Shave, Wax, Laser

We all know beauty is pain! Having to remove hair from 90% of your body can be a full-time job, and you basically have four options. Shaving, waxing, lasering, or threading. Well, I have done them all, in all their forms, and am here to say, “There are positives and negatives to 3 and just a bunch of negatives to 1!”

Shaving

This is the most common form of hair removal by all accounts. Now I do not, nor will I ever, use the disposable razors. The reason for that is because I took part of my shin skin off once with one of them and never recovered. To this day I still have a small scar on my shin from that incident. Since then, I have been a long-term user of Schick Quarter for Women, the pink razor, with the replaceable heads.

Cost: The replaceable heads cost about $15 on Amazon for 6 or so (sometimes they have a special with 8) and last about a week and a half, though in summer only about a week (do to the increase in necessary shaving). The razor body itself needs to be replaced every couple of years.

Now let’s talk shave cream, I personally prefer the gel that turns to foam in your hand. There is no science behind this, I just feel like it sticks to my body better.

Effectiveness: There is nothing quite like a fresh shaved leg, that is why my favorite at home self-pampering session includes a full body sugar scrub exfoliation and shave. Wala! Baby smooth skin! But give it 24 hours and you need to repeat it again. Even if I shave that morning before work, I will shave again that evening if I have an event or date night. A fresh shave is the best, but that smoothness does not last very long. Don’t even get me started on that rash and irritation you get on your nether regions after a shave! That is the most uncomfortable feeling ever!!

Pain Scale: Zero, unless you cut yourself.

Overall Rating: For every day, a solid choice.

Waxing

Now, I have tried several different ways of waxing and have had at one time or another most of my body waxed. There are many different avenues to take when waxing: At home wax strips, soft wax, and hard wax. I can say without a doubt that at home wax strips is NOT where it is at. It is quite likely my 17-year-old self was not doing it right, but still… It barely stuck to my leg.

After my early on failed attempt at self-waxing, I had my hairdresser take care of my eyebrows and upper lip for most of my youthful years. It was the early 2000s, so I took off most of my eyebrow via wax for several years in the spirit of the trend of thin brows of the time.

After I moved to Des Moines, I started going to a professional waxer, and boy did that change my whole life. They actually know what they are doing, and used a combination of soft wax and hard wax. Hard wax, like it’s descriptor, hardens on the body and is torn away. Soft wax you have to add a paper to it after it is applied, then tear it away along with the hair. This has been my go to for years and years.

Cost: I believe it was around $15 for eyebrows, $25-$30 for lip and eyebrow, and $65-$70 for a Brazilian. And I went every 6-8 weeks or so.

Effectiveness: I loved loved loved the look after about a day post wax, but it unfortunately fleeting and did not last. This may be TMI but unlike shaving where you can shave every day twice a day, you can’t do that with waxing. You have to let your hair grow out in between every wax session for maximum effectiveness. That was definitely a major turn off for me! Having to let any body hair get several centimeters long is just not something I enjoy.

Pain Scale: Whoza! Ouch!! Having hot wax up your who-ha and then forceably ripped out is not only uncomfortable, but painful. Also do NOT get me started on a lip wax! Though it did get better once I starting to see a professional waxer, the pain was greatly decreased.  What also doesnt help me is I also do have extremely sensitive skin, so completing Brazilians, upper lips, and eyebrows, I tend to swell slightly and get large red bumps. All in all, its quite a violent, and somewhat traumatic for the skin as a way to remove body hair

Overall Rating: 5

Threading

I am just going to say, “Nope. No. Absolutely Not.” It was the worst experience ever, especially the one where they took out the center portion of my left eyebrow, AND THEY MADE ME PAY FOR IT! To this day it still does not grow properly, and this was 4 years ago. I have finally accepted it will probably never grow right again. If my feelings on this were not clearly. This experience had NO positives and I DO NOT recommend threading.

Overall Rating: -1,000,000

Lasering  

This is it, the ultimate commitment to hair removal. I love my med spa visits so I booked an appointment with a hair removal specialist there.

Prep: They schedule a consult appointment prior to any appointment at the spa, I surmise this is because of cost and they simply do not want to waste clinic time. I had my consult and the only surprising bit was that they ask you to shave the morning of your appointment. They do not want any visible hair, as the laser targets the follicle not the actual hair, so the closer the shave the better the results.

Pain Scale: I had been warned that it was going to be uncomfortable, and to be honest I expected the worst. Low and behold, it was practically pain free and took less then 20 minutes for my first treatment…it was the same time for treatments 1-4. Now treatments 6-8…WOW like a hot rubber band being snapped against my nethers. It was a good thing that my esthetician was absolutely amazing!! She is phasing out of hair removal, and going to facial lasering only and I am so sad to see her go!

Effectiveness:  Now they say that you should see an 80% reduction in hair growth. Things can affect this though, such as pregnancy and birth control, due to the hormone changes, etc. Since I have never had kids and still plan to, I will at the very least have to have a couple touch up sessions after I have given birth and my hormones have regulated again. I am about 6 months out of my 8th session and still having great results!! I have little to no hair growth!

Cost: This will make you cringe a bit, it cost $1,200 for my 6-8 sessions, for Brazilian only! Upper lip is $450 for 6-8 sessions, though because my lip hair is defined more as, “peach fuzz” I would not be a candidate for that. And it’s $600 for underarms.

Overall Rating: 10 10 10!!! 100% worth the pain and the cost!!