More sensitive skins can experience irritation and some pain. Every so often the thread can pinch the skin giving a bit more “zing” than normal – but totally tolerable. All in all, any irritation goes away very quickly and you're left with the smooth skin you're after.

The issue comes up when cleanliness is a concern. Time magazine quotes an Illinois dermatologist as saying: "You need to make sure that there is a clean thread, and the person is washing their hands." Overall though, eyebrow threading is generally not a dangerous service to receive.

With any hair-removal technique, there will always be some level of discomfort. Threading, however, is the least painful. This is because the hair is removed directly from the root. If you've ever tweezed your brows, you can compare the feeling of threading to plucking five hairs at once.

What is threading? Threading is a type of hair removal that originated in India, Iran, and central Asia. Threading practitioners use a twisted cotton thread to remove several hairs at a time. It is mostly used for hair removal on the face, including eyebrows, upper lip, chin, and cheeks.