At the request of one of my followers, I am diving into the delicate subject of the hair that’s not on your head – whether to remove it or let it be and best options for hair removal.  With the good fortune of having a thick mane of hair on my head, comes the unfortunate reality that I have become sort of an expert at this.

If you are one who prefers the ‘au natural’ look of hairy legs, armpits, etc, this post is not for you.  Read on if otherwise…..

For all my life, I shaved my legs every day – the entire leg, 365 days a year.  But first let’s back up a few decades…

When I was a teenager, Ginger was a young, glamorous mother who was very on top of body grooming head to toe.  What did she teach me?  She taught me about shaving legs, tweezing eyebrows, trimming the bikini area, and bleaching the mustache and arms!  Bleaching!  Not that either of us had that much hair, but why the heck didn’t we remove it?  Instead, we would use JOLEN or mix this smelly purple bleach concoction from the drugstore and apply it together, hiding in the bathroom…sure, it was less noticeable when blonde, but still it’s there.  I say REMOVE IT.   REMOVE IT all the time, not only for special occasions, not only for summer.  It shows you take the time to care about yourself.  Why would you take the time get a manicure, and leave your arms hairy?  Why would you put pretty bracelets on a hairy arm?

After deciding that bleaching was not good enough, I experimented with various chemical hair removers, such as Nair or Neet. Perfectly effective, but the results don’t last too long, so you must be willing to repeat it every couple of weeks.  Also, while they are effective, they can cause redness and skin irritation to some –  so if you try these, be very careful about how long you leave the cream on, and start with products made for sensitive skin. (Makes a huge difference!)

Fast forward to the present.  Laser hair removal is my current method of choice – head to toe.  My rational for doing this was to save time while always being all over smoooooth.   It definitely saves time, but truth be told, there are a few drawbacks:

• It is not 100% effective; you still need to shave a bit here and there.  Supposedly after repeated visits the hair follicles eventually die, but not after just a few visits.  (I have been at least eight times).  You need to pay attention and keep a razor handy.
• It is pricey.  At about $250-$300/visit, it is not insignificant – especially considering you will need touch ups.
• It hurts. Oh yeah. Imagine having cigarettes put out on your face. Now imagine that between your legs.  #$%^*!@#!    The pain does decrease as the hair follicles weaken, and some areas (legs and arms) are less sensitive.

With that said, I will continue my laser hair removal upkeep because it’s the most effective method for the time invested, now only twice a year.

The bottom line:

Be ‘bikini ready’ every day whether or not you are wearing a bikini.  😉