Warning: This post contains references to to my "bikini area". If you don't want to hear anything about this particular part of me, stop reading now. Really.
So today I did another one of those things I never thought I would ever do. Or ever need to do. I went to a salon and had various parts of me waxed. Yes. I know. Why would I ever subject myself to this masochistic practice? Well, in about a week I'll be headed to the tropical country of Costa Rica, and there will be bikinis involved. Yes, bikinis. So I figured, given that I currently look the most bikini worthy I ever have, or likely ever will be, I might as well go all in. And not having to take a razor with me when I go, probably a good thing. Plus you only live once, right?
I've had more than one person tell me how much waxing hurts. And it should. Think about it-you have hot wax spread over and area, then smooth a piece of cloth over top and rip it off, pulling all the hairs out by the roots. It's gonna hurt. But I figured I could probably take it, given that I feel I have a reasonably high tolerance for pain. (For evidence of this pain tolerance, note that I have run a marathon, been ice climbing, had my navel pierced, hiked the Juan de Fuca trail in 2 days, and just recently had my teeth pulled and felt relatively little pain.) So bring it on, I said. Plus I have a bucket of T3's left over from having my wisdom teeth pulled a week ago so pain management isn't a problem. And to be honest, it really wasn't all that bad. Sure, it hurts when they yank the strip off, but it doesn't last long. It's basically just like yanking a really big band-aid off. Several times.
I went in to get the whole ball of wax (sorry, I couldn't resist)-legs, underarms, and bikini. I wasn't sure how the whole process worked, but basically they take you into a little room, wrap a towel around you and start waxing. You do, however, get to keep your underwear on, which is kinda nice for those of us who are a little more modest. I was surprised at how quick the whole process is. I thought, given the amount of hair I was getting removed, I would be there for at least an hour. But it took no more than a half hour. It was quick. The lady doing it, I might mention, told me no less than 2 times how she was amazed how little hair I actually had. She initially looked at my legs and said she didn't even really need to wax them, because there was so little hair to start with. Well, I knew my hair was blond, and thus harder to see, but I never really thought I had less leg hair than your average woman. And I hadn't shaved since the end of December, so I figured I had rather a lot of hair. But apparently not. She also said this as she was doing my bikini line.
I initially figured I would go for the brazilian bikini wax, since I was gonna be there anyways. I'm a bit of an all-or-nothing type of person sometimes. If you don't know what a brazilian bikini wax is, Google it. I'm not gonna explain it. But when I got there I changed my mind. Thinking back to the bikinis I was taking with me, neither of them is particularly teeny, so I just went for the traditional "a little off the sides". And the result, in my opinion, is just right. I won't have anything peeking out my bottoms, and I need not worry about that problem for a good 4-6 weeks now. Plus you get to keep your underpants on and just pull them out of the way a little. Post waxing, I did bleed a little. It's a pretty sensitive area, so that makes sense. And it does look like I've got a bit of a rash now, but that should go away in the next couple days. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my bikini wax.
I was also planning on getting my underarms done, but when she looked at them she said that the hair wasn't long enough for it. Apparently you need a good quarter inch of hair for it to work. So I couldn't get my underarms done. But since I don't leave for a week I might go again near the end of the week and see if I can get it done before I leave.
So after all of it she put some smelly moisturizer on the previously waxed areas and sent me on my way. All in all, it wasn't really a bad experience. And I would go again, were I to go on a trip or to an event I felt warranted it. I would even endure the pineapple/coconut/mango/ whatever-it-is scent of the moisturizer afterwards.
