Skin in the game
Jun. 1st, 2017 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerShaving. I have a complex relationship with shaving.
I've just done it, and my face feels like mine again. If you ever see me with a beard longer than an eighth of an inch, it's a sign I've been down for a long time. There was a time in my life when I actually chose to have a beard, but it was never entirely a free choice. My skin, you see, objects to being shaved, and while this is probably true of most people--hence the proliferation of lotions and potions and gunks dedicated to making it less of an ordeal--it seems worse for me. My face feels like mine, but it's also prickling and itching like mad and making me want to scratch it, and nothing seems to stop that. I've tried. Of course, the fact that I then spend the next three hours finding bits I've missed and debating whether to trail back to the bathroom and get rid of them doesn't help.
If I had the money and my druthers, I'd do something permanent about it, but that's pure vanity and totally unjustifiable, and besides there are people of whom I am fond who for some bizarre reason like me with facial hair, so I feel I need to keep the option open for their sake.
But it is my face, and while it will never ever in this world be a woman's face, despite the best efforts of FaceApp--I sometimes try to analyse just what it is FaceApp changes, but I haven't succeeded yet--I'd kind of like it not to be aggressively full-on male at least some of the time.
And let's not even talk about my arms and legs.
I've just done it, and my face feels like mine again. If you ever see me with a beard longer than an eighth of an inch, it's a sign I've been down for a long time. There was a time in my life when I actually chose to have a beard, but it was never entirely a free choice. My skin, you see, objects to being shaved, and while this is probably true of most people--hence the proliferation of lotions and potions and gunks dedicated to making it less of an ordeal--it seems worse for me. My face feels like mine, but it's also prickling and itching like mad and making me want to scratch it, and nothing seems to stop that. I've tried. Of course, the fact that I then spend the next three hours finding bits I've missed and debating whether to trail back to the bathroom and get rid of them doesn't help.
If I had the money and my druthers, I'd do something permanent about it, but that's pure vanity and totally unjustifiable, and besides there are people of whom I am fond who for some bizarre reason like me with facial hair, so I feel I need to keep the option open for their sake.
But it is my face, and while it will never ever in this world be a woman's face, despite the best efforts of FaceApp--I sometimes try to analyse just what it is FaceApp changes, but I haven't succeeded yet--I'd kind of like it not to be aggressively full-on male at least some of the time.
And let's not even talk about my arms and legs.
Wow!
Date: 2017-06-30 08:03 am (UTC)I fought with my mother for years after discovering that shaving makes my skin come off. Also so did everything else I tried.
Body hair, however, is awesome as asshole repellent. :D Besides, if I cut my whiskers off, I bump into things more.
If your situation is that bad, then considering permanent solutions really is justifiable. But for heaven's sake test it on a tiny inconspicuous patch first to make sure you don't have a horrid reaction to that too. Some people do, and it happens more often with sensitive skin. :/
no subject
Date: 2017-10-11 07:42 am (UTC)Before you throw a lot of money at a "permanent" solution, though, here's my experience: unlike their claims, laser hair removal is not permanent. I've tried, like others. I had a lot of sessions (12, I think), with the appropriate waiting phases in between. The hair stopped growing - for a while. A year later, though, everything was back to square one. :-(
It appears that the laser treatment does not really kill the hair roots, as they claim, but rather renders them dormant for a while. So to be working, the treatment has to be repeated (perhaps once a month or so?), which is quite expensive.
However, there are small IPL laser instruments for home use these days, so maybe getting one of them would work for you. Should be cheaper than the treatments with a professional, and repetition once a month should then not be a problem... so if you want to go for a more permanent solution than shaving, maybe this could be a way to go. I've heard from several people that they are very happy with the solution. Do wear UV-proof sunglasses when you use these, though!
Generally, laser treatment works better the darker the hair and the lighter the skin color. Not sure it works on grey hair... It does not seem to bother the skin much (although you have to shave directly before using it, but when there's less hair, that should also be easier on the skin, and after the first few treatments, the continued treatment is more to keep the hair from growing back than to remove existant hair). It does mean applying UV radiation directly to the skin, but from the sessions I had, I never got so much as a mild sunburn, so I guess it should be safe?