GEORGE TOWN: Ladies, look closely in the mirror. If you see many fine hairs on your face – sometimes called peach fuzz – and you think it ruins your complexion, you might want to try traditional face threading.
Not only will it get rid of peach fuzz, but dead skin cells, whiteheads and blackheads will come off too.Traditional bridal service provider Apple Cheang, 52, said it was also a Chinese bridal ritual that was now losing its significance.
“Many people, especially the younger generation, do not know what it is for or what it entails. Many don’t know that it used to be part of Chinese pre-wedding rites.
“Face threading is also known as kai nian (Mandarin for ‘opening the face’). This practice dates back to over 100 years ago and ‘opens the bride’s face’ to prepare her for her wedding.
“It is known to bring good luck to the bride,” she said at her shop here in Chowrasta market recently.
Cheang believes face threading is a dying practice and hopes young people will learn the art.
“If the thread breaks in the process of threading one’s face, we believe the person’s luck is not good and will not be good for some time.
“But this is rare. It might happen to only one in every 100 people who receive threading,” she added.
Superstitions aside, face threading is scientifically proven to improve skin quality.
In 2018, two Taiwanese scientists ran an experiment asking 18 participants not to exfoliate their faces for two weeks and then to go for face threading once every 21 days for three times.
Using instruments to measure the participants’ facial skin texture, including a micro-graphic camera, the scientists found that their skin roughness decreased by 22% on the forehead, 77% on the cheeks and 33% in the corners of their mouths.
Not only will it get rid of peach fuzz, but dead skin cells, whiteheads and blackheads will come off too.Traditional bridal service provider Apple Cheang, 52, said it was also a Chinese bridal ritual that was now losing its significance.
“Many people, especially the younger generation, do not know what it is for or what it entails. Many don’t know that it used to be part of Chinese pre-wedding rites.
“Face threading is also known as kai nian (Mandarin for ‘opening the face’). This practice dates back to over 100 years ago and ‘opens the bride’s face’ to prepare her for her wedding.
“It is known to bring good luck to the bride,” she said at her shop here in Chowrasta market recently.
Cheang believes face threading is a dying practice and hopes young people will learn the art.
“If the thread breaks in the process of threading one’s face, we believe the person’s luck is not good and will not be good for some time.
“But this is rare. It might happen to only one in every 100 people who receive threading,” she added.
Superstitions aside, face threading is scientifically proven to improve skin quality.
In 2018, two Taiwanese scientists ran an experiment asking 18 participants not to exfoliate their faces for two weeks and then to go for face threading once every 21 days for three times.
Using instruments to measure the participants’ facial skin texture, including a micro-graphic camera, the scientists found that their skin roughness decreased by 22% on the forehead, 77% on the cheeks and 33% in the corners of their mouths.
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