Hair Removal... or... The Joys of Being a Woman

Laser hair removal has been touted as the best thing since sliced bread as far as hair removal goes. Although removing hair with sliced bread is a rather arduous process.

I've tried most hair removal options and thought I'd give this one a go for my underarms. Imagine hair-free underarms for ever! Not that it's guaranteed to be totally permanent, but after six session the hair roots are supposed to be killed permanently.

Off I trotted to do a test patch at the local clinic (where, handily, you can also get botox and dermafillers....). The technician put some gel on the area - kind of like the gel they put on when you're getting an ultrasound - and proceeded to zap me a few times with the pen-like wand.

"What's the big deal?" I thought.

"It hardly hurts at all!"

So I booked in for my next session at which I prepaid the next five sessions in order to get the sixth session free.

What they don't tell you, and here's the sting (quite literally), is that at every session they have to increase the intensity of the laser to make sure the finer hair roots are killed as well as the coarser dark hairs. And on my first go, she zapped areas with hardly any hair and on a low level, so it didn't hurt.

The more intense the laser, the more pain. At my third session, I had to ask them to turn the laser down. And it still felt like hot needles being pushed into my skin. I had even put a topic skin numbing cream on the area prior to the session and it was still massively painful. So much so that my muscles sometimes spasmed.

The things we do! I have decided that I am NOT doing my legs or bikini line. Yoweee. Shaving is good enough for me. Next time I'm going to try both the topical skin numbing cream and a couple of paracetamol!