Hey, Everybody!
Holy crap! Here we are. It’s the end of the third week in May, and this is only blog number two for the month! Super sorry, Sharing is Caring Tribe. With the amount of overtime I’m working, the days have flown by while time has simultaneously stood still.
Seriously, my life is a groundhog movie. Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat.
But today? Today is Saturday, summer has finally arrived, and I’m going to work from the cottage this weekend!
Woot! Woot!
As I type this, the early morning sun is slanting through the windows, laying a path of warmth across my bare shins, and I’m reminded, I haven’t shaved my legs in a while.
No time, no energy, no desire, and up to this point, no need. My legs haven’t been on display since I left Florida in mid-march. So yeah, shaving hasn’t been a priority.
Until now.
Lake weather has arrived, and the clothes are coming off.
It also means I gotta dust off a razor and give myself a weed wack. Not something I’m looking forward to.
Why Body Hair is my Nemisis
When you suffer from chronic pain, some days, getting out of bed is an accomplishment—hitting the shower? A heroic exertion of epic proportion. Shaving your legs? Yeah, not gonna happen. Especially in the dead of winter when no one gets a peep at your gams anyway. And if your partner doesn’t find your hairy appendages sexy? Well then, that’s what fleece pajamas are for.
Am I right?
Happily, seasons change. Minus forty temperatures give way. The earth warms. Flowers bloom. Summer living begins, and out from those layers of denim, cotton, and spandex come the neglected body parts no one has seen in a while.
Not gonna lie, body hair (and its permanent removal) has been, and continues to be, a war I will wage without regret. Does that make me high maintenance? Maybe. But here’s the deal. Sometimes, when you suffer from one or more autoimmune diseases, something as simple as personal grooming can require too much of your limited energy. Not to mention the physical limitations of a body that cannot, and will not, bend in ways that allows a normal person to get at those hard to reach places.
Doesn’t mean I don’t care about how I look. Doesn’t mean I’m willing to go au natural by embracing my hairy self. Quite the opposite. Despite my shitty eyesight, the older I get, the more body hair I discover! It’s creepy, I don’t like it, and it has got to go. PERMANENTLY.
Hair Here, Hair There, Hair Everywhere
Black hair growing on your chin in clusters? Moustache hair sticking straight out? Eyebrow hair meeting in the middle? Nipple hair? On women? What fucking depth of hell is this torture? Hate em. Had em. Electrolysised the shit out of em.
Bye-bye, bitches.
Next.
Armpit hair impossible to shave because you can’t lift your arms above your head? Unauthorized expansion of hairy hoo-ha territory because you can’t contort into a pretzel? Toe hair long enough to braid because you can’t bend over to reach your feet?
Toe hair? Who the actual fuck grows hair on their toes? I swear, I have hair growing everywhere…except on my head…where it’s supposed to be!
No matter.
Laser hair removal to the rescue.
Zippity-zip. Zappity-zap. Take that you, hairy hair follicle.
High Maintenance Vs. Practicality
Yep, I invested in and endured laser hair removal. For me, it has been money well spent. The energy I would have expended week over week and month over month, keeping my body hair situation under control, was spent on things I wanted to do instead.
A huge win considering my battle with chronic pain and my limited energy resources.
So, why then are my legs still hairy? Great question. Glad you asked.
There are a couple of reasons:
- I don’t have a lot of hair on my legs, so if I let the hair grow, it’s not so bad.
- Leg hair doesn’t creep me out as much as nipple hair.
- I can see and reach my legs, so shaving is fairly easy.
But honestly, electrolysis and laser hair removal is expensive. Each session can run between one hundred and two hundred dollars depending on how long it takes, and multiple sessions are required to achieve permanent hair removal status.
Basically, in terms of body hair removal priorities, I was saving my legs for last. And in fact, I was scheduled to begin my laser hair removal sessions on my legs last month.
COVID-19 put a halt on that.
Not a big deal. I’ll survive another summer of shaving my legs. I just don’t think I’m starting this weekend, because I spent my energy on writing this blog.
And now I have a question for you.
Does spending money on something that makes your life easier make you worthy of being called high maintenance?
Yes, I can spend my time stressing, waxing, plucking, tweezing, and shaving (although I find good razors are ridiculously expensive). Or I can let myself go natural. But does that make me less high maintenance?
I think not.
Either way. I’m gonna take my hairy legs to the lake now so I can get to work and enjoy the sun.
Hope you all have a beautiful socially-distanced Saturday!
Until the next blog – peace out pain sufferers.
Current pain level 6.5/10.
Laser for me…..the energy it saves is so worth it! Pits, legs, and the nether regions all gone. I only wish I’d done it when I was younger and could have saved years of work! Also, it should be done before tattoos as they can’t laser over that. So I have to shave this small spot on my ankle and its annoying!
Laser for the win! And bonus, no more razors in the landfill!
Edith and Diane you are both so smart to get laser done! I only wish I could have had it done way back when! There are times still even at my old age that the hair on my legs and yes toes grows so long I am so horrified. Many days this body won’t bend to do that simple task. I went and had permanent eyebrows done almost two years ago and I have never been sorry . Feel guilty spending the money for the once a year upkeep but that too passes!
The guilt! Yep. I feel it too whenever I spend money on “services” like hair removal, massage, and micro-blading. It’s silly! There are so many worse things to spend money on that don’t make us feel good!