How to Use Threading to Remove Hair

Are you tired of painfully plucking facial hair with tweezers? Try threading as an alternative to plucking. When done properly, this technique is a little less painful. You can simply thread hair away on yourself or on another person. Here's how:

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Thread
• Scissors

1. If you are removing your own hair, cut your thread to approximately 12 or 13 inches. If you are going to work on someone else, make it a little longer.

2. Tie the ends of the thread together in a knot, creating a circle.

3. Place your pointer, middle and ring fingers from both hands into the circle of thread, slightly stretching the thread. Be careful not to break the thread.

4. Twist or wind one hand, making an under-and-over motion about five times. This will twist the thread in the center, giving you a sideways figure eight.

5. Add your thumbs to the fingers in each loop and stretch the thread circles open, one hand at a time, by making an open-and-close motion with your fingers and thumb. This will stretch the thread back and forth, making first one side and then the other larger.

6. Make sure your skin is as tight as possible before threading so you do not pinch it. You can do this by raising your eyebrows (looking surprised) for the eyebrow area; you can puff up your mouth leaving air inside (like a blow-fish) for the lip area. Even using your tongue to push out around your mouth is effective.

7. Place hair to be removed in one loop, near the twist. If you have the hair in the right loop, open the fingers of your left hand to push the twisted part of the thread toward the right. Open and close your hands alternately, as described in Step 5. (See Resources, below, for a video.)

Tips & Warnings

• It takes practice to perfect the threading technique.
• Threading may still cause a little redness or irritation, similar to plucking hair out with tweezers.

Resources

• Do It Your Health: Threading