I guess you could call it a work in progress.

I started getting my eyebrows waxed about 3 months ago. Until then, I had plucked. Every morning. Yes, I was a 27-year-old eyebrow waxing virgin. It wasn’t the pain that kept me away (although it did frighten me a little), it was having to put complete and total trust in a stranger that petrified me. I spent years perfecting the shape of my brows and I wasn’t about to let someone ruin them with one yank of a wax strip. I am a control freak. I tend to prefer to do things myself because at least then I know it'll be done right. I am fully aware of the "teach a man to fish" philosophy, but then I wonder: "How will he know exactly which lure to use and how far to cast the line and what if there's a storm, how will he know what to do then? What if he catches something that's too big for him to reel in? What if it's too small and he should throw it back? Will he know to do that?" Yes. I am aware I have issues.

I feared for my brows, but I got to the point where I was just tired of spending those few minutes every morning plucking the (many) little hairs that seemed to spring up overnight. (Please tell me someone else’s eyebrows grow as fast as mine do.) So, I finally decided to take the plunge and get them waxed. Now, control freak that I am, I didn’t just go to any old salon willy nilly. I researched. For weeks. I googled, read reviews, asked friends for recommendations until I found the one place to which I could feel (a tiny bit more) comfortable giving over my eyebrows. The first time, I was nervous and sweating. It felt like she was putting the wax WAY too high. “Not too thin!” I squeaked as politely as possible (she was, after all, armed with burning hot wax). “Just follow the shape please!” I’ll tell you one thing: the anticipation and fear was way worse than the stinging pain. As I sat there fretting the state of my brows, I realized something; getting your eyebrows waxed is a lesson in trust. One might argue that a haircut also requires a certain level of trust, but really, you can see what the stylist is doing to your hair. You can correct them, change their course if need be (told you I was a control freak). But with an eyebrow waxing technician, you have no idea what they’re doing until they’re done. Those excruciating few minutes are excruciating precisely because you have to allow yourself to trust a complete stranger and to put your life (ok, maybe just your appearance - did I mention that I'm also dramatic?) in their hands. It’s nerve wracking! I’ve been going about every 2 weeks for the past 3 months. I am now on a first name basis with just about everyone in the salon, and still, each time I go it’s “Not too thin! Just follow the shape please!” and I sit there in the reclining chair petrified that I’ll have to resort to drawing on my eyebrows every morning. And each time, the technician (it’s almost always the same one, by the way) replies, “I know. I did your eyebrows last time.” and perfects the shape of my brows better than I ever did with my tweezers. And while I’ve learned to trust her more, I still have a mini panic attack every time the wax goes on.