house of wax

I have been asked for some updates on the waxing adventure. One month post wedding, I will say that I highly recommend waxing. The benefits far outweigh the pain and suffering, which really is quite minimal and brief. I LOVED not having to shave once on my honeymoon and I would especially suggest waxing before any big vacation or event. I get crazy goosebumps all of the time. It was the weirdest sensation to have the goosebumps and then not have insane stubble. That was definitely the best part. That and having a complete stranger all up in my business for 2 hours. ;)

They say that the waxing will last you about 4 weeks. I found this to be a bit of an exaggeration. I think that's probably because there is no way to get all of the hair unless you waited a really long time to wax in the first place. But, it was much easier to control a little at a time and when I kept on top of it-read, plucked about 15 hairs every few days for the 2nd and 3rd week it was no biggie. (And this was not like plucking eyebrows; it was really painless and fast.) Okay, here comes the disgusting part. I should have shaved my pits a long time ago. I didn't though because I did not miss the stubble and the regrowth was no where near as annoying. I knew I wanted to wax again-despite the discomfort-the armpits definitely hurt the most.

That leads me to my next story. I decided that before I coughed up another hundred bucks for the whole shebang, I'd try to wax at home. Now, I had actually tried this once before and it was a disaster. I purchased prewaxed strips and applied them all to my bikini line so I couldn't give up after one strip. That. was. a. mistake! Let's just say it was a very unpleasant bit of time as I tried to figure out how to remove them without ripping the hair out. So, I knew this time, I would not be using prewaxed strips. I decided to stick as close to the aveda process as possible.

I picked up a Sally Hansen at home waxing kit at Target on the way home on Thursday. Friday night was fairly uneventful. I started to read Harry Potter, much to Freddie's dismay. He was obviously bored, so he decided to go out and look at new cars-which I'm sure will be a story for another day. Shortly after he left, I got a notion to break out the wax. I stripped down to my bra and panties and washed everything with alcohol. I was prepped and ready to go, when I remembered we don't actually own a microwave yet, so I had to improvise. I remembered our new tea kettle and decided to heat the water then put the wax jar in a bowl and pour the water around it. So, I had to move the whole process to the kitchen (now remember, I'm wearing my underwear, and we don't have any blinds yet, fortunately, our kitchen is in the back of the house.) My genius plan really only heated the outside, which made stirring and applying quite difficult. In about 35 seconds, I had wax all over me. There was a bit on the strip, which I applied, and then drips, spots, splashes, and smears just about every where else. The papers stuck to my hands, the sticks stuck to the papers, my legs stuck to each other, and then my husband walked in.

Needless to say, he was a bit surprised, but fortunately not repulsed, because at this point, I had no choice, but to ask for his help. Removing the wax strips myself really wasn't too bad. I braced myself for the first one and was pleasantly surprised and the hair did come out. I used the strips to remove other spots of wax that fell where I didn't want them and picked up the last bits with the oily stuff they give you in the box, and fortunately, I was able to salvage one of our new plates.

I waxed as much as I could, including my pits-that was a bit uncomfortable again, but so gratifying (I retreated to the bathroom with my waxed strips for that-I could not let my husband see them in that condition-so once again we avoided divorce for a bit longer.) I did have to use the oil to get the remaining wax off, though some spots were tricky, especially a huge flaky patch on my leg....

Fast forward to Saturday morning, when I realized the flaky patch on my leg was actually skin and that I had removed the top layer of skin from the side of my leg. Some of the other spots where wax had accidentally dropped looked the same way-red and shiny, like after a sunburn peel-but definitely just from peeling skin, not burning, we never got the wax quite hot enough. I also noticed tons of places where I missed hair.

In conclusion, I may try it at home one more time. This time I'm going to try the prewaxed again. I will never do my own bikini line. I will do my own pits. And, I'm pretty sure that I should leave the legs up to the professionals too. They really do a good job and it's SO worth it. However, I'm beginning to think of moving on to bigger and better things. It seems like the price of a monthly waxing would quickly pay for laser hair removal... I'll let you know.

PS-My hubby did get a few happy snaps of the whole catastrophe, but unfortunately, the memory card is at home.