Eyebrow Raised in Speculation...

This post can be summed up by two nice, neat bullet points:

• I don't trust mall kiosks
• I sorta like the process of waxing

Random?  Perhaps...but keep reading.

So....over at my closest mall, the central pathways are littered with people selling all sorts of crap interesting things from kiosks.  They sell cellphone cases, tacky stickers, hair straighteners, creepy sketches, ironic t-shirts, crummy art, etc.  Kiosk vendors frighten me a little--they're like the mall equivalent of freakshow barkers, but unlike freakshows, I have no interest in what they're peddling. They can be a little aggressive, and when you're trying to dodge through the slow-moving mall masses who are intoxicated by the ulta-potent stink spray wafting from Abercrombie, the last thing you want is a kiosk vendor trying to clip fake hair into your scalp.

Then one day a few months ago, I noticed it.  Right near the food court.  Some unsuspecting mall shopper was plunked down in a salon chair, leaning back.  Another woman (kiosk barker) hovered over the sprawled out shopper, raking what looked like a long, thick piece of dental floss over the shopper's face.  I couldn't stop staring.  The kiosk lady had one end of the thread IN HER MOUTH while she dragged the rest of the thread over the shopper's eyebrows, chin, and so on.  Then I saw the sign, "Eyebrow Threading."

I had never heard of eyebrow threading, so I looked into it a bit:

• Threading is a "ancient" hair removal technique that comes from Asia
• It removes hair from the follicle, so it's relatively long lasting
• A pure, thin, twisted cotton thread which is rolled over untidy hairlines, mustaches and so on
• Threading removes an entire row of hair, resulting in a straighter line 

I'm all for trying new things, but a few things struck me here:

1. When I am getting a spa procedure done, especially one that involves having hair removed from my body, I prefer to have said procedure done in private.  This eyebrow threading kiosk was, as I said, in the middle of the mall, right near the food court.  Thousands of people walk by on their way to get their hit from Aunt Annie or that slut Cinnabon.  There's no privacy smack in the center of the mall. There was no partitian, nothing to allow for at least the appearance of discretion.
2. The threader kept holding the thread in her mouth.  HER MOUTH!  ICK!  I'm probably just being a germ-phobe, but the whole mouth thing just hits me wrong.  It seems so unsanitary.

On a final note: I am going tomorrow for a much needed brow and upper lip waxing (and express pedi!) at my favorite (private and hygienic) spa.  There's something about waxing that is almost pleasurable to me.  I like the feeling of the hot wax on my skin, the way the gauze is rubbed into the wax, and that moment right before the gauze is ripped off my flesh.  Those silent seconds of anticipation are a hoot.  I don't think I'd give that up for someone to rake a thread (dangling from their mouth) over me.  But that's just me.  I'm stuck in my ways, I suppose!

If you've had threading done or if you want to convince me that it's better than waxing, leave me a comment!