Hair Removal

Oh hair removal, why must you be so burdensome?

In my last post I stated that I was going to try sugaring for the first time. Which I did...with little success. So, since I was on a "different-than-shaving" hair removal kind of mood I tried Veet. A little better. I will share both experiences. I tried both on my lower legs (just under my knees)

Sugaring

(First some history) Sugaring is a practice that originated in the middle east. It is similar to waxing, in that the hair is pulled from the body by the root (rather than cut or dissolved at skin layer). This in turn allows the area to be smooth and hair-free for 3-4 weeks (depending on personal hair growth rates). In contrast to wax, sugaring is traditionally used without strips, rather it is a thicker, putty-like substance that is spread with the hand (heated with body heat) and then pulled off with the hand. It is also a substance that can be made at home, rather than purchased. The recipe I used was 2 C. sugar, 1/4 C. lime juice, and 1/4 C. water. THis are mixed in a pan then heated to the "soft-ball" stage of candy making after reaching this stage it is cooled and then used in the method I described above.

I think...this is where I went wrong. I don't think my sugar mixture ever got to the right stage. It was the right color (amber brown), but when I dropped some into water it just sort of formed a thin sheet of sugar-stuff. But I was impatient and cooled it at that point anyway. Two days later, after it had obviously cooled I realized that it was no where near thick enough to act as its own pulling mechanism. As soon as I spread some on my legs it turned into a liquid-y mess, that was content to stay where I put it.So I went to the bathroom, washed my leg off (the joy of sugaring is that its water soluble...easily washed with water) and thought about what to do. I figured that since it was pretty liquid-y I could just heat it in the microwave for a bit then use it like a wax, with strips. I had an old white sheet that I was using as a drip mat anyway so I cut that up into the strips needed and got to work.

OW! In all of the websites that I browsed, trying to find one about the pain associated, the onlty thingI came across was that it was less painful than waxing. Well waxing must have a good deal of pain involved because this stuff hurt! It was kind of a sharp burst (kind of like if you spill hot coffee on yourself) but then it just went to a small, dull ache for a second then turned red and abused looking. So I guess it wasn't horrible...but bad enough that after the first one I went "Wow...ok... I can't imagine that near my bikini line" Unfortunatly, despite the pain of the yank, only about half the hair came out. THinking this was just because it was my first try AI tried about 10 more. Same thing. 2 of 10 came back with all the hair gone... 20% accuracy, not so good. Plus my leg was read and felt al ittle bumpy. I put aloe lotion on it and tried not to rub them against anything and went to bed. The next day I noticed that the 2 spots where allt he hair came off look really nice, and were quite smooth. My legs werent' red anymore and even though they had hurt the day before, it was all gone by morning. I dumped my homemade sugaring stuff, and I think in a few weeks I'm gonna try a store bought wax and see if that goes better. I've gotta wait for all the hair to grow back first though. I never understood thatabout waxing. You get 3 weeks of blissfully smooth legs, but have to wait through 2 weeks to get hair long enough to wax again.

Veet

Veet is a dipilatory. It dissolves the surface hair and is then washed or "shaved" away. On their website Veet has a video f the procedure and the explanation of why its better than shaving. Apparently it makes the hair rounded instead of sharp like shaving, thus making the "prickles" that grow back seem less prickley. We'll see.

I followed the instructions on the bottle and put the gel cream on my legs (since they are now weirdly patch-y with hair after the sugaring) then waited about 4 minutes. It said three...but after the sugaring thing I decided that my hair is stubborn and needs some persuasion to be separated from me.

I started using the little thing shapped like a razor to remove the cream. It was nice to not have to worry about cutting myself, also I got to do it next to the sink so I was a lot studier (with my foot on the toilet instead of balanced on a tiny ledge in the bathroom. I started to feel a tiny burn start up so I finished quickly and hopped in the shower and rinsed off the residual. My legs felt super smooth. Like, the best shave of my lfe smooth. A little bit of hair is left (near my right ankle) But its not noticeable and I think it can be chalked up to human error. I really liked this. Granted it is a little pricey (about $7 per kit) but if it lasts longer than shaving, I could be converted. I do wonder about using this near my bikini line and underarms. THe box and website don't say not to, but it doesn't say it can be used there either. I guess I'll just have to guinea pig it!


Well that was long. Hope this helps anyone who comes across it (or at the least, helps me remember what happened)

Lots of Love,
~*Ery*~