There's no going back once you've gotten your brows threaded. Seriously, it's a one-way ticket to better brows no matter what you're starting with. If you've never used the ancient Indian hair removal technique, let me enlighten you. Threading is a hair removal method that originated in Asia that uses twists of cotton to remove rows of hair at the follicle level. The treatment is not at all scary, but because it's nice to know what to expect, I've broken it down below:

1. Bearable pain. Depending on the therapist/your tolerance/the time of the month, threading feels like tweezing multiple hairs at once. Obviously, try not to flinch during it or you could end up with unwanted bald patches.

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2. One at a time. You'll be asked to pull your eyelids in opposing directions, so the skin is taut and easy for the therapist to work on. If they assume you've been before, expecting you to know what to do, ask and they'll explain!

3. Don't wear lots of eye makeup (for the above reason) or you'll probably smudge it everywhere.

4. Uncontrollable side effects include random sneezing and eye watering – they might literally stream (not from the pain, but the sensitivity).

5. Be prepared for the therapist to forgo asking what shape you want and to just get to work on instinct. So if you're growing out your arches, for example, be sure to specify and they should advise you on the best strategy.

7. They might question whether you want your brows "trimmed or not" after the threading; it's optional but it makes unruly hairs look much neater. If you have especially fine hair or sparse brows, you might want to decline.

8. Check the results carefully. When the shaping is done, they'll show you the results in a handheld mirror and it's easy to automatically say "great!" — but look closely and ask for tweaks if you're not 100 percent happy.

9. Next comes the option for aloe vera gel. Say "yes" to it; it's rather cooling and soothing plus will help to reduce redness.

10. The redness. You will temporarily experience rosy skin (some suffer worse than others), so you might not want to go straight out on a date afterward, but it'll last an hour, max.

11. Massage? Depending on where you have your brows threaded, you may get a little head massage of joy afterward, making any pain you felt previously melt away.

12. While the therapist may fill in your brows with product if you wish, you'll be told not to apply concealer/foundation afterward and don't ignore the advice; makeup could clog the pores left open by the hair removal and cause acne.

13. What you should focus on instead is the fact you'll have your best brows ever. Formerly sparse, overgrown, wonky, or wild brows will all see amazing transformations from threading.

14. Your freshly threaded brows will be easier to fill in yourself, making the morning makeup routine quicker. Bonus!

15. You'll also save time on tweezing. There's no need to pluck between appointments, but when you feel the need to (after five to six weeks), save them up for a week and rebook.

From: Cosmopolitan US