HAIR REMOVAL Method strings women along

The ancient art of threading also exfoliates the skin.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
As a child in Iran, Zari Bakhtiari became fascinated by an ancient technique for facial exfoliation and hair removal called threading. She would watch as a woman came to her home once a month to perform the procedure on her mother. Bakhtiari was impressed by how clear and healthy her mother's skin was, and she decided to learn the technique herself.
Threading originated in Iran, then spread to other countries, including India and Pakistan.
Today, Bakhtiari, who lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, offers full-face threading (as compared to eyebrows only). Her hair and nails shop co-owner Brenda Elsagher believes that Bakhtiari is the only licensed cosmetologist to use this technique in the Twin Cities area.
How it works
The procedure is called threading because it's performed with a piece of cotton thread. Bakhtiari uses two different widths of cotton thread for different parts of the face. She removes a long piece of thread from a spool and loops it around her neck, tying a small knot in front. She then twists the thread around her fingers and, with a twisting and pulling motion, runs the thread over the skin, pulling the hair out by the follicles and exfoliating the skin in the process.
"The purpose is to keep the skin fresh, toned and exfoliated," Bakhtiari said. "It's not just for hair removal. I have clients who claim that they have had patches of discoloration or old aging spots that have been removed with threading."
Bakhtiari began practicing the technique when she was 9. As she got older and more adept, she practiced on friends. Bakhtiari laughs at one memory: "My mother would not let me touch her because she had her own lady and wouldn't trust me."
Bakhtiari married and moved to the United States. She couldn't find anyone who specialized in the technique so she began threading her own face and eyebrows. She would see women on the street or at the market with facial hair and longed to provide the chemical-free form of hair removal on them.
Demonstrates technique
She became a licensed esthetician and began demonstrating the threading technique while in cosmetology school. Word spread and her client base grew.
"I love doing it and I love what it does for ladies," Bakhtiari said. She has clients who refuse to share their beauty secret with their friends. But luckily, she has many clients who swear by it and can't wait to share the information.
Threading not only removes facial hair, it exfoliates, too.
The procedure takes about 30 minutes for the full face and 10 minutes for eyebrows. Some clients have areas that require more threading than others, so Bakhtiari will take extra time concentrating on trouble zones. To exfoliate, she uses a thicker thread than for hair removal.
But this kind of beauty doesn't come without pain. Clients have different pain thresholds, so the experience varies. Some clients find the process relaxing. Others found the procedure more than a bit painful. The upper lip is always a source of pain since it's such a sensitive area. But most clients are happy with the results and the benefits.
Bakhtiari jokes that a good description of her service is "Kill me, make me beautiful."
"I do have clients who think it hurts, and I always give them the technique so they can relax when I do it," Bakhtiari said. "This is done by using varying pressure and different-sized thread."
Jane Schiltz has been seeing Bakhtiari for almost two years for threading on her upper lip. Before trying it, Schiltz spoke with a dermatologist about various forms of hair removal and decided that this was the safest technique. A day after the threading, she noticed that there weren't the tell-tale bumps that come with waxing.
But was it painful? "Yes, but so is waxing," Schiltz said. "It's not like intolerable pain. It's uncomfortable. But the results are much greater for a longer period of time." Schiltz has threading done every four to six weeks.
Bakhtiari has about 100 clients who come in each month for threading, making this a full-time job. Her goal is to make threading a regular treatment in Minnesota. So far, her clients return religiously, with the "no pain, no gain" mantra in mind. She wants women to know that there's an alternative to facial hair.
"When you touch it," Bakhtiari said of her clients' skin, "you will see how exfoliated and soft it feels."