Hairs nightmare in travel

This is no a sexy title but it is okay ! Here, between us girls, we talk straight without fuss ! We all know that, hairs, it is a society matter ! By the time where beauty and woman perfection is going full swing with all big ads, Instagram posts, perfect models and so on … we do not talk about hairs ! For us women, hairs is not sexy and make us neglected ! But hairs is also a sign of an assumed mature woman !

Me, I don’t like that especially when areas are exposed to everyone (legs and armpits) ! So we know all solutions to eradicate this issue, I call hair removal ! I think this market will never disappear … You all know the techniques possible to make those littles monsters disappear :

• shaving : the easiest, quickest and cheapest technique. Problem is it doesn’t last very long and it has to be repeated over and over every 3 to 4 days, or even 2 days for the less fortunate of us
• depilatory cream : least painful but yet a little bit constraining. 15 to 30 minutes are necessary to let the cream take then rince it off. The result lasts longer than shaving but … not that much either !
• waxing : ouch! this awfully painful. The method will allow you several weeks of freedom if everything is fine. In general, we never do this on our own because we don’t want/have the courage to do ourselves harm … so we let a specialist do this. According to the area, it can cost a lot !!
• electric epilator : I never used it personally, but it takes some time and it lasts quite enough time.

Okay so at home, we all have our Friday night beauty ritual, where we pamper ourselves for the week-end to come. But when we are travelling, jumping from one place to an other, it is difficult to maintain properly !!

So I decided to take a step forward : the laser hair removal !

I knew this method for quite a while, but I never considered it or even care about it. Because one of the main reasons was the cost ! As for me, it was armpits hair that bother me the most. So I decided to treat this area first. Yes while traveling more often and usually not in cold northern countries, it was difficult for me to care about this all the time ! So I did my researches and comparaisons !

I choose Centre Ponthieu Saint Honoré in Paris. It is a certified esthetic medicine center that offer laser hair removal, with health professionals (doctors) and high technology equipments. It was very important for me because despite the esthetic, it is not just like a waxing session. You will find a lot of beauty centers that claims laser hair removal but only by beauticians. It is up to you to make your right choice, where you want to put your trust.

How does it work ?

You will have a first appointment with the doctor who will present you the technique and explain all the associated risks, usually rare. You will have to sign a consent form.

Then, you can schedule your laser sessions.

All you have to know is that before every sessions, you will have to shave the area the day before. Nothing has to be put on the area 12 to 24 hours before laser. Yes … no deodorant ! Yay !

The day has come, you are settled. Glasses will be loan. The lady sets the machine that will attack the hair at its base. The laser only covers a small surface when it works, so the lady will sweep all the area. You can imagine the sensation of it like a little needle that pricks. At the end of the laser machine, a very cold air is blowing constantly to reduce the pain.

So it is clearly very bearable yet not very pleasant !! As the sessions goes, this pain/sensation will fade because there will be less and less hairs !

How long does it last ?

A session itself only lasts 10 minutes. And I am speaking of armpits laser. But you will have to do several sessions before getting rid of those damn hairs !! Because, we kill the hair at his base. But as you will be explained, there is several generations (or cycles) of hairs, 3 in total !! Those 3 generations has to be treated before nothing grows up. So you might be skeptical at first (like I was) … you will wonder if it will work. Because the hairs will grow but they will fall like they are not attached anymore. As the sessions goes, hairs will be more and more thiner and clearer … to finally … FINALLY … not exist !!!

The most important thing is between each sessions, you have to do nothing to your hair ! No waxing, no shaving (except the day before the next session) !! Because it will compromise all the work. If you stimulate the area, it encourage the hair to grow you will lose all the efforts.

As for me, I have to do 7 sessions ! First, they were 6 weeks apart. Then from the 4th session, it was 2 months apart. And at the end, 3 and a half month apart. The average number of sessions is around 6.

Warning : if you do not respect the rules of « no waxing, no shaving » between sessions, it can add you more sessions to get rid of it !

Each session for the 2 armpits costs 35 € (for this center).

So it is an investment in time and money because it took me a whole year to get rid of my hairs. But now I am so free !!

BUT …

The trend of assuming our hairs is coming back. I observe, while traveling, girls that don’t care about having their hair ! For nature purposes, women power or « I have hairs, so what ? ». Whether armpits or legs, yes ! So it is surprising but it makes us humans, right ? All to say that, you have to accept for who you are and to feel right with your body. Don’t listen to all those judgements or stereotypes to have. If you want to keep your hairs, very well ! If you choose to get rid of it, do it ! But you have to do it for yourself !

And you ? What tips « hairs and travel » do you know ?

So.