Californian Waxing
The Warrior
Anastasia, an eyebrow-focused salon which hails from Beverly Hills (3/F, Eden Zone, CentralWorld, 02-613-1330).
The Secret Weapon
Hot wax, smeared on your bushy brows then quickly ripped off with a soft piece of cloth. We should all be familiar with the work, usually done on our legs or other more sensitive regions, but this time, the excruciating act takes place right above your eyes. Not recommended for wimps.
The Strategy
Anastasia Soare, the “eyebrow artist” who founded this worldwide company, developed a special brow design theory, which pinpoints key areas of your brow. The process starts with the use of a small brush to mark the points on your eyebrows (see Eyebrow Theory below).
The staff then aligns a stencil with the points and brushes on your eyebrows with a black matted cream to outline the final shape. You now look ridiculously like Shin Chan but it does help visibly define the shape of your new brow. The staff will then adjust the shape according to your liking.
Here comes the pain. A hot wax is brushed onto the excess hair around the painted eyebrow. The staff then places a piece of thin cloth over the waxed area and pulls. Hard.
The process is repeated until there’s no more excess hair left. After cleaning up the paint, the staff will get rid of any leftover tufts with tweezers.
The Sacrifice
This painful experience will set you back B800 for a 45-minute session.
The Aftermath
Your eyebrows may now look like they have just been stung by a horde of bees but once the swelling and the redness subside, you’ll have perfectly shaped arches. It’s a bit pricey but you won’t need another session for a couple of months. Waxing leaves your brows clearly defined, making it easy for you to maintain. All you have to do is keep any new growth under control with tweezers.
Verdict
Great results but just too long, painful and expensive.
Indian Threading (THE WINNER)
The Warrior
Khoobsurat (beauty in Hindi), a face, nail and body salon (Sukhumvit Plaza, Sukhumvit Soi 12, 02-252-5353).
The Secret Weapon
Simple cotton thread and a pair of skilled hands. The threading lady uses a long piece of thread which is twisted in the middle. Using a special see-saw hand motion she traps each individual hair in the center where the knot acts like a pair of tweezers yanking it out from the roots.
The Strategy
It starts with a thorough clean. Your eyebrows are wiped to remove all the excess oil from your skin and are then smeared with a little baby powder.
You can specify where you want your arch to be and how thin you want it. The threading guru then gets her thread in place, before asking you to put one hand on your eyelid and the other above your eyebrow to hold it taut. This makes it easier for her to shape your eyebrows the way you want it. Plus, it makes the process a little less painful.
She starts off by pulling your hair strands one by one in the most difficult areas to form a definite shape. After that, she rattles through the rest, leaving no hair above, below or even in between the two eyebrows.
Once she’s finished her painful rampage, she takes a pair of scissors and trims off any protruding strands to maintain an even length all the way through.
The Sacrifice
For eight minutes of prickly pain and perfect eyebrows, B60 is a small price to pay.
The Aftermath
Threading is recommended by most skin specialists because it’s softer on your skin and doesn’t involve any unnatural chemicals. Some people might experience a slight redness but it usually disappears within 10 minutes. Depending on an individual’s hair-growth, the average time before you have to head back is three weeks.
The Verdict
Threading wins! Cheap, fast and natural.
Eyebrow Theory
Jutamas Kliebphipat, Assistant Marketing Manager at Anastasia in Bangkok, gives us the brow-down on how to get the perfect eyebrows. According to Jutamas it’s all based on the shape of your facial features.
1. The starting point of your eyebrow should align with the inner corner of the eye and the side of your nostrils.
2. The highest point of the arch should align along a line drawn diagonally from the tip of your nose through the center of your pupil.
3. Lastly the tail of your brow should align along a line drawn between the outer corner of your eye and the side of your nostrils.
4. The colors of your eyebrows should also match the color of your hair. If you dye your hair a lighter color, your eyebrows should also be shaded a softer tone.
5. The only true way to maintain the shape of your eyebrows is to use tweezers. The neighborhood salon method of shaving will result in an unrealistic shape. Not to mention ingrown stubs.
