Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Other subjects

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Eyebrow plucking

42 replies

marthamoo · 29/08/2003 16:09

Sorry, thought Mumsnet was getting a bit light-hearted and it's time we had a serious debate.

So eyebrow plucking..
Does it ever stop hurting so much? And is it true that eventually the plucked ones stop growing back? If so, when? And why does plucking my eyebrows make me sneeze?

Going out tonight (whoo-hoo!) so have just done them. Ouch. But have only been doing them for about six months (have been bushy browed and au naturel for almost 34 years, don't really know why I've started doing them...)

Oh, I've just remembered a primary school teacher I had back in the seventies who had no eyebrows at all - she drew them on with brown pencil. I'd never leave the house if I had to do that - I'd keep getting it wrong and looking startled/supercilious/menacing...

OP posts:

WideWebWitch · 29/08/2003 21:39

I pluck mine and it really doesn't hurt. I suppose it does make my eyes water a bit but it's not painful or anything. Marthamoo, if you use lots of moisturiser first and make sure you pluck by grabbing the hair right at the root and pulling sharply and fast in the direction of the hair growth then I think it makes it easier. Or you could try applying a hot flannel/steaming your face to open the pores and then do all the above too. I do think they grow back less quickly once you've been doing it a while, although it all depends on how plucked yours are I suppose. Mine used to be thicker and I found I hardly ever had to do them since it was just tidying a few stray hairs. As I've got blonder they've got slightly thinner though and so need doing more often. Gosh, I didn't know I had so much to say on the subject until I started typing! Apologies to anyone who's asleep...

motherinferior · 30/08/2003 10:11

WWW, how are you managing to 'go blonder'??

I'm a plucker too (and find it OK despite dramatically low pain threshold). Have had them waxed but didn't think it was particularly worth it. Anyone know whether it's worth buying those expensive Tweezerman tweezers all the wimmin's mags go on about as used by Nigella et al?

(Actually I've also read Nigella has them threaded at £30 a time. Call me a cheapskate, but is that worth it?)

WideWebWitch · 30/08/2003 10:33

Motherinferior, I started off with one blonde streak at the front of my hair (a bit like Lisa Tarbuck) and then I went to the hairdressers and got a few more red and blonde streaks put in (I looked like a tiger and would say this point marked the start of my mid life crisis), then the next time I went I got even lighter streaks put in and so on and so on. And so becoming blonde (and gradually deciding I needed thinner eyebrows to match) was a gradual process. Don't have much faith in Nigella after seeing rubbish last series and threading sounds very painful. If those tweezers the mags recommend are the ones that automatically pluck the minute you've grasped a hair, yuk to them, I hate not having control of the moment to pluck. Gah, I'm boring!

confusedandupset · 30/08/2003 11:28

I also wanted to tell you about another disorder that causes no earbrows, eyelashes, and hair. Trichotilomania is an OCD that cause you to pull out your own hair. I have this disorder, have had it for 14 years. I have eyelashes now, but I didn't, I don't have eyebrows, have to draw them on, and I wear a wig.
I will change my name for this message as I am embarrassed by this disorder. I can't control it and many women and men are in the same boat.
More people need to know and understand about this disorder.
And I am not confusedandupset about this OCD. I have accepted I have it, that is just my alter ego.

Original poster

marthamoo · 30/08/2003 12:42

confusedandupset,

I watched a a documentary about this disorder and it is truly a hellish thing. When I started this thread it never occured to me that my throw-away comment about my teacher with no eyebrows could upset anyone. I'm sorry if I've upset you.

To everyone else: thanks for replying. Many useful tips. But..what is threading?

OP posts:

confusedandupset · 30/08/2003 13:32

Oh i'm not upset, I have a OCD and I accept that. I try hard to stop but its very controlling.

bloss · 30/08/2003 14:52

Message withdrawn

Caroline5 · 30/08/2003 14:57

My eyebrows fell out a few months ago for no apparent reason, the doctor reckoned it was stress. I don't seem to have got alopecia with other hair. The eyebrows haven't really grown back, just a few stray hairs. As they were fair anyway, I'm not too bothered. I'm not going to pencil them in, I'm sure it would look dire on me!

Yes, what is threading?

prufrock · 30/08/2003 15:22

Threading is ancient technique that involves pulling each hair out by wrapping thread around it. In the hands of a skilled practitioner it's very quick, and you dont get any irritation on the skin from the wax

sis · 30/08/2003 17:55

Marthamoo, I have no idea how threading works but it seems to be a lot quicker and less painful than plucking - provided that the 'threader' knows what they are doing! Maybe they can get the thread round a row of hairs and that is why it seems quicker... It is usually done in Middle Eastern counties and those in the Indian sub-continent.

aloha · 30/08/2003 21:26

Confused and upset, have you tried cognitive behavioral therapy? It is by far the most effective therapy for OCD. I did a feature on it not long ago and spoke to a lot of OCD sufferers who found it helpful.
I pluck myself, and sometimes get a wax just to 'clean up' the look and give me a better line to follow.

aloha · 30/08/2003 21:29

aloha · 30/08/2003 21:30

Iggy · 31/08/2003 07:41

Threading hurts like H**l!!! Recently i found a salon that will put this cream on first to numb the skin ( costs a bit more ) before doing any painful treatments on the face. Worked great so I went a couple of times. Then the last time, they were rushed so they handed me the cream and said "can you spread it on yourself?"

Guess what it was ?

"Hemmaroid cream !!! 10% active ingredient( cant remember the name )to take away the pain and embarassment of blah bla blah...."

No, this was not in the Uk but even so , one does expect some standards.....

Are plucked, or waxed or threaded ( ooouuuccchhh ) eyebrows worth this kind of bother ????

motherinferior · 31/08/2003 14:17

WWW, thought you meant an inadvertant Monroeisation was taking place. Artifice, eh. Where would we be without it...no, never heard of automatic pluckers (sounds very frightening, like something out of the Wallace and Gromit films to which dd1 is addicted); these are just very sharp. And expensive. Needless to say.

bluecow · 01/09/2003 13:37

Have plucked mine since I was 11 (what a tart). Rarely have to do maintenance as so few grow back. Luckily I discarded the one-hair-thickness (a la Garbo) eyebrow at about 12 years old. However still have to use pencil to get the neatness I want.
Went through a Goth phase in my 20s when I pencilled them black; goodness knows why when my hair is red!

Bogwoppit · 01/09/2003 14:04

i have tweezerman ones. they were rather expensive, but are incredibly good. They aren't the automatic ones beacuse I didn't think I'd get on with them.
I lost my last pair, however, so I chose bright pink ones this time so I wouldn't lose them again
I find the bit in the middle most painful, but plucking after a shower seems to ease the pain.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread