Harper’s Bazaar

Beauty > Hairstyles, Cuts & Color Trends
Should You Thread Your Own Eyebrows? Experts Weigh In.
—Madge Maril

Pros on the good, the bad, and the ugly of DIY brow threading.
It's not without risks.“Doing brow threading at home, though, can be complicated, as you need both hands. So you cannot hold your skin tight, a key to threading,” explains Umbreen Sheikh, founder of Wink Brow Bar in New York City. At home, Sheikh says, “there is a possibility you can catch your skin in the thread.”

So Brow Threading is Painful?
As long as you stick to threading the right way, it won’t hurt any more than tweezing or waxing according to Weiss. (“But of course, everyone has different pain tolerances,” notes the cosmetologist.) “It’s not painful—it’s different,” says Sheikh. “Once you get used to it, and you keep up with regular sessions, you should be fine.

Still Threading Your Own Brows? Read This First.
Even if you do feel ready to lasso up your own brows, it’s best to consider yourself a cleaning crew, rather than a landscaper. “For the people that really want to attempt threading at home and [are] absolute beginners, the basic rule would be to clean around the brow and don’t get too close to the brow line itself. Don’t try to shape them, just do a small clean up. If you keep practicing you can get it, but it does take exactly that—practice,” says Sheikh.

How to Groom Your Brows If You Can’t Thread
Sheikh shares some words of wisdom: “‘The least possible to get you through’ is my motto, unless you really know what you're doing,” she says. “If you have a little excess growth that looks messy, you can cover the hairs with concealer. If that’s not an option, then go for the least possible to carry you through. If you have a unibrow, take some hairs out of the middle. If you have strong growth that is further away from your natural brow line, remove those—even with a tweezer, which may be better than a thread at this point. If you have hair that's getting long, trim it a little.” That way, you can leave the real shaping to the pros.