CHENNAI: Quarantine comes with a fair share of firsts. The first time you count the tiles in the floor, first inhouse workout, and the first time you realise what a key role your eyebrow technician plays in your life. This is probably the time when you’re taking your pick of sadistic hair removal options available and trying to DIY them: a tough race to win between threading, plucking individual hair and tearing wax off skin. Threading is a logistical nightmare, which I would not recommend trying unless you’re extremely dexterous. Waxing leaves my skin too irritated and is not suitable for sensitive skin, or anyone using retinol or chemical peels.
While I value your ingenuity and independent spirit, perhaps you would like to experience these two techniques in a less hands-on atmosphere. You know, like when they’re performed by a licensed aesthetician, or someone who actually has a solid idea of what they’re doing to your face. I’ve been doing my own brows for a few years and I now prefer tweezing them, so allow me to shine some golden advice: this is not an activity that should be done unsupervised, the stakes are too high. Call up a friend or let your mum play the devil’s advocate: you don’t want to be left looking slightly annoyed , con fus ed or surprised.
Tweeze a bit of one brow and move on to the next, keep going back and forth between them and remember to step back from the mirror and take a look. This will make sure it’s more balanced and even on both sides, which is good if the aim of the tweezing game is to end up with even brows. Your next crowning achievement should be to remove any and all magnifying mirrors in your vicinity. These things are like the Eye of Sauron — don’t make eye contact and try to look microscopic while approaching so as to not anger it. It’s moving back and forth between the micro and macro views of your face which is very disorienting,
a X30 times close-up of every pore, freckle and hair. Nobody else is ever going to see you like that. Obsessively picking and meddling around the same pore is only going to leave you with angry red splotches and a bald patch. The worst-case scenario is that you end up with brows that look like a caterpillar chasing a worm, but there is no better time for this catastrophe! You’re all about the hiding-inthe- shadows lifestyle for a few weeks anyway — plenty of time for any mishap to forgive itself. The next time you see your eyebrow wizard who makes you look human, a lash technician who makes you feel like Bambi, and your domestic help who makes your life easier, say thank you and hug them a little harder. You might just find the miracle you’ve been looking for.
SAUMYA R CHAWLA @pixie.secrets