, and not doing anything
rash. it's only 6 days into the new year but i feel like i've lived the entire
year out already. i really wonder what will happen for the next 12 months
in my life if the first 6 days are already so tumultuous.
i needed a break yesterday at work and heard that my coworker was going to get her facial hair removed by the ancient method of threading. i told her i would go too because i need to clean up my eyebrows and get rid of el mustache. i've never tried threading and have only gone the waxing and plucking route. but i was intrigued by the use of thread removing body hair. i wanted to see how it was done. i wanted to feel what it was like. i wanted to experience it firsthand.
when we arrived in the midst of little india at the ziba beauty center, i had no idea how huge this place was and how famous it was. photos of celebrities (gwen stefani & madonna) with mehndi designs and henna body art adorned the walls. the waiting room itself could easily seat 50 people. we paid up front and was led to the back to our threading specialist. luckily for me, my coworker has been there many times and knew the routine.
i bravely said i wanted to go first. and as i laid back on the chair, i was not prepared at how quickly the process was about to begin.
i felt taunt lines of thread near my eyes and then....PAIN. i can now say that 6 hours of tattooing didn't hurt as much as 5 minutes of threading. perhaps i'm exaggerating but it was my first time and i was extra sensitive. after my eyebrows, she went to work at my upper lip - which made tears roll out of the corners of my eyes. and i thought i was a tough chick who could handle it all. hah!
after it was done, she handed me a tissue for me to wipe my tears and to remove all the excess hair from my face. as i looked in the mirror, the results were amazing. minimal redness. no swelling at all. no harsh wax residue. hairless. poreless. amazing.
my coworker went after me and it was then that i saw what the specialist was doing to me. she expertly wove the thread in between her fingers while her teeth grounded the tension of the thread. and as she rolled the thread across the areas that needed to be addressed, it immediately removed the hair from its root.
i've become a believer on threading now. sure it hurt like hell but i spent the rest of the day gazing at my brows in various glass reflections. and 5 minutes of this pain took away and made me forget 5 minutes of another type of pain.
