A New Thread in Hair Removal: Shobha Spas
By Serena Barresi
Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2005
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Throw away your tweezers, forget waxing-the newest craze in hair removal is the centuries-old art of threading. Threading is an ancient Indian hair removal technique that is taking New York by storm. It is used in order to achieve a more defined eyebrow shape with a quick and almost painless process-unlike the process of tweezing or waxing, where the tears involuntarily flow.
The art of threading is performed by knotting thread, catching unwanted hairs, and yanking them away. The process is virtually painless, that is unless your aesthetician has trouble looping the thread around all of your hair and has to go back a second, or even-a third time. The pain involved in this process is splendidly less than that of tediously tweezing each hair individually or having your skin yanked off with your hair when waxing. Once you see your end result of perfectly arched brows, you will be glad you had endured the pain. Threading has also found to be better than waxing because it targets individual hairs, and does not cause the redness and irritation waxing does.
New York City is full of places that perform threading, but the best in the city is Shobha. Shobha spas bring a little bit of India to SoHo and midtown Manhattan. The authentic Indian environment will make you want to run out and buy yourself some ethnic apparel, such as a sari (Indian wrap) or a pair of chappals (Indian shoes). From the henna-tattooed brow shapers to the deliciously exotic cups of Chanakara tea that patrons are sipping, there is no better place to get a feel for genuine Indian culture. Can you beat that? New experiences while being made hair-free-it does not get much better. However, Shobha goes beyond just threading, though that is their specialization. Shobha also offers access to other Indian beauty customs, such as sugaring-a form of waxing for very sensitive skin-and henna tattoos. Also, Shobha offers a signature line of products to fulfill a harmony of the mind, body and spirit.
Shobha Tummala, the founder and owner of the line of spas opened her first location in March of 2002 in SoHo. A Michgan-native, Tummala had spent summer in Hyderabad, India with her grandmother and came to greatly appreciate ancient Indian philosophies of natural beauty. After having her eyebrows threaded in India, and thereafter swearing off waxing, she was disappointed to find that finding a place to be threaded in the United States was no simple task. And so, to American society’s delight, she was inspired to open her Shobha spas.
Shaping your eyebrows is a tricky thing; they need to be proportionate to your eye size, distance between your eyes, face shape, and even your body type. Also, in the average eyebrow, there are 500 hairs. With all of these factors and so many little eyebrow hairs to consider, let the experts at Shobha help you out. But do not just take my word on how wonderful Shobha is-consult the fashion bibles. Shobha has been featured in such esteemed fashion magazines as Vogue, Italian Elle, Allure, Lucky, and In Style. Lucky heralded Shobha as one of the best “summer beauty treatments” and Marie Claire loved the spas so much that they did an entire feature on Shobha Tummala. Get all of the details about location, pricing, and the Shobha philosophy at their website: