Hair down THERE??

[alexis_the_tiny]

The hair nightmare. Good grief. Trimming irritates the hell out of my skin. Shaving is out because I'm clumsy and nicks there hurt. Plus, stubble, omg. Sugaring and tweezing are only marginally better but regrowth is nuts.

If stubble drives you insane, maybe try sugaring and tweezing. And then exfoliate regularly with a scrub. I use the St Ives apricot facial scrub with alpha hydroxy. Its...gentle enough. Maybe you might luck out and the regrowth will get finer each time. The scrub helps regrowth not be so darned itchy and horrible, something about skin hardening over waxed/sugared areas and pushing new hair inwards. I've heard loads of people rave about Tend Skin Solutions to deal with razor burns, ingrown hairs and whatnot. Can't hurt to give it a shot.

[badger]

I used to shave about once a week (just under the hood, if you know what I mean). The hairs growing out just bugged me, all prickly and itchy, so I started waxing about once every 6-10 weeks. Then I got so sick of ingrown hairs so I just went au naturel again.

I found a great deal on laser hair removal treatments so I bought one for my bikini line and my armpits. I just had it trimmed so none will show through the panty line and it's been great. Don't have to shave/wax/pluck anymore.

[Brandi]

Now I am looking up brazilian waxing. Saw some video on utube (just the facial expressions were videoed) OUCHY!!!!!!!!

[Crankin]

I once had a woman who did my waxing say she told clients that unless you have given birth, you shouldn't try it!

[OakLeaf]

I've done some home waxing in the creases, NBD.

When they waxed my nose hairs during a facial, now THAT hurt.

[GLC1968]

I use an epilator type product in the bikini area and then trim the rest. The epilator is cheaper and less messy than wax but it hurts like a mofo, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a pretty high pain threshold.

[Owlie]

I just shave the bikini lines on a near-daily basis and trim the rest with scissors. I must be weird, because while shaving is irritating and may lead to one or two ingrown hairs, if I've been lazy and skipped a day or two, it's far worse.

[soprano]

I just wax it all. Taught myself to do body sugaring and I cook my own sugaring goop, so it is dirt cheap. Quite painful at first but not nearly as bad after that. I went to a salon the very first time and I think that letting someone else do it made it easier to take the plunge.

I've been doing my legs for 14 years now and I've collected about a billion tricks to minimize pain - usually I don't bother over the winter, so the first waxing in the spring is pretty bad.

Things that help with the pain:

• Don't wax when you are pre-menstrual, because you will be more sensitive to pain then.
• Take some ibuprofin about an hour beforehand.
• Or, have a nice big glass of wine.
• Watch TV if you can. The distraction helps.
• Shower beforehand to get your natural body oils/sebum off the hair, and don't use any lotions before waxing. Oils and lotions make the hair slippery, so it won't pull out, but it will yank hard enough to really hurt.
• Experiment with dusting the area with cornstarch just before waxing it. With some methods it helps, but with others it is counterproductive.
• Wax as frequently as you can manage. Once a week is far less painful and messy than once a month.
• Rip the wax strips off quickly, parallel to the skin, against the direction of hair growth. If you pull at right angles to the skin, it yanks on the hair (ouch!) but won't pull it out. For traditional body sugaring (no strips) pull *in* the direction of growth.
• Never ever go back over an area with wax, even if you missed some hair. (OK to do traditional sugaring that doesn't use strips.)
• The faster you pull off the strips or sugaring goop, the less it hurts. Really.
• If you chicken out, use baby oil to get real wax off your skin, and warm water for sugaring goop.
• If it's your first time, take an antihistamine beforehand to help prevent the area from puffing up.
• Tucks pads (for hemmoids) take down all kinds of inflammation. They really, really work.

[zoom-zoom]

I can't believe no one has mentioned this, yet:


It's like $2/can and works like a charm (it's a powder that you mix with water to your desired consistency--kinda like Neet, but way cheaper). My friends and I call it "brazilian in a can." The only downside is that regrowth is painful for cycling (this is true of any regrowth, though). I'm starting to think that I need to just do a landing strip and paint this stuff on the bikini area. But it's so much easier to slap it on all the hair.

Someday I may go the permanent hair removal route. I think a LOT of my saddle issues this Spring were actually hair-related, since they started in earnest not long after "Magic Powdering" my hooha. It's like the hair directly in contact with the most sensitive areas needs to be at least a quarter of an inch long or it's like sandpaper...ow!

[shootingstar]

Am beginning to feel abnormal here.

I don't ride with chamois ....I haven't. And I've done long rides 100+ kms. several times. I haven't cycled with chamois for past...18 yrs. I've done decent mileage. Some years I piled in 7,000-9,000 kms. annually.

I don't do the stuff down there.
Well, I don't know how to swim.
But really I don't have a problem. I think I've been frozen in time after I turned 30-35.

But then I don't need to shave 'pits and legs. I'm getting hairless as I age. (Thank you mother for this hereditary trait!)

[zoompastmykids]

OK. Wow. I had no idea this topic would garner such response. Actually I thought a few would say "Nope, never done that." and it'd be over.

But now, after many days, I've logged back in and read my post and answers and the kids thought they'd have to resuscitate me when they walked in and I was ROTF LMBO. I had tears in my eyes, holding my breath, my face was red, silent screams of laughter formed my mouth into a grimace.

".... I'm sure there's a joke about sugaring one's nethers."

"... unless you've given birth I wouldn't try it."

"... Men's black chins and women's hoohaas have that in common."

"I haven't made caramel in so long I'd be a little afraid to try it. I don't even think I have a candy thermometer any more."

I've enjoyed quite a laugh. Sorry to have agitated a thread for Chicken Little. But I was really curious. I can't even remember now the 'moment' that spurred me to think that shaving it all was the right thing.

But you'll all be happy to know it's been almost two weeks now and I'm hairless and quite happy. No pain anymore, no discomfort and all the re-growth is soft. I have black hair and it grows quickly so this works for me. If I'd known this would be this easy I'd have done it ages ago. But my legs after every shave feel like a babies but. So I'm lucky that way I guess. Once my skin gets use to it it seems natural to do it.

Thanks for the posts. It was great to get the information.

[Miranda]

OP... glad to hear you got your situation worked out.

Just couple products to add to the thread...

One thing nice about this is that it's translucent... thus you can see what you are shaving...
http://www.bikinizone.com/anti-bumps-shave-gel.shtml

Great for after shaving... but it does sting initially on contact since it contains the drug lidocaine... well it does me anyway... but drastically improves the bumps situation imo/e...
http://www.bikinizone.com/medicated-...have-gel.shtml