Warm season hair removal - Preview

Here's another once upon a time story. But it's not for the faint of heart. 

Once upon a time, when i was somewhere near sixteen years old, i got the idea in my head to try waxing my legs.

Most likely this idea came from some of the more girly-girls in my choir class claiming it didn't really hurt. I figured that i had a pretty high pain threshold and could tolerate it. I was totally taken in by the fact that it lasted for at least a month since i was shaving my legs twice a week. It seemed like a perfect solution to me.

I knew my dad would be very unsympathetic to my desire to show my legs off, since he was completely entrenched in the "lock her in a tower and cut off her hair" stage of fatherhood. So, i went to my mother and begged her to let me try it. I detailed out how some of the girls i knew said it didn't really hurt and they'd been doing it for years! When she stopped laughing and realized i was completely serious she said "Ok, i'll do it with you, I've never tried it before."

So for a while, we didn't shave our legs to get the hairs long enough. We then purchased an at home hair removal kit and went downstairs into the big guest bathroom. Bravely, I opted to go first and my mother carefully smeared on the green wax. She firmly pressed the sheet on and then looked me square in the eye. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yup." I replied nonchalantly.

I was utterly unprepared for the searing pain that shot through my leg, up my hip, through my stomach, and straight to my head. I'm still surprised that i didn't pass out, but i did fall off the counter and proceeded to dance around the bathroom going "OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL, OW OW OW, HOLLY COW, WHO THE HELL THOUGHT THIS UP, THEY NEED TO DIE!"

I wouldn't look at my leg, convinced that i would see muscle and blood, not skin when i looked down. This went on for a few minutes while my mother was caught halfway between laughing hysterically and reprimanding me for cussing.

Finally, my brain decided blocking the pain would be a good solution and was able to check the results. About 90% of the hairs were indeed gone and several of the hair folicles were bleeding mildly. I'm not sure exactly what prompted me to do this, but i allowed my mother to do another strip. Perhaps for some bizarre reason, i thought the first one would be the worst. And as she ripped the sheet off on 2 instead of on 3, i began to dance and jump around again.

After that, i was D.O.N.E. My mother laughed at me and then told me something to the effect of:  "I gave birth to four babies. This can't be that bad. I'll do it!" I knew before this that everyone in my family was a little bit crazy, but this solidified my mother at the top. So i returned the favor.

She didn't cuss nearly as much, but she did do the dancing "Owwowowowow!" routine. And she lasted through about four strips before she said "You were right, the person who invented this is nuts. I'm done."

That was the end of the attempts to find a better solution to shaving our legs for spring and summer.

UNTIL NOW!

Perhaps i didn't fully learn my lesson, or i'm just a sucker for punishment, or perhaps like millions of other women, i absolutely HATE shaving my legs. Whatever the reason, i'm going to try something new. This one at least, i have very little to loose.

In the process of planning a trip with Lindsey, somehow we got on the topic of spas. This led to the conversation about bikini waxes and the "I'll do it if you do it" routine. Somewhere in my research, i came across another form of hair removal called "Body Sugaring".

Here's the schpeel: It's an 'ancient' form of hair removal originating in Egypt. It's made from plain sugar, lemon juice, and water boiled down into a thick taffy like substance. It's then smeared on and jerked off your skin to remove hair.

Pros:

• More like ripping off a bandage than a chunk of your skin
• Can be made at home for pennies
• hypoallergenic because it's all natural ingredients
• it also is edible and reusable for multiple areas 
• lasts as long as a wax job - 4-6 weeks
• I have a couple testimonials from REAL people that i know saying that it's wonderful. 

Cons:

• it still hurts
• i question it's effectiveness at removing all the hair
• can be a difficult technique to master
• sticky residue

So today after work, this will be my project. I will blog as to it's effectiveness soon.