Whoa, adrenaline rush!

[msmcknittington]

Lately, I've been in a frame of mind to embrace myself as nature made me: hair, pimples, blemishes, bruises and all. So what if I've got a little upper lip hair? For centuries women didn't rip off every strand of hair from the eyebrows down, and they were beautiful, all the same. Having body hair is part of being an adult female, and damned if I'm going to wash down the drain proof that I've made it through puberty. Hear me proclaim my hirsute femininity!

Yeah, yeah. That would all be great if I didn't have skin the color of notebook paper and hair that is just short of being black. Hirsute femininity is for blondes. Guys, I currently have the sort of moustache that would incite envy in a 14-year-old boy.

I know they say the Pelt Belt stretches from India into the Mediterranean, but I'm convinced that it has pockets in the area of Germany formerly known as Prussia. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Germans? Yeah, right! My ancestors were downright swarthy, my friends. And the swarthiness came with a penchant for girls of the Black Irish persuasion, resulting in super-pale, easily sunburnt, green-eyed, dark-haired me. And, dammit, I'm hairy.

So I shaved my legs this morning for the first time in . . . let's just say a long time. Winter in Wisconsin is enough of a pain with the dryness and all that I don't need to be scraping my legs with sharp metal three times a week. But today was the first truly spring-like day this year, so off with pants and off with leg hair!

But back to that moustache thing. I bought a waxing kit today, and I'm about to plunge into a world of pain. I've used those pre-waxed strips before, and those took off skin but no hair. So I still had the upper lip hair, but also had a big patch of irritated, red skin underneath it. I'm hoping that Sally Hansen Honey Wax Hair Remover for Face will be a better experience than the Sally Hansen Strips of Pure Pain were.

Wish me luck! If you don't hear from me tomorrow, it's because I no longer have an upper lip.

Comments

[jennnlee.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, possibly you had an ancestor sneak over from Eastern Europe into Germany? I'm an odd combination of Slovak (dad) and Mostly Irish (mom), so I'm pale as pale can be with lots of dark hair. I tan walking to the mailbox (thanks, dad!), then revert to pale overnight (thanks, mom!)

Good luck with the lip waxing. I usually tweeze the worst of it, and go pay someone ten bucks to do the rest.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to blame the Romans for showing up some centuries ago and propagating swarthiness in the population.

I'd love to tan on the way to mailbox. I just sunburn, and then peel and I'm pale again. Sometimes I look kind of jaundiced for a couple days afterwards, but it's not much of a tan.

I used to tweeze my moustache entirely, but that was a big pain. The waxing was mostly a success, but I think I'm going to have to do another pass tomorrow night.

The only salon that does waxing around here has an unpleasant woman for an owner, so I don't go there. Le sigh!

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

Me, too. I'm a Charter Member of the Fishbelly White Club, and yet I have that black body hair thing going too. And yet, before my hair went silverDAMMIT, it was chestnut.

Whole cities go blind when I lift my shirt...

The AMA or FDA or whateveritis that regulates such things has recently approved a laser thing for hair removal that works best on very fair skin and dark hair.

*rubs hands*

We are the perfect end user for such a thing. Because I do NOT want to end my days in the nursing home looking like this:



(I stole that off Sotheby's last night...)

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, I think that's a picture of my grandma. Who at 72 still has hair as dark as mine, but did grow some chin whiskers during menopause, which were black and which she still has.

Laser hair removal would be one of the greatest things that could happen to me. Winning the lottery? Really cool. Laser hair removal? Cooler.

[beraht.livejournal.com]

The bulk of my heritage is supposedly Italian but you cannot tell it from my complexion or my hair. I'm pretty white and can't grow a proper beard to save my life. I blame the Irish that I'm also supposed to be for the former and the Cherokee for the latter.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I do take reassurance in the fact that if I were male, I would have full and luxuriant facial hair. My brothers and dad can grow respectable moustaches in two weeks.

[beraht.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily. My dad has a 10 A.M. shadow but it takes me most of a month to look like I've not shaved in a week.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I based that also on my own (formerly) luxuriant moustache. Which I will never inflict on the internet.

[troubleagain.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out how not having an upper lip would keep you from typing a post....

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I guess I figured I'd be in the hospital if I ripped it off.

[bklynwebgrrl.livejournal.com]

As an alternative, you can bleach the hair using a bleach kit and trim with manicure scissors. I shave/pluck/buzz everything else but my stach... I just trim it down with the scissors. But I have blonde hair which helps. But bleaching is easier than waxing and the snipping doesn't lead to stubble.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I have really sensitive skin on my face, and the last time I tried Nair (which I know isn't bleach), I got a chemical burn. I'm kind of leery of bleach because of that, especially since checking something on my inner arm doesn't always tell me if it will react the same way on my face.