Near as I can tell, these are the options for unwanted facial hair in women:
bleach
shave
depilatory cream (Nair, etc.)
wax
thread
pluck (either tweezers or “Epilady” type devices)
laser
electrolysis
They all have their good points and bad points. Myself, I shave although now that I’m heading into menopause it’s gone from “whack a few stray hairs once a week” to something more like the beginnings of a lawn. Personally, my choices at this point seem to be either the cream, laser/electrolysis, or growing a goatee and getting a sideshow career. Given my job situation, the latter… no, I kid, I kid, it’s not quite that bad.
Bleaching is fine, if the hair isn’t thick or lush and you don’t wind up with a white 'stache against dark skin. The creams may or may not irritate the skin - oddly enough, despite my hypersensitive skin Nair doesn’t bother my hide as much as shaving or yanking it out by the roots, so I’m thinking of trying their facial formula (don’t use the stuff intended for legs on your face, or at least that’s what I’m told). As noted by others, waxing or threading may or may not irritate your skin. Laser doesn’t work for everyone. Electrolysis has a higher up-front cost.
Bottom line, if the OTC stuff works for her, great. She might want to try several options to see what works best for her. One reason we have so many choices is that no one option is the best fit for everyone. Young girls should try different options to see what works best for them. Salons/beauticians can be a great resource, but the final authority on you is yourself, and you should be cautious about upselling.
I had laser hair removal on my chin/neck and it’s been permanent. It’s pretty cheap these days - about $100 a visit with two to three visits needed. I’m so glad I did it, no more plucking! My friend had electrolysis and even after a ton of visits, her hairs came back.
Well, it seems to have worked fairly well, although upon close inspection there are still small patches that were missed. Fortunately her skin is dark enough and the patches small enough that it’s not really visible without extraordinary searching. I also detect a new shape to her eyebrows…
How much is electrolysis? I guess I can look it up. I thought it ran in the $100s, similar to laser. I’ve known two people who had complete regrowth a few years after their laser treatments, but maybe that was unusual.
I just waxed off my ladystache this evening, using Veet pre-waxed strips after an evening of wine, and tweezers to pick up one or two strays.
I dream of one day being able to afford electrolysis. I can’t wait! And while I’m at it, I’m going to get a bunch of hair electrolysis’ed off from around my navel. And my underarms. And my thighs. And wherever else the hairs have sprouted from by the time I’m able to afford that.
Ahhhh. My borscht-belt sisters know what I’m talking about.
Not sure what your budget is, but my full brazilian + under arms laser hair removal – with free life time touchups-- is costing me just about $1000. It seemed like a lot at first, but then I realized that I spend about $500 a year on just Brazilian waxes. . . yeah, excellent deal.
Naturally, the …upper lips :p, being much smaller the the whole crotch region, would be even cheaper. In fact, checking the prices I have from my place, it would be $261 (they give you a 20% discount for a cash full payment at the start).
Well, I’m a broke graduate student, so my budget is “free or nearly so.” I don’t think there’s a laser treatment centre within 300km of where I live, additionally. I think electrolysis is going to have to wait until I’ve moved to a more cosmopolitan area (and, you know, gotten a real job, etc.).
Yes, I realize that to many $100 a session, or $1,000 total, seems like a bargain but some of your sisters are on such a tight budget that that might as well be $100,000. Much of the time I haven’t $1,000 to my name, and what I do have has to go to food and housing. Over the long haul I might end up paying more, but on a month to month basis a couple bucks for depilatories is possible, and an electrolysis session is not.
I consider myself low maintenance to a fault, and as a gender-bending lesbian who doesn’t shave my legs or pits, you may find my recommendation a bit odd, but I don’t particularly care for my facial hair and this stuff makes it a breeze to deal with at home with just a microwave, a mirror, and a sink with super easy cleanup.
My electrologist charges by the hour (you don’t always need to have an hour session, though) – $81 for 60 minutes, $66 for 45 minutes, $45 for 30 minutes, and $29(?) for 15 minutes. When I first started in August of 2008, I went twice a week for an hour. Then after a couple of weeks, it was an hour a week. By January it was 45 minutes a week, by March it was a half-hour every other week, by May it was a half-hour once a month, and then I moved out of state in July. I’ve had one follow-up visit when I was back in town. I just went through my checkbook and added up the total – $2489.
So yeah, not cheap! And I wasn’t technically done with treatment when I moved away, so it would have been more than that.
Edit: Also, not gonna lie: it can hurt. It hurts more or less depending on the area of your face you’re working on. Ball of chin? Easy peasy. Under the nose? Horrible and sneeze-inducing. Under the chin? Literal torture. But that’s easily avoided with lidocaine cream. That made me completely numb under the chin (I couldn’t feel a thing) and reduced pain enough under the nose that I could have a few hairs zapped per session.
I either wax or just do a quick weekly shave. I prefer the waxing, with strips, but I need to buy more. I don’t wax anything else on me, I get my eyebrows done professionally if I feel like it and have the money, but using strips on the lip is pretty quick and easy, if quite ouchy.
Alright, I’m sorry. I was simply trying to explain that it can be a lot cheaper (though not cheap) than people think- particularly since most laser places I was first checking out wanted to charge me $3000-$5000 for what I’m getting now.
And like I said: mine wouldn’t be $100 a session, it would be $200andsomething total (for lip) for unlimited sessions for 18 months, then free lifetime touchups.
I’ve had salon waxes for many, many years. About a year ago, my esthetician suggested I try sugaring instead of wax and it’s amazing! The lip hair grows in so faintly now that I barely see it even when six weeks have gone by. It works well on lip and chin and is very gentle.
Try that and see. I’ve also had threading done and that’s worked as well as the wax but sugaring has them both beat for lip and chin.
I’m in the middle of having my upper lip hair lasered off. It seems to be working well because I have light skin and black hair. I think electrolysis would be better for darker skin though, from the research I’ve done.
I used to bleach it when I was young, but it really looked dumb. I wouldn’t imagine it would be good for dark skin either.
For the previous 3 years I’ve just grabbed my partner’s electric razor every morning and zipped it off, as part of my daily makeup routine. It’s been super easy, and if I hadn’t gotten a Groupon for the laser removal I’d still be doing it.
This used to be true, but there’s a newer kind of laser for darker skin tones. I have no idea what it’s called (they told me at the laser place, but I’ll be damned if I can remember), but yea. Like always, light skin and dark hair is still going to be the quickest to get rid of, but now darker people don’t need to worry about being burned and getting nothing for it. Definitely ask around if you’re a darker person wanting to get laser- it’s possible, but the clinic just has to have the new technology.
Wel, it’s a good thing she didn’t say that every woman should go out and get it done or that it is the 100% best option and that anyone could afford it!!!
Because she didn’t. If someone makes a suggestion that isn’t feasible for you (for whatever reason), you don’t have to react like it’s a personal attack or criticism. If a suggestion doesn’t work for you, so what? Does that mean no one should suggest any option that may not work for someone?
“Spending X in one go for blah may seem like a lot, but you will end up spending 5X on temporary/cheaper made/etc alternatives over Y-time” is an extremely common piece of advice for all areas of consumer products and services. Of course it won’t always be feasible to do so, but it’s one thing to politely point that out and another to reply in a super-defensive manner as though merely stating the advice was a direct criticism of you.
I’ve always wondered this same thing. I used to sugar my legs when I was younger and honestly, I can’t tell much difference between it and waxing (except waxing doesn’t leave me sticky after).
I have to say, I’ve never actually measured the hair before I waxed. However, I’ve never had a problem removing the hair. If it’s noticible to me, the wax will take care of it.