Thursday, December 02, 2010

Hair removal

I hate the whole process of removing hair.  It's tedious and boring.  Ideologically I am opposed to hair removal.  Practically I dislike the feel of chin hairs, moustache hairs tickle when they get too long and the boyfriend prefers my legs and armpits to have at least seen a razor occasionally, even if only in the distance.

This is not a post about the politics of hair removal.  It's a request for advice and options to deal with hair removal.

You see, I'm hopeless at shaving my legs and arm pits, I always miss patches.  Shaving my bikini line is a delicate fear inducing operation which always always itches as it grows back, occasionally leads to sebaceous cysts (which no one ever talks about, leading you to believe you've got muff rot until you make it to the doctors to have an embarrassing conversation and examination), and plays merry hell if you shave close to a period and then wear a sanitary towel.

Having my upper lip waxed may well remove a fine (fine as in not thick, not as in distinguished - distinguished will come when I'm 70) moustache of hair, but it always replaces it with red soreness and then spots, all along my upper lip, for about a week, by which point the hairs are growing back.  Plucking my chin hairs (because I'm anal and probably have a touch or trichotillomania) result in a scabbed up chin, also with spots (but no hairs, somehow my brain thinks that's OK).

Electrolysis is way too painful for my upper lip, not available quickly enough for my chin, and a bit too permanent for the rest of me.  Waxing is rather expensive for my legs.  I used to wax my upper lip, it didn't work too well.

How does everyone else manage?  Threading seems very painful, sugaring would also seem to leave me with infected spots.

(You know, if I could grow a full proper beard or 'tache these problems would disappear and I'd be warm in winter)

11 comments:

Lord Runolfr said...

Here in the US I see advertisements for laser hair removal procedures, which are reportedly a permanent solution to hair growing where you don't want it. I have no idea of the costs or possible complications, though.

Word verification: homme

Jfcfanatic said...

I've done a lot of it. I've shaved, waxed and done the laser hair removal. Depending on the area, I'm all for waxing. It's not all that painful (once you get used to it) and is better for your skin than dragging a razor across it daily. However, not all results are wonderful. My underarms never seemed to improve after 3 years of waxing so I stopped and went back to the shaving.

I really like the laser removal, but it's VERY pricey.

And I agree, it's a total hassle, although my husband has to shave his face daily and he has a five o'clock shadow at like 2 pm, so I suppose it's all relative.

My vote is for a combo of everything. I'm quite fortunate that my leg hair doesn't grow all that fast (thanks to the years in college where I shaved once a month b/c my boyfriend at the time [now husband] said he didn't care), so I just shave that. My underarm hair grows so fast and it's so annoying that I literally have to shave it every other day. I laser the Brazilian area but I've only just started it and I love it so much more than waxing (I got massive ingrown hairs with waxing). As for the other stuff, tweezing seems to work quite well, as long as you have a good mirror.

It sucks having to groom.

Saranga said...

@Runolfr: Laser treatment only works on really thick hair, like pubic hair, not on upper lip hair. Like eletrolysis it gets rid of those hairs that are there now, but won't stop future new hairs growing. It's also expensive and time consuming.

@jfcfanatic: yeah, waxing pain doesn't bother me, i'm just crap at it so I pay for someone else to do it. which is ok, but still leave sme with red spots and dry skin on my upper lip.
Ingrown hairs on the bikini line are very irritating.

Anonymous said...

AFAIK electrolysis is the only permanent hair removal method, and it has to be done repeatedly for it really work.

LissBirds said...

I've tried the Smooth Away pads with some success. Basically they're just a super fine grit sandpaper that you rub in circles and it burnishes the hair off. Painless and exfoliates, too. Careful around the face, though, becuase it can cause some people to break out acne-wise, so it might not help you there. I'm not sure if they sell them in the U.K., but they're about $5 for one kit here, and it comes with two or three refills.

Admiral Drax said...

I know from experience that a novel way to get someone else to remove hair is to melt shoe polish onto it whilst they're inebriated...but that's probably not too much help!

Hey, dude - check this out: http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/12/06/batman-and-wikileaks-cartoon/

miss you.
xxx

Anonymous said...

Done:
-Electrolysis-agrree with you, there. it Hurts like HELL. Don't try it It isn't worth the money.
-laser hair removal.. (Did this before my electrolysis stuff) You smell like a burnt chicken afterwards. neither is this worth the money. your skin peels afterwards.

-threading...I've only did it to my eyebrows.. Yet, I'm very sensitive to that (I have a very high pain threshold..So i guess that's why I can deal with it a bit. Palms get sweaty, though.) and

-waxing everywhere and anywhere- Honestly I'd prefer to be a hairy fuzzball with peachfuzz... (re:werewolf ^_^) But when that monthly cycle thing comes...stray hairs beware...


-ealperin

Anonymous said...

Tried Smooth Away pads...Didn't help me at all.. It just made my skin red ....-ealperin

Saranga said...

@anon: ye sit doe shave to be done repeatedely, because there's only a 1 in 3 chance that the hair will be at the right stage in it's life cycle to be killed (apparently). But if the electrolysis doesn't kill the hair it does weaken it.

@liss: I will keep an eye out for them (and hope they work better for me than they do for ealperin). if they are available here.

@drax: no no no no no no no no!
(and lol at the wikileaks cartoon!)
you guys need to come up. or we need to go down to you.

Anonymous said...

"...@liss: I will keep an eye out for them (and hope they work better for me than they do for ealperin). if they are available here."

Personally, I prefer threading...since it's a bit quicker...-ealperin

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