Practical magic

Did I ever tell you about my threader? Her name is Suk (pronounced Sook) and she runs a “for women only” spa. My dentist Pam told me about her one day last year as she was checking over the work the hygienist had just finished in my mouth. I’ve told myself that she was just making casual conversation and not giving me much needed advice. But it turns out, it was one of the most useful conversations I’ve ever been a part of.

Anyway, I love Suk. She’s around my age, from India, has two of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen, is recently divorced and is the best eyebrow shaper I have ever had.

Her tiny little shop doesn’t have air conditioning or a comfortable waiting area. Often when I enter the shop, there are several people standing around awkwardly because the four black anomalous chairs are taken. She has posters of some of India’s most famous beauties – Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukherjee - on her wall, offers beauty products I had never known existed – did you know that turmeric is really good for your skin? and you can get things like a henna tattoo or an ayurvedic facial.

Her clientele are a wonderful exotic mixture of East Indian, Middle Eastern and Canadian women ranging from the ages of 12 (hey us dark skinned women didn’t luck out in the facial hair department and the onset of puberty only made this more obvious – you should see my prom picture if you want to get clear on what a unibrow looks like) to 70. Just today an ancient tiny Indian woman shuffled in with her granddaughter leading her by the elbow to have her chin threaded.

And threading is Suk’s specialty. This is a really healthy, green and inexpensive alternative to waxing. The speed and accuracy with which she removes the hair has me worshipping Suk as if she was the second coming reincarnate. I told her a while ago that if she ever thought about moving out of this city, I would easily pack up my family and home and follow where she was going. And I know that I’m not the only one that feels this way. Last month she went to visit some of her family in India and you have never seen so many uncomfortable looking brown women walking around town being mistaken for Magnum P.I. We simply will not go to anyone else now that we’ve found her.

One of the difficulties Suk faces as the result of being in such high demand is that all of her clientele will only accept her services. She has hired a second person in the past but people will absolutely not trust their eyebrows, upper lips or chins to anyone else.

We have a wedding to go to tomorrow – actually all three of us are a part of the wedding party. (I’ll post some pictures of Deaglan as the ring bearer next week.) And so I called several weeks ago and couldn’t get an appointment till this morning. There were 15 people ahead of me all waiting patiently to have Suk work her magic.

It’s funny how such a small thing like your eyebrows being a bit unruly can make you feel so unattractive and incomplete. I usually walk out of that salon with my head held high and my back just a little straighter.

Oh and the best part? It costs me just $12.60 to have my eyebrows and upper lip done!