Threading or Waxing for Brows? One Person Here Decides

The brow question comes up at the front desk every day, usually as "which one is better." The honest answer is that they are two different tools, and the good salon uses each for what it is for.

Threading is a line

A twisted cotton thread rolls across the skin and lifts a row of hair at the follicle. Nothing touches the skin but hair. That gives two things wax cannot: an exact edge, because the thread can take one hair and leave its neighbor, and no reaction, because there is no heat and no product on skin that may be using retinoids or acne treatment. It stings for a second per pass, and a good threader is fast, which is most of the comfort.

On our menu eyebrow threading is from $40, eyebrow shaping from $45, upper lip from $20, and the brow-and-lip combination is $60.

Waxing is an area

Warm wax, a strip, and a clean sweep of everything under it. For a lip, an arm, a leg or a bikini line that is exactly right: fast, thorough, gone for weeks. For a brow it is a blunter instrument, because the strip takes the whole patch under it and cannot draw a curve. Waxing also removes a fine layer of skin with the hair, which is why anyone on retinoids or acne treatment is told to thread instead.

Our waxing menu covers face, body and bikini, with brow waxing from $25 for guests who prefer it.

The rule most people land on

Thread the brows, wax everything else. The brow is the one place where the line is the whole point, and the one place where the skin is thin enough to notice the difference. Every three to five weeks for threading; regrowth is slower and finer than with tweezing.

Why only one person threads here

Threading is a skill that lives in one pair of hands, and the difference between someone who threads every day and someone who threads occasionally is visible from across a room. So we do not spread it across the floor. Fariba Asgari is the only person who threads at McAllister Spa. Guests ask for her by name, the rest of the floor books their own threading with her, and she also sees guests in Farsi and Arabic. One guest put the salon's brow work simply: "This is the only salon in Miami that I trust to get my eyebrows done!!"

She is also a Senior Colorist, which is why brows and color are so often the same chair on the same afternoon. Book both by text and we will stack them. The full case for threading, and seven questions answered, is on the threading page.