Happy hump day everybody!! For those of you who are about to read this {guys… I recommend you don’t unless you’re intrigued by women body care}, it may be a lil more informational BUT no other blog {that I know of} has ever hit on this topic, and personally I would’ve LOVED to be more prepared and knowledgable on this subject.
When I say “bare n naked,” I am talking about being hairless NOT dropping all your clothes to the floor {lol}.
Anyways, there are a few methods of hair removal and I am about to give you as much insight as I can in relation to these methods. To give you a little background, I am half Serbian {shoutout dad} and Serbs have lots of thick hair. Unfortunately my head didn’t wind up with thick luscious locks BUT the rest of my body did {fml} except for my armpits {I told y’all this may be a lil visual // informational haha}. In fifth grade, I don’t think my mom wanted me to grow up… I had boobs but my mom wouldn’t let me get a training bra and while all the girls were starting to shave their legs my mom didn’t let me… At least until Christmas, when Santa put an electric razor in my stocking.
NOW — YEARS LATER {I’m 23}, I have tried waxing {brows // lips // arms // Brazilian}, epilating, threading, and zapping {kinda similar to laser I think}, so I would say I can fill you in on almost everything.
WAXING:
Brows n Upper Lip:
I first got my brows and lip done when I was {I think} in middle school… maybe seventh grade? Anyways, my skin is extremely sensitive so yeah, it always looks like I have a red mustache and a red unibrow following my appointment, BUT it’s not as painful as it looks. Of course your first time may shock you, but it usually is done with pretty quickly.
If you’re going to somebody, make sure they are experienced and know what they are doing. I have been do somebody before that made it so that my brows were lopsided and it was sooooo embarrassing. Also keep in mind that the estheticians are capable of taking as much or as little hair off as possible. I like for my brows to be full, but I also ask for them to shape it.
Note to self {aka you}: Do NOT try to shape your eyebrows yourself. In middle school I thought I knew what I was doing because the lady I went to in California would twist my brow’s hairs and trim them {somehow in the center}, so I decided to do it myself… If you haven’t guessed it by now, I CUT OUT THE WHOLE FREAKIN CENTER OF MY LEFT EYEBROW!! I did use Revitalash to ultimately grow it back BUT it took FOREVER and in the mean time I was using dark brown eyeliner to fill it in… Talk about embarrassing.
Arms:
This section is going to be short and sweet because it doesn’t hurt too bad, and I have actually talked a couple of my other friends into getting their arms done. I probably had gorilla arms… Actually though… A guy in one of my business classes at TCU asked me why my arms were so hairy!!
I have always been so self conscious about my arms BUT because I had them done in California, a lot of my hair was gone, in comparison to when I went for my first time. So, when I started college I didn’t think it was too bad… THINK AGAIN!! When you have a guy in your business project group asking why you’re basically hairier than him, I would think it brings back some old self consciousness. That being said, if you’re like me and don’t like the hair on your arms, then waxing them is the best thing to do; however, it may cause your skin to get red and blotchy for about an hour or so.
Brazilian:
It hurts like a BEYOTCHHH... But really not as bad as you would expect!! I’m going to say that straight up cause I don’t wanna lie to y’all BUT I will also say that the end product is TOTALLY worth it!!
Now — Let me start off by saying that I am fairly new to Brazilian waxes… I decided to get my first one in Europe {when I was studying in Madrid} because in America there are a bunch of places called “European waxing” that specialize in Brazilian waxes. All I can say is that if you’re actually going to go to a place FOR YOUR FIRST TIME and bare it all, make sure you speak the language. ALSO, make sure the esthetician is using soft wax {the one you don’t need the strips for} and not hard wax. I went into the lil waxing room not knowing things and the freakin lady didn’t understand what I meant when I yelled “STOP!!” at the top of my lungs… I’m also not one to scream curse words but it was a moment that I couldn’t be contained and they lady just laughed. To say the very least, she used hard wax and had NO idea what she was doing.
When I got back to America however, I learned a lot more about the correct way a Brazilian should be done. You are to go to somebody who uses soft wax or something called “sugaring” which is a mix of like sugar and honey and other stuff. Honestly, I was scared out of my mind to try it again but now I cant stop going back because it never gives you razor burn or red bumps or anything, especially if you take care of yourself down there.
Now to get more visual {without actually getting visual}. When I say “take care of yourself down there,” I mean prepare yourself for your waxing and also do what the esthetician tells you to do following. Also if you’re a guy and have made it through reading this {kudos to you}, I have been told by a guy who has gotten a Brazilian for speedo reasons that a man’s Brazilian hurts less than a woman’s; however, don’t mark my words because I really don’t know what goes into that.
Some tips for you: If you’re going to be starting your period, you are going to be super sensitive and waxing will hurt more than usual, so you typically wanna go a week after you have finished… It’s not the end of the world though. A tip that I read online before returning to a Brazilian wax in America was to apply lidocaine {so itch relief stuff} on the region about thirty minutes prior to your appointment…Lidocaine has an ingredient in it that helps to numb pain {I use Gold Bond spray} and really I don’t know if it actually helps or that it was just so much better than my European experience. If it’s possible, take a warm bath before your appointment because it helps open up your hair follicles, making them easier to come out. Exfoliate and moisturize the region regularly to help prevent ingrown hairs from happening {and you can even invest in some ingrown serum to use following your appointment}
EPILATING:
Face:
When I went to Europe and was no longer to see my threading lady back in CA at least once every two months, my mama came home with something called an epilator. Now, epilators come in a variety of shapes and sizes {this is mine} and they basically just have a bunch of tweezers that pull out the hairs at a rapid speed.
Neither threading, no epilating feel great BUT your face will feel like a baby’s bottom once you are done… I would try to do it every couple of weeks in Europe cause the way the hair growth cycles on your face is different from the res of your body. Swati {the woman who does my threading in CA} explained it to me as though you have one hair out of your face but two hairs kinda splitting and grounding it within your skin… Sounds weird, I know. Anyways, with that, It is normal to thread // epilate about once every two weeks in order for the pain not to be too bad {ask my friend Megan how it felt when she tried it for her first time lol} .
Arms:
I also decided to try epilating my arms because I didn’t want to spend $45 {plus a tip} every few weeks to be hairless. Again, it doesn’t feel good but it leaves my arms feeling so smooth.
I would suggest listening to your skin though because the first time I did it, I broke out in little red bumps all over my arms, and granted they didn’t itch or anything, they weren’t cute so I wanted to wear a long sleeve or not go in public for an hour until they had gone away. Granted I have never bruised or bled from doing this, I have read that it is possible, so I would just be careful. I have also read that people epilate their bikini line and I can’t even imagine doing that cause I’d rather wax and get it over with in one pull BUT if you have a high pain tolerance and you’re willing to try, lemme know how that works out for you.
THREADING:
I would always thread my brows and entire face {at the suggestion of my lil Indian lady that I love back home… shoutout Swati} because it exfoliates your face to an extent, removes dead skin, and gets rid of al your peach fuzz. It hurt… The first time was of course the worst and when I get nervous I sweat a lot {and there was a lot of sweat haha ask my mom}. I also feel bad cause I got it done for my first time at Swati’s salon and kept groaning so I think she learned her lesson when she started having me drive to her house for threading BUT it’s honestly so addicting cause it leaves your face feeling kinda tingly and so dang soft.
ZAPPING:
I will be 112% honest with y’all… It hurt like a mofo BUT it definitely did work. I purchased a laser gun type thing from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and basically it would charge and you would press a trigger for it to zap the designated area. I have naturally hairy arms {thanks genetics} and so I attempted it near my wrist region. I am sure they have changed how they now work BUT, for the one that I had, I was able to choose what the zapping strength was. I can say that to this very day, after testing out the gun thing when I was like a freshman in high school, I still don’t have hair in the given region I tried it out on. I was only able to last about three zaps until my mama walked in on me with my eyes watering and me begging her to return the dang thing BUT if you have a high pain tolerance, and don’t want to spend the money to get laser, I would say attempt this.
Anyways -- I hope this kinda sorta helped you out if you're second guessing or worried about any of the above hair removal methods. If you have any tips, tricks, and secrets for laser hair removal... SPILL!! I wanna get laser so badly BUT I'm so scared...
xoxo V
