The Complex Life Of Body Hair
Really, just answers and questions for my 10-year old self.
I don’t expect much from this platform, just freedom. Which will be enough.
I’m listening to a song now my mom liked called “Til You Do Me Right” by an old R&B group named After 7. I hate my memories linked to this beautiful song. During this time I remember being maybe around 10 or 11. We were in between apartments and lived in the Red Roof Inn or Ramada Inn — hotels — in the mean time.
It’s pretty bad really but the only way out is through it. My father would sell tapes I remember that were called “bootleg”. I remember these tapes. And CDs — they’d just started coming out and cost more than cassette tapes.
Popular artists or hits. A group named Luniz. Toni Braxton. After 7. Brandy. But bootleg so the artists didn’t get paid.
A lot of instability. Why I don’t know why. But I always marvel at when some people have the ability to self-reflect. I think this is the person who can grow to be beyond where they are. God-willing that will be me.
I don’t remember other songs or artists in that bin, a red or black bin to hold the tapes or CDs to sell to people. Bad memories.
Do you see my hurt and shame?
So today I take back my youth.
I don’t know why by the time I was 12, I knew I should shave. Nobody said I should. But I assumed I should learn. My mom literally had no body hair though. It was always funny how her legs never had hair. Or pores for that matter.
Anyway, this will be for us both, another post. I assume no readers. Though I don’t assume the opposite either, confusing.
Here are things that can still help me as a “grown-up,” a woman, an adult, an adult girl. Here are some notes on body hair that my 10-year old self could greatly benefit from.
And older self, too.
A recap of pages 15 through 20 of GirlStuff: A Survival Guide To Growing Up.
I’ve got you, girl.
Three Questions. Three Answers.
1. What is body hair?
You notice that you’ve gotten hair in your armpits, your little legs, and around what is called the vulva. That isn’t your vagina — it’s good to say. Many women don’t even know how to say their own anatomy. You will. It is the puffy, playful, kittenish part. Purr.
2. Yes, I know you struggle also with what is called self-injury, but that it’s slowly improving — what do you do with this as it relates to all of this?
Do your best to accept this as how you deal with your trauma. Acknowledging your weakness, your humanity is Step 1 to stop. Your scars will diminish as you wear them.
3. Is body hair good?
That depends. You wanted to shave right? But not all girls do. Notice how it is the same dark color as your black hair.
6 Ways To Get Rid Of Body Hair
SHAVING
- Cheap, convenient, requires regular application
- Good for removing underarm and leg hair
- Use your own razor not a parents’ or sibling’s (it is unsanitary)
- Change the blade regularly or else you risk getting cut by a dull blade
- Shave against direction hair grows (i.e. shave upwards when shaving legs or armpits)
- Shaving cream makes the process easier
TWEEZING
- Requires the use of tweezers
- Good for a few stray hairs like random hairs on random parts of the body for example (i.e. a random chin hair)
- Clamp down on base of hair to pull out…et voila.
DEPILATORY
- Chemical hair remover
- May have harsh chemicals and be unsafe for sensitive skin
- Can be found as a lotion, cream, or foam
- Might help to consult a doctor first before using a depilatory
- Use a moisturizer afterwards to prevent skin irritation
ELECTROLYSIS
- Popular way to remove facial hair
- Some say it’s painful
- Permanently removes hair
- How it works? An electricity-powered tool removes hair from the root at the follicle so it doesn’t grow back
WAXING
- Lasts longer than shaving
- Good for leg hair
- Higher price point
- Can be painful
- Find someone who works in a hygienic space, and is gentle and quick
- Good for underarm hair, bikinilike, facial hair
- Leaves skin red and blotchy so should prep for a 1–2 day recovery time
LASER HAIR REMOVAL
- Use it to remove a lot of heavy hair
- Considered the most effective way to remove hair
- How it works? Concentrated light is beamed onto the hair to destroy pigment cells in the follicle, thus destroying the follicle so hair doesn’t grow back.
So this is a small rundown of the different ways to remove hair. I didn’t really see any focus on the removal of pubic hair. I wish this book had just shared this, not that it would be something for me. But still, knowledge about one’s options for your body is power.
On that note, I hope that this post can be helpful for you as it was for me, a page 15 through 20 overview of this book about the difficulty of puberty.
Onward.
Gaa n’ihu.
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