Can Threading for Hair Removal Have an Effect on My Skin?

You’ve read about threading for hair removal and have talked to your friends who absolutely love it. You’ve decided to try it and you’ve booked your first appointment. But before you head over to the salon, we’d like to caution you about a few things that may make you think twice about using threading as your go-to method to get rid of hair.

Many people don’t realize that there can be potential unwanted side effects with threading such as acne-like breakouts, infections and darkening of the skin. While threading has been around since ancient times, it may just not the best modern-day solution for you to get rid of your unwanted hair!

Threading is a technique in which unwanted hair (usually facial hair) is epilated (pulled out) by an intricate rolling and twisting of fine threads over the affected area. No doubt, threading leaves your skin completely smooth, but it also is extremely irritating! Often touted as “exfoliation”, the threads can damage the very top layer of skin, the epidermis, as they pull out the hair. This basically creates thousands of tiny pathways for infection-causing organisms to gain entry to your skin. Don’t think it can happen? A recent study reported multiple cases where patients developed warts after threading due to infection from HPV (human papilloma virus) transmitted this way.

Many practitioners who provide threading use their mouths to steady the threads during the procedure. That’s because they still practice threading today like practitioners in ancient times. And while that may have seemed like a good idea back then, we know now that the human mouth is dirtier than the average toilet seat!

Side effects of threading hair removal

If you are prone to acne (or even if you aren’t), the traumatic nature of threading can leave your hair follicles irritated, stimulating a breakout that looks like tiny, puss-filled pimples. Known as folliculitis, you can see an example in the picture of the woman on this page. The last thing you want to do is to trade your unwanted hair for a bigger problem—unwanted breakouts.

If you take a second look at this picture, you’ll also see an example of the unintended problem of hyperpigmentation or skin darkening that can occur after threading. This doesn’t happen to everyone after, but if you have darker skin, your pigment cells may respond to the irritation threading triggers by making more pigment, leaving you with unwanted dark patches on your skin. This young lady would have likely kept her hair or chosen another hair removal method if she had known that this is how she would look after threading!

By now, you’re probably wondering if you should just skip your threading appointment. At Celibre, we won’t dictate your choices, but we do want to ensure that you stay informed about the potential risks and unwanted side effects associated with any popular treatment. Sometimes, excessive hype can obscure the truth. A procedure such as threading for unwanted hair removal may not be the “panacea” that the media and your friends make it out to be!

Our practice doesn’t offer threading. We offer class IV medical laser treatment for unwanted hair. We do realize there are potential risks with laser hair removal as well, and we will always make it our priority to discuss these with you prior to starting treatment. Each device that we use is FDA-approved for laser hair removal and we have multiple, different devices that have been consistently shown to be both safe and effective to permanently remove your unwanted hair, no matter what your skin type (color).

Unlike threading, which hasn’t evolved much, Celibre offers only the latest and most up-to-date laser treatment. Our practitioners stay at the forefront of this growing field by maintaining the highest levels of continuing education and hands-on experience.