Spotlight on Federal Hill Businesses | Rhea Eyebrow Threading

Rhea Eyebrow Threading

Owner: Rhea Khadka

“Back in Nepal, it’s normal for women to do a lot of inside work, like cooking and cleaning. You have to learn those skills no matter how educated you are as a woman. I wasn’t interested in doing anything like that, I was only interested in doing eyebrows and henna.

When I was in the 11th grade, I saw my auntie doing her friend's eyebrows. I was curious about how a simple piece of thread could remove hair. I went directly to one of my best friends and asked if I could do her eyebrows. Hers were very thick and had never been threaded.

Usually, to learn the art of eyebrow threading, you practice with the hair on hands and legs. You do not practice directly on the eyebrows. I did a good job practicing on my friends so I started threading my neighbors, classmates, and family members’ eyebrows just for fun. I did about 80 people's eyebrows every three weeks.

When I moved to the United States, I was 21 years old. I worked in a Subway restaurant for about two years making seven dollars an hour. I got tired of working there so I quit and got a job doing eyebrow threading. I had two free days a week so I began working towards my professional goals. I told myself that I either needed to work in the educational field or have my own business.

I took some college courses in the educational field but quickly realized that it was too much for me. I had a daughter who was nine months old and I couldn’t keep up with everything. I finished one semester and gave up. The only other option I wanted to try was to open my own small business.
While I was doing eyebrow work for someone else's business in Canton, my customers were very supportive of me. They ultimately encouraged me to open my own business.

I was 25 at the time. I shared my plan to open my business with my husband and in-laws. They were all extremely supportive.

When I visited Federal Hill, I thought it was the perfect location for my business. I had heard a lot of great things about the neighborhood too. Another business owner from Nepal who is a local encouraged me to pick this location, so I was sold. Fifteen days later, I started moving into my current location.

Starting the business from zero was scary. The business wasn’t booming the first year, but I knew the quality of my work and I trusted myself. Some days I was here from ten in the morning to nine-thirty at night. One good thing was that I didn’t have any employees so I didn’t have to worry about paying anyone else.

I’ve had this business for six years now and most of my customers have come by word of mouth. I have customers from all over the city and counties. Some travel from DC, Frederick, even as far as Pennsylvania, and they come every three weeks. Many have different cultural backgrounds. Some of us are very far from our own countries so we encourage one another in life.

In 2019 I received the Best in Baltimore award from the Baltimore Sun. I had no idea I was selected until one of my customers left me a message telling me about it.

No matter how busy I am, I’m really focused on what I’m doing at the moment. I always try to do my best. While working at Subway I learned to never take anything too personally. Some people are just more difficult to please than others. I think that lesson has helped me focus on not giving up and doing my best work no matter what.

I'm thankful that my customers appreciate the love I have for what I do."