When making the comparison threading vs waxing upper lip hair removal, we’re mainly speaking of two of the most popular facial hair removal methods.
Waxing is more widely known is Western cultures but threading is becoming increasingly popular, too.
I just have to say this from the start: they’re both great, with some similarities and differences.
I’m going to talk in-depth about those and then you can decide which one would be more suitable for you. For many of us, the winner in the threading vs waxing upper lip, would be waxing because it’s very easily done at home.
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Threading vs Waxing Upper Lip: Best Facial Wax Strips
1. Best Value: Nad’s Hypoallergenic Facial Wax Strips
If you’re looking for buying a lot of facial wax strips to last you for maybe even more than a year, the ones from Nad’s are the perfect pick. They’re also one of the cheapest.
2. Overall Best: Veet Facial Hair Remover Cold Wax Strips
It comes from my personal experience with cold facial wax strips that I consider the Veet ones to be the best. The price is a bit high but they work perfectly if you use them the right way and they last quite a long time.
What Is Threading?
Women across the globe constantly search for methods to prolong the absence of hairs from their beautiful faces. That’s actually an ancient concern, the modern woman doesn’t have a monopoly on it.
Threading was firstly used in ancient times in Persia, China, and India.
It gets its name from the cotton thread that is used to pull and twist the hairs and then remove them from their follicles.
It’s fantastic that a simple cotton thread can pull hairs from their root, just like waxing and epilators do.
Threading is primarily known for being a method to beautifully and perfectly shape eyebrows. But it can be used on the entire face: upper lip, sideburns, cheeks.
It’s highly recommend for those with sensitive skin as it is less irritating than waxing.
Which, also makes threading a better facial hair removal method for those who suffer or have suffered from breakouts.
Threading vs Waxing Upper Lip Hair Removal
What we call peach fuzz (actually known as vellus hair), after puberty can evolve into terminal hair.
That’s actually the one that’s bothering us, the one that becomes noticeable even from a distance because it turns darker, a bit longer, and thicker.
As they get older, it’s very usual for women to get terminal hairs among peach fuzz, especially on areas like the sideburns and chin.
Peach fuzz can be annoying, too, especially for women like me who have dark hair.
In my case, it’s increasingly becoming more noticeable over the last few years – on my cheeks, my sideburns, and the jaw a bit. It’s attacking me on all fronts.
Obviously, there aren’t many women, including teenagers, who don’t remove their upper lip hairs.
The upper lip is the facial area that first gets terminal hairs and the majority of us end up searching for a hair removal method for the upper lip in our teenage years, as we barely enter high school.
The matter with threading vs waxing upper lip hair is simple
- if you want to remove your upper lip hair at home then waxing is the answer – simply get some waxing strips and you’re ready to go, you will be done in a few minutes in the comfort of your home and it’s all pretty affordable
- if you decide to choose this route, there are a few things you need to know, I’ve written everything I know about facial waxing strips. I have a lot of years of experience with them. For the past few years I’ve switched to using an epilator on my upper lip.
- threading is especially recommended to those who have sensitive skin and suffer from breakouts – it can minimize the risk of breakouts but you still need to take care of the skin immediately after a session (apply an aloe vera gel, a nourishing facial cream, your usual acne treatment)
- you cannot do it at home, you need to find a threading salon
- the price for threading upper lip hair can be anywhere between $5 and $30
Threading vs Waxing Eyebrows
When I was in high school I stumbled over a beauty salon that had an amazing threading professional and it was an amazing experience.
It was just as great having my eyebrows waxed. And it’s just as good and the shape just as beautiful when my eyebrows are tweezed.
I love all three.
Waxing is incredibly quick. Threading is fast, too. Shaping eyebrows with a pair of tweezers takes the longest.
Threading eyebrows:
- is an incredibly method for shaping eyebrows – I might say that it’s actually the best and it should be an experience that everyone should enjoy at some point
- it’s not painful
- very fast
- the price can be anywhere from $5 to $20 to $30
- especially great for people with sensitive skin
Waxing eyebrows:
- it’s very fast
- if the professional is experienced, the shape can be spectacular
- the hardest thing is finding a good professional
- it tends to be a bit less accurate than threading
- can also be done at home
- it can be a bit intimidating if you think about it – a wrong pull or too much wax in a place and the shape of your eyebrows can be ruined
Threading vs Waxing: What They Have in Common
Why are we talking about threading vs waxing upper lip and other parts of our face where we get unwanted hairs? Because these methods are really similar.
Firstly, both remove hairs from the root. Thus, both offer pretty nice results: hair-free skin for about two weeks for waxing and for about three to four weeks for threading.
Secondly, both facial hair removal methods can be used to remove hairs from the entire face: eyebrows, upper lip, chin, cheeks, sideburns.
Threading is mostly correlated with the shaping of the eyebrows but it can be used on the rest of the face, too.
Thirdly, after waxing or threading, you should always moisturize.
If you have really sensitive skin use an aloe vera gel. It soothes the irritated skin, the redness will go away faster, and there’s less risk of breakouts.
Last but not least, both can cause breakouts.
It’s not that common but it happens to some women, especially to those who have suffered from acne in the past. If you have had zits in the past, it’s best to try threading first because it’s gentler on the skin.
Waxing vs Threading: The Main Differences
You might think that the main difference is that one uses wax while the other uses a simple cotton thread but that’s not it.
At least not from my point of view.
The main threading vs waxing upper lip difference is: waxing can be performed at home using either cold facial waxing strips (anyone can handle them) or hard wax if you’re experience with at-home waxing kits.
For threading, you need a beauty salon. It cannot be done at home all by yourself.
But here’s the kicker:
Threading is more preferable than waxing because it’s not damaging the skin at all.
Only hairs are pulled and twisted with a cotton thread. There’s nothing sticking to or pulling the skin.
That’s why, threading is highly recommended for women with sensitive skin.
At-Home Upper Lip Waxing Kits
If you wanted to remove facial hair using wax there are two options:
- cold facial wax strips – they are really easy to use, cheap, and not messy
- hard wax kits – it’s a bit difficult in the beginning until you get the right temperature but it’s a great solution if you want to use the same kit for face and body hair removal – it’s not worth the hassle just for facial hair removal but if you plan on using it on the body, too, then go for a good one
1. Veet Facial Hair Remover Cold Wax Strips
They’re one of the cheapest. But also one of the best cold facial wax strips.
Before starting to use my epilator to remove unwanted facial hair, these were the strips that I used for years.
The package contains 10 double strips and 4 wipes for removing the residues.
The wipes are really good and you can use the same 2-3 times so don’t throw it out, just put it back in its package to prevent it from drying out.
Don’t use them to shape your eyebrows, you don’t want to make a mistake.
They can be used between the eyebrows but grabbing a pair of tweezers is much faster.
The Veet Facial Hair Remover Cold Wax Strips can be used on the entire face.
How to use cold facial wax strips on the upper lip
- take a double strip and warm it between your hands by rubbing them
- pull the strip apart
- apply it in the direction in which the hairs are growing
- don’t apply it on the whole upper lip, just on half
- massage the strip a bit so that the wax sticks to the hairs
- breath in and pull in the opposite direction in which the hairs are growing in a swift move without any hesitation, hold the skin taut (stretched) by applying pressure with your free hand on the corners of the mouth
- if the strip is pulled quickly there’s should be much wax residue left behind and almost all the hairs should be pulled from the root
- in the beginning, use a pair of tweezers to remove the hairs left behind – as the skin gets used to the shock you can apply the strip a second time on the same area
- use cleaning wipes to remove the residues or any type of oil
- moisturize after and use an aloe vera gel if you’re really sensitive and your acne treatment if you have one to prevent further breakouts
The process is the same on any other area of the face, it’s very important to pull the wax quickly.
2. Cirepil The Original Blue Wax Beads, 14.11 oz.
The Cirepil Blue Wax Beads represent one of the best at-home waxing kits at the moment. You can’t go wrong with hard wax, it can be used on the entire body as well as the face.
Hard wax is the best for handling all types of hairs and this waxing kit can handle coarse hairs, short hairs, thin hairs, and peach fuzz.
It’s great whether you want to epilator your upper lip hair, your chin hairs, sideburns, eyebrows or you want to move towards more adventurous territories, like giving yourself a Brazilian at home. Whatever hairs from whatever area you want removed, these blue wax beads will deliver.
The best kind of hard wax
The Cirepil Blue Wax Beads represent the best kind of hard wax: the type that sticks only to the hairs and not to the skin. It makes waxing efficient, fast, and a bit less painless and less messy.
It’s no wonder that this at-home wax kit is so popular and wonderfully praised.
This bag of hard wax beads is also pretty affordable and the quantity is plenty.
The only thing you have to buy are applicators because they’re not included.
You don’t need muslin strips, just pull off the wax with your fingers once it hardens. It won’t take long for it to harden so, the process will be a bit faster, especially if you’re just going to be using this waxing kit just for the upper lip or for facial hair removal.
The only thing you need to consider is that the bag of wax beads is all you’re paying for. There’s no warmer included, the price is just too low for that.
You can either get their Cirepil wax warmer but it’s expensive or you can use the microwave to melt the beads or pour the beads into a jar, put the jar in a pot with simmering water and wait until they melt.
Threading vs Tweezing
If you find someone that knows what they’re doing with a pair of tweezers, you can get some stunningly shaped eyebrows.
But that’s where this method stops being useful.
If we were to compare threading vs tweezing, the big difference would the that threading is a lot faster because it can catch a bunch of hairs and remove them from the root while tweezers pull hairs individually.
That simple cotton thread, double and twisted, offers more defined and precise shape for the eyebrows.
Threading is fantastic for shaping eyebrows but a pair of tweezers can be just as phenomenal.
It all depends on who handles the instrument, whether it’s a pair of tweezers or a cotton thread.
What About Other Facial Hair Removal Methods for the Upper Lip?
In this post on threading vs waxing I think I’ve managed to explain one thing: they’re both amazing for facial hair removal.
But there are other options out there.
I just want to briefly mention them in case you thing that neither threading nor waxing are for you or you want to try something else.
1. Epilators
In my opinion, epilators are the best alternative to the two subjects of our debate threading vs waxing.
- epilation removes hairs from the root so, you get smooth hair-free skin for about 2 weeks
- it works perfectly on both peach fuzz and coarse hairs
- it’s an easy hair removal method, you just hold the epilator and move it in the opposite direction in which the hairs are growing
- facial epilators are affordable or you can get an epilator for body that comes with a facial cap
- epilation is a really affordable hair removal method in the long run, you just buy the device one and that’s it until you need to buy another when it breaks down
- it’s more painful than waxing and definitely more painful than threading
- it can lead to breakouts more easily if the skin is not used to the shock cause by removing the hair from the follicle – I switched from waxing to epilation and my skin was so used to it that it only stays red for a couple of hours – I always moisturize it heavily and use salicylic acid to prevent breakouts
2. The Tinkle
This is what we call a facial razor or a dermaplaning tool. It’s a razor created just for facial hair removal and it works on both peach fuzz and coarse hairs and all areas.
What’s so special about facial razors?
- they’re completely painless
- they’re used on dry skin, no complications, everything is resolved very fast – you can simply swipe the razor a couple of times in the morning before putting on makeup
- there’s no risk of breakouts, these razors actually remove dead skin cells and can be a great option for those who seem to breakout from any other method for facial hair removal
- dermaplaning is also meant for preventing fine lines and smoothing out the skin
- they’re very cheap
- the hairs grow back rather quickly but some people don’t mind that at all, you won’t get thicker or coarse hairs after shaving your face
Threading vs Waxing Upper Lip: What’s the bottom line?
Threading can offer women amazing eyebrows and it can remove hairs from the rest of the face too but I don’t know how many of you have succeeded in doing that all by yourself at home.
Waxing can be used to shape eyebrows, I had that done to me and it was incredibly quick and not painful. It can also be used for the rest of the face and the entire body.
The difference in threading vs waxing upper lip is that waxing wins because it’s much more approachable, easy, and it can be done at home by simply getting a good waxing kit that can be used on the body and face.
