British Vogue | Brow Threading

“It is thought that threading originated in China and travelled overseas, maybe as merchants started travelling widely to India with domestic staff,” Vanita Parti, founder of Blink Brow Bar tells me of the treatment many of us swear by today. “Threading was an affordable way for women to take care of their brows. And Indian women have a lot of hair! Over the years, it became a ritual and nurturing way to take care of each other.” What started in the east is now a firm fixture in beauty routines around the world, not least in the UK – and Parti has something to do with that.

She brought Blink Brow Bar to the British high street 20 years ago this month, taking what is an ancient Indian skill and transforming our brows (and chins, cheeks and upper lips – who’s asking?) while she’s at it. During these two decades, Parti’s team has shaped over 20 million eyebrows (“my biggest source of pride”) and made eyebrow threading the norm. “We have proudly placed an Indian skill at the forefront of British beauty, employing over 200 women to elevate their skills,” she asserts.

It all started in Parti’s youth. In her own words, she “had more hair than was necessary, not only on my head but body and monobrow too”. At 13, she made her first trip to one of the salons that lined Delhi’s market streets, sitting in a reclining high chair for her first threading experience. “Seven minutes later, I looked up and there I was: all grown-up,” she remembers. “Eyebrows that lifted my cheekbones and revealed sparkly, rich brown eyes – I almost looked pretty. My eyebrows became my best asset, and there wasn’t a tweezer in sight.” Did she think it would become her career? “Not once.”

She started Blink (as it’s often affectionately known) out of her own personal need for time efficiency. She was in her early thirties, pregnant with her second child and had to travel to London’s suburbs to get her brows threaded every two weeks. At the time, “India was having a renaissance in British people’s minds – curry houses and corner shops were metamorphosing into cordon bleu restaurants and becoming an intrinsic part of British life,” she explains. She knew that when any woman tried the treatment, they’d become addicted to the results.

It took some time – and some empty chairs in department stores, all of whom had to be persuaded to buy into the idea in the first place – but eventually, they started to fill up. It was the Noughties and a time when brows were regrowing after being decimated (no exaggeration) in the ’90s, when skinny brows were all the rage. Subsequently, “there was a thirst for threading, and the British had few options for their brows, other than tweezing and waxing, which could be unkind to the skin and made it tricky to get symmetrical precision.”

One of the secrets, in my opinion, to Blink Brow Bar’s success is the fact that you can go into any branch and see any therapist, and you’ll always have an excellent thread. How does she ensure uniformly excellent treatments? “We always follow the Blink ‘mandala’, which is the circle of promise and pledge to our customer that everyone has been trained; that they will get a consultation; have the shape they want in hygienic, lovely surroundings; and always receive a post-brow massage,” says Parti – it’s worth a visit for the tension-relieving massage alone.

In fact, the beauty of threading – a treatment that, in India, aunts and mothers teach their children and nieces – is that it really does transform your face. It’s like a non-invasive face lift, opening up the eyes, lifting the cheekbones and creating that sense of sparkle that we’re all after in the stressful modern age. “Balance is key,” agrees Parti. “A good shape will give brows the perfect height to lift the cheekbones, but also ensure that the width and length is not compromised. Our therapists take each and every hair out in smooth lines, guiding the thread to create the perfect shape for your face – like an artist.” A poor application of nail polish can always be rectified, but it’s not as easy with brows – and that notion is kept front and centre of every mind during every treatment.

No longer the “basic, cheap and cheerful treatment” that Parti remembers, now an eyebrow thread at Blink costs £25. But – even if you only spend that money once, and keep on top of regrowth yourself – it is one of the most transformative treatments around. Celebrating the milestone with a Priya Ahluwalia-designed 20 Year Anniversary Eyebrow Pencil, there is more to come from Parti and her team. Global domination? Most certainly. But one thing’s for sure: The brows will always be on point.