What do you do about your hair?

[thebunnygeek.livejournal.com]

Hey people! :D

I'm curious, what's everyone's preferred method of hair control (if any)?
Do you keep it completely au-naturel, or do you completely remove it?

If you remove it, why? How do you do it?

I'm deciding on whether or not to simply trim (with those special trimmers) or just get all of it waxed. But... as my vulva is kind of irritated I'm trying to go with the least painful/irritating route.

Comments

[realt-stea.livejournal.com]

i usually remove all hair, mostly out of habit but also because that's how i'm most comfortable. i get really lazy about it when i'm not in a relationship or during the winter. i've done the brazilian wax, which was.. ok, but i'm not sure that i'd do it again. i usually shave, but only about once a week. anymore than that and the irritation is awful. if you've never done a full shave before, be careful as the first couple of times, the stubble growing back can be quite irritating. it usually gets better as you keep shaving though, if you like it.

ETA: if you do decide to try brazilian, take ibuprofen or aleve about an hour before, it'll help with the pain. and ask the the salon if they offer a discount for repeat customers. the place i went to, they charged $60 for the first time, but if you came in on a regular basis she would only charge $40

[thebunnygeek.livejournal.com]

I have done a full shave before, but it was so incredibly scratchy the boyfriend barely wanted to touch it. He's got thick Middle Eastern skin, and it was red from how rough I was!

I think I will get a full Brazilian, since the neighbourhood I live in has a very safe very reputable salon for 25$ full waxes! I'll remember the ibuprofen though! Thank you!

[mewsicfreak.livejournal.com]

If I could afford to, I would get regular Brazilian Waxes done. Sadly they're about $65 bucks a pop! Wayyyy to expensive.

I can't shave because then I get ingrowns and they end up turning into very hard, painful abscesses.

I sometimes use Veet or Nads, but it's kinda messy and smells weird...and leaves me feeling odd down there. But sometimes I still do it anyway.

I've tried those electric trimmer things guys use to cut their hair, and it works okay, but I'm always afraid of slicing my labia off. No fun.

I've found the safest approach to take if you're poor like me, is to just take regular ol scissors and trim every now and then, turning them sideways up against the skin to get as close as you want after the initial removal.

But my preference is definitely professional waxings.

Good luck :-D

[thebunnygeek.livejournal.com]

How does the Veet work? I'm mostly looking for the least irritating solution, so while this seems awesome for the fact that I don't need to expose myself to a stranger... I don't want to cook my vulva off. XD
Thank you for the luck, by the way!

[mewsicfreak.livejournal.com]

Veet is a depilatory cream that you smear on there and wait like 5 minutes...though it doesn't always work very well, especially if you have very thick bushy and coarse hair...
Sometimes you have to do it once...wait a day or two for the tenderness to go down and then do it again...
And sexual activity while waiting is awkward...it either smells chemical, tastes chemical, or is too sensitive to be touched :-P haha.

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

To me, it smells like chemically Jolly Ranchers. :X

[patchworkorange]

I generally like to be completely bare down below, with a landing strip. That makes it easier for the love to go to town :) I feel I get cleaner easier without the added fuzz around my openings but being completely bare gives me a weird little girl thing.... I'm a woman, you know? LOL.

I generally trim with scissors, then shave with a razor.

[thebunnygeek.livejournal.com]

Woah, a landing strip! Neat! What does that entail? Is it like, on top?
Yeah, I get what you mean. When I full shaved I was a little surprised at how vulnerable I felt. And how different everything looks!

[mewsicfreak.livejournal.com]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Landing_strip.jpg

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

I find landing strips so cute. XD

[thebunnygeek.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh that's adorable.
XD

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

I'm 100% natural with all my body hair. I like it--it's mostly all pretty soft and I get absent-minded sometimes and find myself petting my navel hair. |D;

[thebunnygeek.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, yeah! I'm finding myself doing that sometimes.
You're lucky to have soft hair! Seriously!

Yay hair!

[kansassatin.livejournal.com]

All natural. It's like a Wild Thing! I am coming to terms with my body hair and just letting everything grow. Except my top o' the head hair, that shit has got to goooo!

[bloobottle.livejournal.com]

I go from one extreme to the other.

Sometimes I get rid of it all just for the hell of it, other times I just don't bother cause I have better things to worry about. Usually I'm somewhere in between. I trim and usually tidy up the edges. I use nair hair remover for the edges. It's pretty cheap for a biggish tube of the basic stuff (at least it is here) and it lasts a while and I've found I get almost no irritation.

It seems to make no difference in terms of my sex life. I used to keep it tidy partly for that reason, but I'd hardly gone near it recently and my boyfriend spent a perfectly content half hour there yesterday with no complaints.

I have removed it all previously at a partner's request, but equally had no complaints if I didn't bother. Usually it's for me and my own amusement/convenience. I usually keep it trimmed pretty short around my period, just because it's easier to get clean/feel fresh.

[mewsicfreak.livejournal.com]

Same here! I'm half and half with caring about it, too.
50% of the time, I feel it needs to be clean and naked and bare...and 50% of the time I tend to like petting ZEE BOOSH. :-)
Since I've been with my guy almost 6 years, now...he's totally comfortable either way, which is nice :-D

[harro-der.livejournal.com]

I remove it. Originally it wasn't for good reasons - my first roommate in college was an ass and made fun of me for not trimming, so I shaved it. I've tried many times in the years since to let it grow out and just keep it trimmed or partially shaved but I can't stand it and I always end up shaving again.

I use a Schick Intuition razor. I shave about once a week and because the intuition doesn't need foam or anything, I just run it over the entire area.

I had a few ingrown hairs when I first started, but I don't typically have problems with it now, it's been 8 1/2 years since I started.

[sweetchild92.livejournal.com]

Shave a few times a week at most.

I started it as a way to keep it cleaner when I got my (then) heavy periods. I use a regular venus razor.

I only shave downward-I'm not a fan of how *my* vulva looks completely bare.

[fallconsmate.livejournal.com]

i've shaved, used chemical hair removers (i highly recommend Magic Shave, its designed for use on african-american beard hair, and it comes in a sensitive formula), used a trimmer.

i finally gave up being able to do it myself and told TheEngineer "if you want it off, you do the landscaping". so he does, because he prefers things more manicured down there. trimmer then a battery operated shaver, and repeated whenever it feels uncomfortable to *me*.

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

My ex wanted to shave my pubic hair once, so I let him. It was both kinda weird and sweet. I'm terrified of razors and being cut, so it involved a lot of trust on my part.

[argyle-skull.livejournal.com]

I shave it all off! I used to use an Intuition but now I just use new or almost new Mach 3 blades and some shave gel. I am *very* careful to only go with the grain of the hair or from a 90 degree angle, if that makes sense. I *never* go against the grain because it hurts and will cause ingrown hairs. It also helps to be in the shower/bath for several minutes before shaving to soften up the hair and the skin.

Now, once I am shaved I wait a couple of weeks before going all out again because if it's too short then I end up with cuts and that sucks!

[misspaigeb.livejournal.com]

I shave it all. About once a week, more often if I'm having sex regularly. I do it mostly because I like the way it feels. I'd probably get a brazilian but I'm chicken, and they can get expensive.

[blackpuddle.livejournal.com]

I trim with a beard trimmer. Every once in a while I'll shave but my skin get irritated really easily so I rarely do that.

[archangelbeth]

I used to trim (buzz-cut!) with my spouse's old beard-trimming attachment for his razor. After a while (years), though, he expressed a mild preference (SHOCK!) for letting it grow. I might trim it a little now and then (especially before periods), but I leave it pretty long now.

[etxeberria.livejournal.com]

I stopped shaving recently because I'm prone to ingrown hairs that have been causing painful boils. I doubt I'll bother trimming, because the hair is sparse to begin with and it will look patchy if I do!

[reflectionriver.livejournal.com]

I go all natural. I tried trimming once, but found it very irritating. My boyfriend doesn't mind, although I think he would prefer less hair. Sometimes I wonder about trying trimming again. I'll probably give it another go when it gets warmer. :)

[forwhataim.livejournal.com]

I trim and shave. I never go completely bald on purpose.

[misheymo.livejournal.com]

i really hate my having pubic hair. i'm getting laser hair removal pretty much every where. i just feel cleaner, neater and i have shakey hands so razors aren't a good idea for me. and if anyone is curious yes it is expensive and it hurts some. but its not really so bad--wouldn't even make my eyes water.

i have been shaved by someone but that is a really bad memory so i didn't ever let anyone else do it (cept my... hair stylists)

Laser

[karenoh.livejournal.com]

So, I never thought I would do this, but I've been doing laser treatments for my bikini area. The place I go to is Ideal Image, one of the major national chains, but plenty of other places offer it: do your research first!

I never thought I would do permanent hair removal, and the laser option is certainly not cheap: though, if you're someone who waxes regularly anyway, laser treatment could be more cost effective over the long term.

The reason I went for laser is that I hate the aftermath of all the other options: shaving leads to horrible ingrown hair, and then stubble is back within 24 hours!

Waxing, tweezing, debilating: also led to ingrown hairs (plus ouch!)

(Though I actually would recommend trying a depilator and using some sort of anti-ingrown hair thing afterwards. I did this for a while. I used the epi slim: you can get one for less than $20 bucks. Removing hair this way lasts longer than shaving or depilatory cream.)

Depilatory creams are the least irritating temporary hair removal option for me, but they smell awful! And the concept always kind of squicked me out.

Most of my life I've done very little maintenance down there, in part because I'm just so prone to bikini line irritation. (And in part because I liked it just fine that way.)

I finally ended up doing the laser treatment, just for my bikini line, and I am SOOO pleased: no ingrown hairs, no irritation, relatively painless compared to waxing...

Very pleased with the results. Beyond that, I just trim what's left with a trimmer sometimes, if I feel like it.

[supercrook.livejournal.com]

I normally just trim everything with scissors; I used to shave everything off and go bare a lot more, but I haven't been able to find my razor.

[anowyn.livejournal.com]

i used to shave it, but my husband prefers it just neatly trimmed, and hey, that's easier for me to maintain! so that's what I do.

Oh, and I use a Schick Quattro ; the one with the battery powered shaver attachment. I just use it on a short setting and it's perfect.

[storychick.livejournal.com]

I generally go au natural, mostly, occasionally I take a scissor and trim the area furthest down (from the clit down, say) before my period to keep things a bit less messy.

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend doesn't really care what I do to my pubes, though he has expressed a preference for shorter. He thinks I'm pretty hairless, but I have a self-conception of being fairly hairy. So, I remove hair for looks (particularly in the summer, when I go swimming), but mostly because I like the way it feels.

I use a Neutrogena Bikini Shaver for my pubes. In the shower, I tidy up the edges of my bush, and keep most of it as is. I either use this tool or small scissors to trim the hair on my labia to ~0.5 cm of stubble. I also get the hair where my labia meet, near my clit hood. When I do not trim, my hair can get very long--I think I once measured one (stretched) hair at 8 cm! I have gotten rather good at trimming (with the razor) by feel, as I can't see much without my glasses, and I can't wear glasses in the shower. I usually do need to do touch-ups when I get out of the shower, especially on my legs.

The hair does not bother me, but I do enjoy the act of removal. I would honestly remove more if the regrowth wasn't such an itchy, irritating experience. This is about as much as I can remove without suffering for the next five weeks.

[plasticpepper.livejournal.com]

I shave, but not consistently. Once I shave I have to let it grow back a bit before I can shave again or it gets super irritated and razor-burn-y...I have to let it grow until it gets past the stubbly point. And I also try to avoid shaving right before or during my period, because I discovered the hard way that pads against freshly-shaven skin is SUPER PAINFUL for me. Now that I have my Lunette I think it's probably not an issue, but I'm still trying to avoid it because I sometimes wear a pad as backup overnight, plus I always wear liners with my cup.

So basically my hair situation varies - anywhere between completely bare and around a 1/4 inch of growth, maybe a little more than that.

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

I trim... occasionally. It varies from about once per month to once every few months. When I remove/shorten my pubic hair, it's generally to preempt other substances (e.g., menstrual blood if I'm wearing pads, bag balm if I'm dealing with chub rub) from getting my pubic hair clumpy and sticky during the day.

[loototherah.livejournal.com]

I go mostly au-naturel, with the occasional trim with a Venus Bikini Trimmer.

The only partner I've had to complain about my bush was one that I got rid of after 16 days. So there's that.

[darcerin.livejournal.com]

I shave, although it wears down my razors a fair bit. I used to trim right by the labia, right before my period, but now I can't stand having long hair down there now!

[charissa.livejournal.com]

I tend to epilate what I can, then brazillian wax the rest at home. $12 waxing kit lasts 2-4 applications depending how much there is to wax off. Ideally I do this after a period as I swear my hair feels ick after.

Though, I wouldn't follow this - probably one of the more painful methods - epliating is a drawn out plucking and home brazillian waxing is a little insane. I like this way because it's cheaper than a salon and I HATE shaving, as it just grows back in a day or two very painfully.

[bear-woman.livejournal.com]

After years of shaving I let my bush grow back in 2010. I've kept it that way ever since because sex is somehow 10x more intense and amazing with hair down there. I have no idea why, but I think the hair prevents too much friction from touching my sensitive bits, so during sex they're not used to being touched and it feels crazy good. I love my hairy bush.

[waterblaster.livejournal.com]

I use hot wax (the kind we buy at the store and heat up in the microwave) to wax off all that crazy hair that reach my groins, and also wax off the mons. Then I trim whatever is left neatly with any pair of scissors. Any hair left after the waxing I remove with tweezers. I've been thinking about shaving the bottom as well, but the thought of the amount of pain I might feel freaks me out, haha!

[https://users.livejournal.com/pretendworld-/]

It sounds unbearably painful, but I've recently just started epilating and am LOVING the results. Once you get over the initial pain factor and work in a small area at a time (rather than running the epilator all over) it's quite efficient. No ingrows or redness lasting results.

[sxechiru.livejournal.com]

I shave the 'lips' - I keep the mons pubis low-cut but completely shave off the area around my clitoris and vagina all the way. I am a very hairy person so I even shave back around the anus. It's less gross to deal with during periods and it feels nicer to me. I also feel like I keep odor down when I shave regularly.

[xhollydayx.livejournal.com]

I prefer to remove all or most of the hair (if I don't remove it all, I do a landing strip). Oddly, with female partners I tend to really enjoy if they have plenty of pubic hair - I like the sensation, the smells, etc. Anyway. I typically get brazilian waxes, but really detest waiting for the hair to grow back out. when I'm really broke I sugar at home (I have a kit from Moom that I purchased at Ulta. I do like that you can wash and reuse the strips from the kit. It was under $20, and I've used it at least three times). I enjoy how smooth it feels for a week or two post-waxing or sugaring and find that waxing/sugaring minimizes the chance of any ingrown hairs. I tend to get tons of ingrown hairs when I shave.