This isn’t a subject most people will be interested in reading about so you’re welcome to press the little x right now, but when I was first looking into getting ripped to shreds I wanted to know everything I could, from the benefits to the horror stories. I find even the most famous beauty bloggers don’t touch on hair removal, perhaps maybe for their image but also because it’s quite personal, who knows?
Since the age of 13 (I think) I have shaved my under arms and legs (and actual arms once but that’s another story). Shortly after I decided I didn’t like hair in the other ‘arena’ so decided to use a hair removal cream called Veet, a brand I’m sure you’ve all heard of. As we all know, this stuff has the essence of a dead rat, so why I proceeded to use this as a hair removal treatment alongside shaving for a further 5 years I do not know! I even took Veet travelling with me, thinking this was the best hair removal product out there, let me tell you, lying in a bikini in 40 degree heat with my ‘rat’ smelling like a dead rat wasn’t cool.
Until I met two girls travelling, one of which is now an amazing best friend, who had a drunken chat with me once about hair removal ‘down there’. They both had been waxing for several years and ensured me to try it when I got home, as they’d both experienced one out in Thailand and said the brutality of it had the potential to put me off for life.
After two or so months after returning home, I took the plunge and booked a wax at a beauty place my friend had recommended. For £30.00 a hit, for the full whack, I personally thought this was outrageous but was secretly tempted to see what the fuss was about. Newly single, I had turned up to the Saturday morning appointment dreadfully hungover and started feeling pretty sick. After being told to go into the room and strip naked from the waist down and lie on the paper towel covering the massage table (if only I was there for a massage) which I later proceeded to cover in back and bum sweet (nice) and tear from jolting around so much, I sat nervously awaiting my demise.
As it was my first ever hot wax (which by the way girls, is 100% less painful than warm wax with strips), they decided that getting me on all four’s straight off to wax my behind may have been a bit of a shock, so I was told to bend my knees at right angles and lie comfortably. I can tell you there is nothing comfortable about what happened next. I ended up kicking my poor beautician, who I’m now quite friendly with, after the first line of wax was pulled off and it didn’t get much better. It was a sweaty, bloody mess to tell you the truth.
Booking up a 2nd wax was probably the best thing I did. Everyone who has ever had a wax will tell you, the more you wax the easier it becomes – and they’re right! The 2nd one wasn’t as painful and the 3rd felt like a breeze. Granted, they are still painful but throughout the last 4 years I’ve been waxing I’ve learnt several tips.
- Going in with a hangover makes it so much less painful. The fact you still have alcohol in your system means you relax more AND you’re mega chatty to the beautician so you forget what’s going on ‘down there’.
- Take a paracetamol or ibuprofen half an hour before – granted, sometimes this doesn’t work as much as I’d like it, but there have been times when they’ve been a miracle I tell ya!
- Steady your breathing – this is the hardest one I find as the more you try and think about your breathing, you start to count, count those seconds before she ruins your bits!
- Get friendly with your beautician because if you do accidently boot them, it’s loads less awkward! Hahah, just kidding, if you have loads to catch up on, the time really does fly.
- Do not and I repeat DO NOT go back to shaving/any other form of hair removal once you’ve switched to waxing. Firstly, you will eventually get annoyed at the speed of your hair growth with these alternatives and want to go back to waxing and when you do…..there’s hell to pay. Remember that first wax you ever had? Yeh, you can bet that it’ll be near if not just as bad as that experience.
I know this is an expensive luxury (if you could call it that) but there are places you can go where they’re cheaper. You can get student discounts and from experience if you live up north waxing is a lot less expensive. However, do not be fooled, you pay for what you get. I went for the cheaper option of a warm wax with strips…..let’s just say I have a little less skin in that arena following said wax. I had also been silly and not followed my own advice and went to a cheap salon where the prices were low (I’ll cut myself some slack, I have just moved house and I’m getting married – money is tight) and consequently the end result wasn’t what I was after. It’s safe to say I’ll be going back to my regular salon.
All in all, I am definitely pro wax! The results are so much better than any other hair removal I’ve tried and considering I have a very low pain threshold, anyone out there can get used to it! So my advice is to give it a go, just have a few wines the night before, or a few hours and you’ll be fine.
If any of you have any questions about hair removal, please don’t worry about asking as I’ve tried pretty much everything that’s on the market!
23 sleeps! XX
Bucket List Adventures 