Adjustments are imminent.
Last winter, my first with bare legs, there were plentiful opportunities to take care of hair maintenance. My wife had a part-time job during the day, and so would be out of the house several times a week. That allowed me to soak in the tub and do a proper job of shaving. I estimate that I shaved forty or fifty times, and never with anyone in the house.
That has all changed this year. I took the hair off on October 20th, and I've had one other sit down since then (which did not get nearly the results of the maiden voyage). Otherwise, it's been hit-or-miss standing in the shower. The untranned eye would guess that I have mange.
You see, the wife now works from home mostly. I work evenings, so midday would be perfect for me, but she's always here! Now, there's an epilator on the way (not here yet!). With the thunderous racket involved, there will be no avoiding some manner of talk on the subject. I'm not sure how I'll broach this, but I want to epilate before my monthly meeting on Saturday, so there is no time to quibble.
Why not do hair removal when she's in the house? It's a mixture of respect for her feelings and fear of potential conflict. I've never wanted my hair removal habits to be "in her face". She wants to maintain some pretense of my uber-masculine nature, and if that makes her happy on some level, who am I to take that away? If you know your husband is upstairs shaving his legs right this minute, suspension of disbelief flies out the window.
All of this means that I will have to be unusually forthright with the missus, and she'll have to listen to the roar of dual-head tweezers doing the unspeakable to her "husband." It's gonna get interesting real soon, methinks.
Musings: It's All About Community
5 hours ago
You are being very respectful of your wifes feelings and that is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteBut she now must realise you are shaving your legs and the next small step will be for her to hear that you are doing it.
I dont think you should flaunt it but equally if you are doing it in the privacy of the bathroom I feel it wont be to in her face unless she wants it to be.
Maybe you could leave some background noise like a TV or stereo going.
While they sound loud when you are doing it in the silence of a room, if a door is closed they really are not to bad.
x
Leslie,
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't have to resort to getting a motel room, every time you want to do hair removal. :-(
Unless you plan to wear long pants, or opaque hose to your Saturday meeting, I wouldn't recommend epilating for the first time, just a day or two before. When you epilate for the first time, you will often look like you have the measles for a few days. Those initial hairs are very firmly rooted, and yanking them out creates a shock to the follicle, that takes a few days to get over. There will be a little red spot where each hair was plucked, that may last for several days. Eventually as you continue regular epilation, the new hairs emerging will get finer, and easier to remove, and not only will there be less redness, but it will dissipate quicker.
Melissa XX
Leslie, I suffered similar issues at home when I started shaving my legs (which happened to be long before I came out to myself.) My ex hated my legs clean, and so I shaved in private. She knew I was doing it, we had arguments over it, and so I did it when she wasn't around, out of some strange respect for her. She never understood this, and actually got to where she tried to force me to do it with her there. Never happened! I feel your pain over this situation, sweetie. There really is no easy solution. Hugs
ReplyDeleteLOL! I was jsut about to say something, then it turned out Melissa already had. That keeps hapening! I guess I'm not the preeminent epilating expert. :P
ReplyDeleteSerious though, yes, when I started reading I started to cringe when you mentioned epilating for the meeting. You are not going to like the initial results.
You have the right idea though. Keep shaved, then at some point take about a 5 to 7 day brak from shaving to get enough length on a cycle of hair to epilate. Then do it, but don't expect great results. You will have soreness, redness, maybe even swollen spots. And some hairs that won't be quite long enough will still show up as stubble.
Keep at it weekly for a month though, and then your skin will be starting to cope with the process, and the hair will be new growth fresh from being yanked out. That kind of hair comes out cleaner without hurting your skin as much, even if the missed ones will be light, and natural tipped isntead of stubbly, since they are new. Of course when they get long enough to feel, the epilator will work on them,
Still even after that first month, it will be best to epilate several days in advance of wearing anything that shows your legs. It does keep getting easier to handle though as your skin, follicles, and take technique start to sync up.
I'm on month 2 right now, and as long as I don't stop for more than two weeks, I can epilate and recover in one day.
Another thing on epilating. Do not get discouraged. It hurts a lot at first but like I said, it does get easier. If you stick with it and do it every week, eventually it will get to a point where you can do it with minimal pain, redness and hassle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, be sure to combine it with great skin care, to prevent in-growns and irritation. I exfoliate every morning, and you'll want a good moisturizing lotion.
I definitely think you will have to talk to your wife about this soon. As you said, it is loud, and besides that, the initial redness is sure not to go unnoticed. For epilation to be worthwhile, you have to be able to do it consitently. Weekly sessions work out ok, but if you wait longer than that, it is more painful, as the hair has had more time to develop.
Another thing about epilation, is that once you start, you are not going to want to let it be a seasonal thing. After you wade through that first month of very painful sessions, and things finally start looking consistently like you want them to, and the sessions get less painful, it is going to be very hard to let it grow back out, knowing that you'll have to break your skin and follicles in to the whole process again next year.
Its jsut much easier if once you start you keep at it religiously. That way it is rewarding. I stopped and started several times before commiting to doing this instead of shaving. Each time I restarted was agony.
My point is that you may need to consider how it is going to work out if you decide you want to make this a year round habit.
As long as I am going on and on though, I'll change gears a moment and mention the privacy thing. That is so awkward! My situation is much the same. Everyone knows what I do, and what meds I am on, and they see the body changes, and the laser results etc. But at home, I still feel this need to shelter everyone from things they are uncomfortable with, even though they know its all happening anyway.
I am a bit late getting here so it looks like you have been lectured to already. My weekly harvest is hardly even an irritation after the first minute or so but do it in a good light, I did not realise just how good an effect I had achieved until I was in the bathroom trying to read with my glasses on and looked down and saw just how smooth the legs had become. So remember, a little pain , a lot of gain, good luck.
ReplyDeleteCaroline xxx