Let It Grow: Embracing my body in all its hairy glory
While the rest of the pandemic world became obsessed with watching their plants blossom and bloom, I was fascinated with watching my armpit hair grow.
It was exciting, to be honest. I know that sounds pathetic but these are strange times and in all my 43 years, my underarm hair has always been ruthlessly ripped out, regularly, unfailingly for 30 years. So to see my armpits not hair-free is an event! And I made sure to watch.
Never shave or wax again with the Philips Satinelle
Waxing was my favorite way to get rid of body hair, but most days I just shaved and called it a day. I don't really have time to drop by a waxing salon for an hour or so (including travel time), and besides it can be expensive if you must get it done twice a month. That comes down to P1,200 a month at a modest salon ha! I can buy better things with that money than getting rid of my leg hair, truth be told.
So, I embarked on a casual online hunt for electric hair epilators. Basically it looks like a razor but instead of cutting the hair close to the skin, the gadget pulls out each hair. Sounds like torture? Eh, depends on your pain tolerance. I'll discuss that later.
What is this sorcery and where can one buy it
I didn't know there were electric epilators available locally. The blog posts I've seen about it all talk about getting one abroad, or via pre-order. Clearly, my Google-fu needs improvement. Imagine my surprise when I saw one in Watsons Mall of Asia (SM department store area) a couple of weeks ago! I was actually checking out Baby Bliss hair curlers when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the mythical epilator. I knew I was going home with it, no questions asked!
Well there were questions asked because the first one I saw cost almost P7,000 I think. Haha. Good thing I rummaged behind the box to look for other models; the boxes look alike. The one I bought, the Philips Satinelle HP6400, is only P2,299.
Does shaving, waxing, or plucking make hair grow back thicker?
A lot of girls have mentioned that they don't want to mess with their leg or facial hair because they're worried that the regrowth may be thicker. Well, I'm happy to say that's a myth! The hair that you see on the surface is already dead. Shaving or cutting it close to the skin does not in any way affect the live hair growing out.
The regrowth looks thicker and feels scratchier simply because it's been cut near the base. Therefore, it looks darker, compared to the tapered fine tips that you just removed.