Abuliac

a present for a masochist...

My mother has used an epilator for a long time... and had been trying to convert me from shaving for a while, but my stubbornness made her give up.

Epilation is the process of removing unwanted hairs completely, including the root (e.g. waxing, electrolysis, etc) in contrast to depilation, which removes hair only above the skin (e.g. shaving, creams like Nair, etc).

When I came home a few days ago, I saw her epilator (a small machine, with spinning disks designed to grab onto hair and rip it out) and felt an urge to try it. Perhaps it was a desire to emulate my mother... or it may have just been boredom. I sat down on the floor, rolled up my pant-leg, and turned on this funky-looking machine. The spinning disks look much like spinning blades, so I was afraid to bring it close to my leg at first... but I thought about the thousands of times I'd watched my mother epilating (that sounds dirty, but isn't) and decided to be brave.

It stung at first... as much as a bee sting! But then there was another... and another.... and eventually, the stings dulled to pinches... and the pinches became little pricks... and after a few minutes, I barely felt the pain. You have to go over the same spot many times to get all the hairs (since the disks only catch a few hairs at a time)...

So why would anyone want to rip out their hair, you ask? Because it doesn't grow back for weeks! But for me, I tried solely out of curiosity... and am actually slightly disappointed that it will take a while for me to be able to do it again...

Even after I finished both legs (it took almost an hour!) I found myself hunting for hairs... I wanted to find more... I decided to be daring and epilated my whole foot, toes and all! It was much more painful there, because the skin is thinner, but I enjoyed the power my new little machine gave me.

When my mom got home and I relayed my triumph over pain and hesitation, she went over to her closet to reveal a brand new epilator, just for me! (She'd apparently been saving one for me, in case this day ever came).

I'm intrigued and excited... and my next conquest will be the underarms... (the directions condone it and I'm up for the challenge).