Fashion and Beauty
To pluck or not to pluck? A Greek girl’s…
If from the look of your arms, chin, and upper lip you have started to suspect that Greeks have been crossed by a strain of mutant goats, you might be right. How often do you spend plucking, plucking and plucking those nasty wiry black coarse hairs from all those unforeseen places only to see them resprout nastier and stronger the next morning? What is a hairy Greek girl supposed to do? Could it be that our hair like the mythical beast the Hydra has the knack of sprouting two heads when you shave one off and on and on until one stray beast gives birth to a patch of fifty? And now with summer right in front of us, the war with the hairs is at full blast. It is unthinkable to go out with the moustache you’ve inherited from Giagia Angela or the black bush on the upper part of your thighs, the part you can’t reach with the razor or that just slips your mind. What is left in your arsenal? In this article we talk about the pros and cons of hair removal and give tips to take off that unwanted hair and keep it off (at least for a week).
Tactic #1: Shaving
The least expensive but most labor intensive method for hair removal
PROS
- Cheap
- Good for patches with rapidly growing skin such as calves
- Certain shavers which contour to body and have moisture strips can give a quick clean
- Little to no pain
CONS
- Labor intensive
- Tendency to miss spots when you DIY
- Less effective because roots are not affected
- Razor burn, skin bumps, cuts or negative skin reactions to shaving
- Possibility of ingrown hair occurring
Tactic #2: Waxing
Effective overall and long-lasting, but can add up
PROS
- Effective at eradicating hair at root so longer lasting
- Quick and relatively painless (except for a couple of seconds)
- Less possibility of ingrown hair
- With enough waxing treatments hair becomes less prone to re-root and come back
CONS
- Possibility of developing irritation, pimples or rash even infection because of forceful skin removal
- Weekly to biweekly treatments add up to a small fortune when you get it done at your local beauty or wax salon (starts from $60-180 for full body at some places)
- Skin can get easily dried and chapped with prolonged waxing
Tactic #3: Threading
Precise and effective, but only good for face, less so for overall body hair removal
PROS
- Best method for shaping eyebrows and getting at those hard to reach areas
- Effective and longer term because it gets to the root of the hair removing it
- Least abrasive method for skin health
CONS
- The pain, ouch! Ouch! Ouch! The pain—you can feel each and every hair getting plucked from its socket with each excruciating roll of the thread that some tear
- Takes longer to perform than other methods
- Not effective for every part of the body, can you imagine threading the bikini area? (OUCH!)
Tactic #4: Laser Hair Removal
PROS
- The most effective way for getting rid of unwanted hair
- Painless and fast
- Few skin side effects, but exposure to laser light is questionable
CONS
- By far the most expensive treatment for hair removal can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars for a full treatment
- Must follow a treatment period that lasts from six months to treat hair and a year or more to maintain
- Although skin follicles are zapped on the spot never to return, it does not guarantee that new skin follicles might grow to replace the old which means you get the same unwanted hair even after spending a fortune to remove it several years later
Tactic #5: Hair Removal Creams and Lotions
PROS
- Cheap and easy to use, just spread on problem areas and wait for the cream to work its magic
- Good as a last-minute alternative or supplement to shaving
- Depending on the product, does its job rather well
CONS
- The stink! If you can stand to smell like a rotting skunk in your most private of areas, go for it
- people have been known to develop skin allergies and rashes as the chemicals (think about it, they are acids that eat through the enzymes of your hair follicle) can be quite caustic and dangerous
So what’s the best tactic for getting rid of that unseemly goat hair? Probably a cross between waxing and laser treatments if you can afford it. Threading definitely beats all others on the face. When pushed to the extreme, a good ol’ shaver with some Nair is your last resort. Happy baring!
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