Hair Free Body Confidence

The minute a girl hits puberty the hormones kick-in and the problem of body hair becomes very real. Despite innovative contributions from medicine and technology the quest for the most efficient and effective method for depilation is still on. If you invest some time into learning what are the different methods available to de-fur the body you’d end up with a long list. Sifting through my long research list I found out that there are only three methods that click with me:

1. In a big hurry: grab a lady-razor
2. In a mood to splurge: go for the permanent laser hair reduction
3. On a budget: grab mechanical epilators. (My hero has always been Braun Silk-e’pil!!!)

Let’s get comfy and talk about hair-related body image and personal hygiene issues & of course the different depilation options (their pros and cons).

Staying Natural

Lets toy with the notion –letting your inner hippy be in charge and flaunting body hair in it's full fleecy glory.

Pros: Life becomes much simpler, no effort, no expense

Cons: Be prepared to be teased, ridiculed and name called publically and privately. Visually it is an undesirable picture, as civilized well-groomed society is so used to a clean hair free female body image.

Shaving:

We have multifold techniques for hair removal and shaving is arguably the most popular.

Pros: Cheap, convenient, time effective

Cons: The main drawback of shaving is that the hair grows back quickly. Most nasty aspect: the newly growing stubble feels thorny, sharp and so non-feminine. Some people claim hair increase in density (thickness). Ingrown hair, and folliculitis are frequent complaints among shavers.

Hair Removal For The Brave

Waxing:

Sugar based hair plucking.

Pros: Done at home it’s a relatively a cheap procedure, allows you to have hair free body for up to 3-4 weeks.

Cons: Done at salon; ends up being quiet expensive (as it is a repeat procedure), painful, messy and oh so! associated with folliculitis and ingrown hairs.

Laser Hair Removal:

Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation in a lay-girl’s vocab it means permanent hair reduction.

Pros: Almost Permanent hair reduction, elegant way to loose excessive hair.

Cons: Expensive, painful (depending on your pain threshold) and comes with risks of side effects if done under incompetent hands.

Mechanical Epilators:

A real effective technique, which involves ripping out the hair from the root (plucking). Most people are aware of waxing as a method of body hair removal, but less are aware that devices exist that act as automated tweezers. They are like electric shavers; difference is they use a spinning set of tweezers that rip out large areas of hair real quickly.

As this is my go-to choice for depilation -Let’s Dig Deeper….

Pros & Cons: The benefits of epilation are clear; you can get rid of hair for four or more weeks without having to constantly shave. However, you need to have the strength of will to survive the relatively painful initial work. Epilation can be relatively painful, but I think it is a lot easier to maintain than shaving and waxing. After all the hair is ripped out, it re-grows sporadically and in lighter forms, so it is easy to periodically remove what re-grows. Some people even report permanent reduction in the hair density.

The method is a little painful, but allows you to remove hair in minutes. And good news is the results last for weeks. Sometimes post-epilation skin reacts to the plucking force resulting in red raised bumps around the formerly occupied hair shafts. The irritation persisted for several days, but eventually heals, with perfectly smooth and hair-free skin. Some hairs re-grow, probably because their roots hadn't been ripped out, but they are few in number and it is much less painful to remove few stray hair than a group of twenty or more simultaneously.

The pain can be lessened by application of topical anesthetics or ice, taking some acetaminophen might help also. My advice; if you’re a girl get used to pain! You are ripping out clumps of hair, after all how are you not supposed to feel pain. On a chipper note I think women probably have it easier than men with epilation, since they generally have lighter and less dense hair.

I encourage any fellow brave girls to try this method of hair removal, since pain builds female character and this method delivers smooth and great results.

So finally which method to choose?

It depends on:

Where the hair is? -Shaving moustache hair = bad move.

How much hair are we dealing with? -No amount of bleach is going to achieve a Brazilian down below

What’s your pain threshold? -Waxing and epilation is not for the faint hearted.

What’s your skin type? -Sensitive skins may react badly to creams and waxing.

What’s your budget? –Laser and salon wax treatments cost mucho dinero

And remember: Just because our gal pals are waxers/shavers doesn't mean we should be. Try for yourself find out which method works for you. Happy selections!