How Much Are You Willing To Pay For An Eyebrow Wax?
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
style
12:30PM, Monday August 31st 2009
Treating yourself to something girly is always fun, so this weekend, I booked myself my first appointment at Bliss Spa. But my guy looked at me like I sprouted a third eye amongst my unibrow fuzz when I shared the price of my eyebrow wax: $30, plus tip. “Thirty dollars!” He exclaimed. “But, whatever. It’s your money.”
True, I typically pay $7 to $12 for a short, in-and-out wax at a nail salon. Yet I couldn’t help but remember the one lucky time brow-expert-to-the-stars, Anastasia Soare, did my brows while promoting her new line of brow products (like her super-sharp tweezers and fab highlighter crayon). Hollywood’s brow expert tsk-tsk-ed over my unnaturally thin eyebrows, which she pronounced overwaxed and overplucked, then asked who did my brows (as if I’m the sort of person who might see a “who”). “I just go to nail salons,” I told her. She grimaced. “They should stick to doing nails,” she told me. Oh, dis. But she has a point: a $7 eyebrow wax looks (and feels) like a $7 eyebrow wax. Forking over more dough for the extra attention to my brow’s thickness and shape does keep my eyebrows closer to their natural shape. But spending $30 on eyebrows? In this economy? Am I just insane or is a professional eyebrow wax a necessarily evil? How much are you willing to pay for an eyebrow wax?
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*sam*
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:35 am: [report]
&12; (including tip) max.
I Go To 11
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:38 am: [report]
I have them threaded instead. It used to be $8, but they’ve lowered the price to $5. When I did wax, I never paid more than $10 (not including tip), max. Then again, I’ve never lived in an area where $30 for a wax would ever be an option (thank you, mid-sized areas of the midwest!) Is that normal for a big city?
tigerstripe
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:43 am: [report]
I just pluck them myself. It’s free and I think it looks pretty good.
calenia
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:46 am: [report]
Usually I pay $9-12 at the nail salons. The only way I would pay $30 at bliss is for a BIG deal like my wedding or something earthshattering like that. But I like a lot of other bliss stuff. Although my eyebrows just need tidying, I don’t have huge issues there so maybe its easier for me to skip the “pros”.
Mina
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:51 am: [report]
I have naturally thin brows that require a little more finesse than the $7-$10 nail spots (though I used to go there).
Now I pay about $70 plus tip at Frederic Fekkai. Ridiculous but totally worth it. I go every few months and keep the shape with tweezers in between.
Humble Bee
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:52 am: [report]
I pay $6, and I specifically ask for Helen. They have a lot of women at the nail place, just make sure you find the right one. I know ONE of them has to know how to do it really well. My eyebrow lady has been doing mine since I was 13, and she does and amazing job. I always tip her well, it’s all about the person who does them! I once paid 30 for and eyebrow wax and she did a horrible job, it was in an upscale area and thats IT! I paid 30 bucks for getting them done at a fancy place… o wow.
stephoney22
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 11:54 am: [report]
I pluck for the upkeep, if you have self-control, you can save a lot of money and a lot of brow. However, every now and then I like getting them threaded, it’s $7 plus tip and they do a great job plus it doesn’t hurt any more than waxing. $30 is expensive but I would totally treat myself to that at Bliss if I was clueless about my brows. As you point out, you usually get what you pay for.
Kati-Anne
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:00 pm: [report]
I pluck my own… and have bangs, so no one ever knows when my left eyebrow looks surprised while the other one looks angry.
Erin Flaherty
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:01 pm: [report]
after suffering a tragic waxing accident with avon’s eliza back in the day, i’ve sworn off it & now stick to plucking & threading. i would say spend some cash on getting your brows done like, twice a year & maintenance tweeze in between appts. just be very careful to stay in the lines! you don’t wanna screw ‘em up.
also, threading is way cheaper and i think, more efficient!
*sam*
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:19 pm: [report]
??? what is threading? (yeah, I fail at being a girl, I know)
Raugiel
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:24 pm: [report]
$0
Jessica Wakeman
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:26 pm: [report]
also, is threading painful?
Amelia McDonell-Parry
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:28 pm: [report]
I get threading. Yes, it is more painful, but I think you kind of get used to it. Personally I prefer it to waxing because there isn’t redness afterward and I think the results are a little more precise.
ootie
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:52 pm: [report]
I’ve never had my eyebrows waxed/threaded/had anything professional done to them. I just pluck them myself. I wonder if I’m missing out!
spoiledone980
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 12:53 pm: [report]
I pay $20 that includes the tip. my girl was trained by Anastasia, and does a beautiful job. well worth the ammount.
Jenn27549
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 01:12 pm: [report]
I pay $15 plus tip at a very nice salon and spa, not a nail salon. Never too thin or overdone. If anything, I’d say they sometimes don’t take enough.
emflow
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 01:17 pm: [report]
I paid $15 last time I got my hair cut and I pluck in between going to the salon. I’ll probably have it done the next time I go for a hair cut, but since my hair is long I only make it to the salon every 6-12 months.
joyy
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 01:25 pm: [report]
I used to pay $12 for a brow wax from my old salon. She charged me $30 for a cut, and I would tip like $8 or so for the whole thing. Then she effed up my hair and since my new salon charges more for a cut, I’ve gone to just plucking at home to offset the cost difference. If I can remember to spend a few minutes a few times a week, it really looks ok.
Lynn
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 01:28 pm: [report]
I went to a professional exactly once. After seeing friends’ faces being transformed after going to a pro for the first time, I was itching for it. I was so excited - who knew what kind of foxy lady would walk out of that salon! I paid $25 to go to the top lady at my hair salon, just to make sure I was getting the best talent taking a whack at my face. She proceeded to RIP OFF THE TOP LAYER OF SKIN. On BOTH FREAKING SIDES. I was furious. She told me I must have sensitive skin - I have *never* had sensitive skin and in talking to my cousin’s mom, who also works at a salon, she said that even if my skin was sensitive it wouldn’t burn off the top layer of skin like that - that only leaving wax on too long, or keeping it too hot, will do that.
And it was on New Years Eve, too. No fun sparkly eyeshadow for me.
shoeluvher
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 01:50 pm: [report]
I pay $5 where I get them done now in NY. The most I’ve even paid is $10 when I lived in DC. The cheapest I ever paid was 4 euro when I lived in Spain, which came out to a little over $4.
parijat
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 02:13 pm: [report]
i get mine threaded and spend perhaps no more than 10 bucks.
Practitioners use a pure, thin, twisted cotton thread which is rolled over untidy hairlines, moustaches and so on, plucking the hair at the follicle level. Unlike tweezing where a single hair is pulled out each time, threading can remove an entire row of hair, resulting in a straighter line.
from wikipedia.
and like one of the above user said, its painful at first, but eventually you get use to it.
Coral
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 02:33 pm: [report]
I get mine waxed usually. I started out paying $15 plus tip a few years ago, but now my salon that I get it done at charges $20 plus tip—which still is reasonable enough for me. They do an excellent job, and my eyebrows are naturally near perfect in terms of shape, etc. My biggest problem is that I have a scar (basically invisible) above one of my eyebrows, so the hair in a small part grows above the scar, so all I really need to get done is to get rid of that tiny patch, and tidy up the ends.
I have done sugaring before on my eyebrows—much less painful, not that eyebrow waxing is painful. It’s harder to find someone who can do sugaring though, but it’s basically a wax like substance made out of sugar, citrus, among other things. Some places use caramel—especially in Europe and the Mediterranean area. Sugaring usually costs more because of the rarity. But I suggest sugaring for getting rid of hair in other areas.
BeTheBuilding
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 03:09 pm: [report]
Including tip, I would say any where from $15-25. I naturally have curly-man-brows. It’s worth it.
writergirl
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 03:42 pm: [report]
I pay $8 (incl.tip) at a nail salon and they do an awesome job. I know someone who pays $35 to have hers done and mine looks just as good, so I’d rather put the extra money toward a pedicure.
GreenAura
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 03:53 pm: [report]
Question for all the waxers… Why do you wax/thread instead of just plucking them yourself? Simply asking out of curiosity because I personally have naturally thin brows (and I really wish they were thicker!!) and I think waxing/threading would make them nearly invisible. Is it because you have thicker eyebrows that you are unable to tame yourself? Thanks!
joyy
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 04:04 pm: [report]
@greenaura - I started because I am a fashion/beauty moron and wanted a pro to put them into a decent shape for me. Then as I maintained that shape at home and got a little more comfortable with it (and switched salons to a pricier place), I started just doing it myself. I do worry about what they might have looked like had I just given it the good old college try from the get go.
GreenAura
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 04:12 pm: [report]
@ joyy: So it was more about shaping then, rather than “cleaning up”. I wish I had a good shape to mine. They are ever-so-slightly rounded. They would be in a near straight line if I let them get “bushy” (which would take years probably). What I would give for full brows!!! I pluck maybe once a month, if that, and they are still too thin for my liking. I fill them in everyday to define my eyes better. Would I benefit from any kind of waxing or threading? I literally know *nothing* about this stuff!!
joyy
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 04:17 pm: [report]
oh yeah, mine also start to just look super blah if I don’t pluck them on the bottom and at the ends a bit. They’re not Juice-man Juicer dude’s bad, but I feel like it does make a big difference overall in how my face looks if I keep them up as opposed to just letting them go.
Coral
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 05:03 pm: [report]
@GreenAura: Well I don’t have the courage to pluck them myself—I have tried, but it just hurts more cause I know exactly when the pain is coming, whereas I have no idea when the tweezers are coming when I get them wax and plucked at the salon. Plus, I’m not quite sure how to shape mine correctly, not that they need much anyways. Someday, I will probably buy a home waxing kit, and do it myself, but I’m not ready.
JuneBug
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 05:28 pm: [report]
Threading isn’t nearly as painful or damaging as waxing and it’s more precise. I get mine done a few times a year at a little hole in the wall near Dupont Circle in DC, and maintain it on my own by plucking in between. It cost me $12 the last time and they have a little punch card so you can earn a free one.
whatshesays
wrote on August 31 2009 @ 06:11 pm: [report]
I get a student discount at a great salon in San Diego, and the lady charges $60 for a brazilian and eyebrow wax. Fantastic.
sparklestar
wrote on November 4 2009 @ 05:53 am: [report]
I have my eyebrows waxed about every 3 months, or before a big event. The rest of the time I pluck them.
I like the attention and I’m happy to pay £10 for it.
altosinger314
wrote on November 4 2009 @ 07:32 am: [report]
I pay about $20 plus tip at my salon, it’s worth it…but no matter what the price is, it’s all about who is doing it. The lady who does my brows knows how to handle them, I have bushy yet sparse eyebrows with a natural high arch, and I always come out looking great. I get mine done about once a month or once every other once and do some maintenance in between.