Level up your gift-giving skills with Parlon
With Christmas right around the corner, Parlon is here to level up your gift giving skills because now, you can easily give your beauty besties and loved ones the gift of self-care with a Parlon Gifting!
Kili-kili 101: Everything you need to know about taking care of your armpits
For many Filipinas, this particular body part has been the focus of many insecurities. From color and texture, to the presence of hair or odor, maintaining “nice” underarms is something that we’ve admittedly obsessed over at some point of our beauty-loving lives. We’re more aware about not needing to conform to traditional standards for beauty now, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop caring about our kili-kili completely! It still needs proper care and maintenance for basic hygiene, so I’ve put together a guide to tackle every pit concern. Let’s go!
Beauty Is Pain: 5 Brazilian waxing experiences for every budget
I remember a time when the thought of a Brazilian wax (or even just a bikini wax) was something of a taboo. My own mother still cringes at the thought, but those of my generation are more open about comparing notes and sharing experiences, which makes it a little less scary.
This I will tell you: yes, it is the most painful kind of waxing but it truly beats epilating (a story for another day) and shaving (which has its own slew of horror stories). A well-done wax job is fast, clean, and yields the dolphin-smooth skin that provides comfort. Horrible waxing, as you’ll find out below, may make you regret ever considering having it done in the first place.
To Epilate Or Not To Epilate: Here's my experience on DIY machine hair removal
The year: 2013. The mission: leg hair removal. I was a college student on a hunt for a waxing salon in Quezon City. When a sugaring salon had no more slots, I decided to try my luck at a nearby salon whose name I cannot remember anymore. My plan was to get a half leg wax, something I started doing at 14, and considered myself to be a veteran waxee. I remember technicians saying “masakit ‘yan ‘di ba?” to each other while I nonchalantly read a magazine as they ripped my hair away.
How I save over P700 monthly with DIY facial hair grooming
I have a confession to make: I look forward to all sorts of hair grooming sessions. Brow threading dates, waxing appointments, diode laser hair removal sessions – these to me are precious me-time, self care activities. When I started tracking my expenses though, I realized just how costly these services were! So while I can’t do the latter two by myself, facial hair grooming seemed a good DIY candidate to help me save a few bucks.
Staff Picks: How we take care of our armpits
Living in a tropical country means having to deal with hot weather almost year-round, and for some of us, that means opting for sleeveless tops whenever possible. Bare skin helps to make us feel cooler, but it can also make us feel a bit conscious about the state of underarms!
I don't this necessarily means you need to remove hair, wear deodorant/antiperspirant, or have flawless white armpits - you do you, girl! I think that making sure to keep the area clean and free from bad odors is mostly all that anyone needs. But for those who do feel a bit more fussy about their underarms, please don't use calamansi to whiten them - you may cause more harm than good! Instead, check out these tips on how the PV girls care for their kili-kili!
Reader question: Should you epilate while on a laser regimen?
I just found out that this girl I've been seeing for the past few months has some issues with underarm hair. She says that she's "balbon" in the said area and the strands are fatter than common underarm hair. It had always been an issue for her since adolescence and has slowly grown into an insecurity. Because of this, her parents paid for laser hair removal sessions; she's about to go into her 4th of 15 sessions.
She says it's working fine naman daw, and she's seeing some improvement. However, session intervals are long, and are getting longer as she progresses with the program. In between these sessions, she would simply let the hair grow out, and settle for clothes with sleeves. She won't shave because she's afraid that it may darken her underarms. She only does so when absolutely needed, like when she has to attend an event where she has to wear a dress or something.
Anyway, I heard about epilators from my girl friends. I'm thinking of getting her one for her to use in between sessions. I googled about them and ran into this blog. Now, I ask, would you recommend that I buy her an epilator? Would it work on underarms? Kasi, most product reviews I read say na the product is for legs only. Also, do consider that she's getting laser sessions.
Miss Liz, and other Filipinas out there, I hope you can help me help my girlfriend. Thank you! - Thoughtful Boyfriend
Hi Throughtful Boyfriend! You are thoughtful indeed! And sweet. I like that your letter was well-written and thought out, so I thought I'd answer it on the main blog. :)
I'm glad you asked me this question because one of the worst things your girlfriend can do is epilate while on a laser regimen. Epilating pulls out hair from the roots (well, most of it) - hair will take longer to grow out and it shouldn't damage the skin as much as a razor would. However, laser requires hair follicles to be present. Otherwise, there won't be anything to zap off permanently. Laser works best when there's some hair growth!
In other words, it's not recommended to wax or epilate while she's doing her laser.
What I'm curious about though is why it would take 15 laser sessions to remove her hair permanently. Is she doing IPL laser?
My laser hair removal experience at Wink Studio
My favorite place for hair removal is Wink Laser & Wax Studio at Bonifacio High Street Central. The salon looks great, the attendants are friendly and always smiling, and the prices are fairly affordable considering the location and quality of service. I usually go in for underarm and leg waxing, but a couple of months back I finally took the plunge and tried the laser.
The underarm laser is just P2,500, which is actually not that expensive in the great scheme of things. Consider, you only need to go in every six to seven weeks, then after about six sessions and nine months (or P15,000 estimate), you're completely hair-free in that area - forever! Think about that. You'll never have to worry about waxing or shaving again.
The laser works by heating up your hair follicles, eventually disabling them from producing more hair. Some people may grow some hair back (it's a case-to-case thing) but Wink's laser hair removal is designed to be permanent et ceteris paribus.
So is it painful? That's the million dollar question isn't it! No, it doesn't hurt AT ALL. If it's your first time to do laser they will use the lowest frequency. It's so low you won't even feel it but for the brisk rubbing of the laser gun on your skin.
Strip Gingerbread Cookie Wax and V-Blush Treatment (for lightening underarms)
Since we were already on the topic of hair removal, I thought I would smoothly follow through with a treatment I tried recently. Last December, I vamoosed to Strip Serendra to try out their sinful Warm English Gingerbread Cookie Wax and V-Blush treatment on my underarms. I love the end results! It's been five weeks and my 'pits are still super soft and fairly hairless.
Did I say five weeks? Yeah that's how good it is. The Gingerbread Cookie Wax is only offered for a limited time so I'm not sure if it's still available, but I would still highly recommend the waxing services of Strip. They are so quick to pull out the hair - one try, actually - and it didn't hurt at all.