When I was a young woman, one of my cousins (who was a beautician) taught me how to shave my eyebrows with a razor blade. It's similar to the type that you use to scrape paint with, only it's long and narrow. Don't try it if your hands shake! It's painless and your skin doesn't turn red and puffy like when you tweezer them. But do not attempt this with out someone teaching you the proper way.
I never saw a seam ripper until my 30's. When I was a kid, my grandmother taught me to use a regular razor blade to remove stitches. A lot of times we would do it together since it's easier if you have more than two hands. I don't use a razor blade for that anymore. Fabric is too expensive to take the chance of slicing it up!