Hair removal

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Eyebrows- I use the wax strips that you cut to shape then soften with the heat of your hands. It's cheap, it works, and since it's really quick and easy. The pain only lasts a second, if that long. The biggest trick is to keep your skin taut while sticking it on and pulling it off. Removing it quickly helps as well. I prefer the Sally Hansen's ones.

Legs and armpits- I shave, at least in the summer. I use a Venus razor because it's the only one I've ever used that doesn't cut me. I tried leg wax strips, hoping they would work as well as eyebrow strips. They don't.

Genital area- I trim. The hair is there for a reason. Lots of reasons, actually. Even so, I don't want a jungle down there. I prefer an English garden instead. If I feel the need to swim or otherwise engage in water related activities, I can wear board shorts. If for whatever reason I ever feel the need to do a bikini shoot or something, I guess I'd use Nair. It probably won't give me too much cancer if I only use it once.

Yes. I have trouble using wax. I tried it two times in my life. Sugar paste is way less painful.

First time (it was my first try of epilating,I was using only hair removal creams before) after gluing the wax strip I couldn't get it off. When I finally managed to take it off it pulled just about a half of the hair and the other half ended up covered with leftover wax that I had to remove using some oil. I was not brave enough to try again. The strip removal was painful like hell, gave me a lot of small wounds and I believe I destroyed something then - the incident took place about 8 years ago but the area where the strip managed to remove hair still has almost no hair at all. They just won't grow there. It may be a good thing now, but it was way too painful back then.

Second time I used other manufacturer wax strip, many years after the first try. This time it pulled a lot of hair (not all though) but it was after I was already used to epilating because I was using sugar paste in this area for a few years already and wax was just a paste replacement because I was too lazy to prepare the paste. It was still more painful than the paste and left some irritation as well as a few small wounds on my skin so I decided the next time I am going to be being lazy I will just use electric epilator. It's just as painful as wax and removes more hair.

The sugar paste is almost not painful at all unless you do it incorrectly. You can glue it to small areas and the mixture contains some smoothing feature that seems to work as a weak painkiller as well as antiseptic. Using it is more like a heavy massage than torture. It hurts a bit when you pull it but also feels quite nice when you place it. And there is way less skin irritation afterwards compared to other methods.
I always get pink skin for about 24h when I use the electric epilator and from my experience wax leaves not only pink skin but also a bunch of small, bleeding wounds that need 2-3 days to heal. The side effects of epilating with sugar paste disappear within about 1h. And I can remove the leftover paste using just plain water, no need to use oils that could irritate the skin even more.

Now I prefer the epilator, even if its side effects and pain are worse. My leg hair roots are already used to epilating so using sugar paste is too bothersome. I have to cook it for about 30 mins and I can't be sure if it gets right untill I try using it. The first a few moves is always hard since new paste doesn't take almost any hair at all. It gets better after a while. But then the paste gets too warm and starts sticking to the skin and pulling the hair incorrectly which can may cause irritation if I don't realize the change of consistency fast enough. And honestly... it takes about an hour for me to epilate both legs using the paste. My back always hurts when I do it. xD And I still need to use the epilator or at least tweezers to remove some leftover hair.

I used to wax my eyebrows, but stopped when beauticians started mentioning that it is a method that causes more fine lines around the eyes, but its impossible to get threading done where I live now, so I have returned to waxing/plucking them. Just lol.
Thanks for such a detailed overview. I also dislike the residue left by waxing, it stays on my skin regardless of what I use to remove it. This is good to know, the internet searches I've done have not mentioned this.
It seems as if shaving with the Venus razor and electric trimmers might remain my standard approach.

I don't think plucking leg hairs has much of any feeling, especially on the knees; I feel nothing there!
And yeah I don't miss prickly legs in the night huhu XD

[quote="Amity"]Hi ConcreteDinosaur, yes micro abrasions do increase the risk of STIs. This article sums it up nicely.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... op-shaving
Aesthetically its not a new phenomenon though, when you consider the female form in classical statues or even palaeolithic art (e.g.The Venus of Willendorf)

Hey Amity, yes i agree its not a new phenomenon. This is a fairly interesting short history of hair removal through the ages: http://www.historyundressed.com/2008/03 ... shave.html
I think that what bothers me most about our current hair removal trend is the role media and capitalism play in it. Yes hair removal has always been there for differing reason, sometimes for health, signals to opposite or the same sex, or for aesthetic trends. Recently though with the proliferation of imagery and mass communication, the pressure put on people to appear a certain way in order to sell products, and 'lifestyle' i think is a new thing, made possible through changes in communication technology. I do some professional jobs using Photoshop, and i see Photoshop everywhere, which is fine, idealisation of what is thought to be beautiful has always been around, but never has it been rammed so hard down peoples throats so tirelessly. I think though that if media on balance (current trend for beards aside) promoted hair growth for exploitative purposes, i would probably and futilely long for smooth bodies in pointless protest :p

Interesting link, thanks. Yes the beautiful, perfect, people are flippin everywhere. I'm using the contrast of pre internet for perspective; when you opened an encyclopedia or when you contacted a friend there wasn't intrusive personalised advertisements waiting for you, highlighting what you need to purchase to be beautiful.
I watched a documentary called Bad Hair(Chris Rock) and although it is not about hair removal it highlights the pressure some women with Afro hair feel, because sleek shiny Caucasian hair is the industry standard of beautiful.
My response to advertising is: block it, mute it or if I must sit through it, I vocally object to my self image being manipulated by a greedy corporation.

My feeling entirely, i never watched scheduled tv, i sometimes see something on netflix, but that has the benefit at least of no obvious adverts! I am surrounded by it all day though, at least with getting older i am more able to mentally turn off most of the pressure that comes from selling people crap and false ideals. Not so easy when i was younger though. Men more than ever it seems are being targeted as they are being drawn into yearning after the look and products more recently aimed at women. I might check out that documentary if i get the chance.

I gave you the wrong name for that documentary... Its Chris Rocks' Good Hair.
Last summer I got a spray tan done in a tanning shop, and while I was there more men than women came in to use the sunbeds . Male beautification seems to be a growing industry.

Has anyone tried the "no! no!"?

I would never do anything to alter my appearance--except get haircuts and shave my face.

One of the funniest things I've seen is the shocked pained expression on a mans face when he experiences a leg wax. (fund raising for charity)
I've asked beauticians about their male clientele and they told me that a surprising number of men get their backs and/or chests waxed!

Tried shaving my legs once, never again, I hated how it felt.

Hated how it felt while shaving? Or how it felt afterwards?

I tried to use one of those Nair type creams. Didn't work. My father was a wookie and the hairs were to thick. I also tried a home waxing kit but the hair came out in patches. I looked like I was wearing camouflage britches. So I am stuck with shaving and tweezing.

Right now it's not exactly swimsuit season and I don't have a man so I see little reason to bother shaving. I only occasionally nick myself but it's just so time consuming.

As for my ladybits, I let that grow. I use to shave it when I was in a relationship but kept getting yeast infections. I'd never had them before or since I stopped. I don't think shaved looks good anyway. We are adults, we are supposed to have hair there. Sometimes I wonder if we are a society of closet pedophiles.

Men have way more hair on legs than women and their hair is also thicker and longer. No surprise it is way more painful for men, especially when they have their hair pulled for the first time in their life. The more often you epilate the less it hurts. If someone never epilated - it hurts like hell (unless you start as a teenager with still relatively few hair).

I wonder about that too, youthful beauty has always been prized, but now, consumerism seems to have engrained this ethos at a level that I do not understand. I do understand and agree that it looks neater to trim and pluck and preen, and there are hygienic purposes also, but complete removal of body hair seems to exist only for aesthetic purposes associated with sexualisation of the youthful look. Maybe I'm missing something.

What is driving this pressure? Is it the porn industry? I get that sex sells, always will... end of story... but why the child like look, is it instead a signal of our evolved state away from our origins?


Yes of course, it's probably a bit mean of me to find that entertaining.
It struck me as a comical double standard that a man could raise money for charity doing something that many women experience regularly, something that serves no practical purpose except to achieve the basic look to be considered desirable. I thought to myself that at least those blokes might now have a deeper appreciation of the discomfort their ladies experience to achieve touchable silky smooth legs.

I tried the Magic shave cream. Didn't work.