Raising Some Eyebrows

For the last two weeks, every time I look in the mirror, I smile.

I keep my eyebrows tamed through threading. For the last four years I've gone to an Indian beauty shop and had the procedure done for $5. I'd been happy there until the technician I was going to left, without a forwarding address. Her replacement was kind and well meaning, but she just didn't have the hand or skill of her predecessor. For too long I tried to convince myself that she did, and unfortunately my brows and overall visage paid dearly for it.

About a year ago I suppose, I came upon Saylah Threading & Day Spa. Curious, I walked in and asked for a price list. I wondered when I saw that threading here cost $16, if there really could be that much of a difference in someone taking strands of cotton and yanking out wayward brow hairs.

Well, two weeks ago I gave them a try and found out that yes, indeed there is.

Cue in Sonia, who guides me through the soothing sounds of waterfalls and tropical rainforest chirpings to a private room that's outfitted with a pristinely dressed massage table and elevated headrest. Inhale, exhale, the fragrance caressing my nasal passages is delightfully intoxicating.

Instead of understandably shrieking, "Who jacked up your eyebrows?!!!" as I take my reclined place on the table, Sonia examines them in their current state and calmly asks me about my preference for their shape and thickness. It's as if she knows intuitively that perhaps I'm not meant to walk the earth with one short, thinned brow and another extended, full one.

She listens as I explain the state to which I'd like to see them return, nods, and with her magic spool gets to work. All the while, my five senses are being catered to in the gentlest of ways, sharing together in a collective, "Aaaahhhh..."

Before I know it, she's completed her work, prescribed a nightly castor oil treatment, given my temples a revitalizing rub and I'm looking in the mirror at a face that's been lifted for a mere $16.

And now, two weeks later, the effects are still noticeable. I just can't help but smile. For that, Sonia and Saylah, you've just been added to The Thanks Ranks. I'll plan to see you on $10 Tuesdays from now on, but your work is priceless.