Monday, October 10, 2011

I Mustache You, Hair Do I Get Rid Of This?

Author: Nora

I've recently noticed something different about my face. Out of nowhere, for inexplicable reasons, my upper lip has decided to start sporting a new look: a sparse, vaguely blond cropping of just-a-bit-too-long hairs. Coming from a family of smooth-skinned women (where apparently nobody encounters this problem before menopause), I've become slightly obsessed with finding a way to restore my upper lip area (ULA) to its original unnoticeable state. After a misguided attempt to pluck the hairs out one by one, I embarked on a quest to find the easiest, cheapest, most effective method possible. The results? Decidedly underwhelming.

Remember when I said that I come from a family of women who have never given their ULA a second thought? Yeah. I probably shouldn't have gone to my mom for advice with this. "Why don't you try bleaching it? You know, [an aunt related to me by marriage] bleaches her upper lip. I think she needs to." She said this last bit to me in a sinister whisper, even though we were alone in her car discussing her own offspring's fairly noticeable facial hair.

Thinking I'd give Sally Hansen a chance at a mustache miracle, I picked up some bleach. It promises to lighten dark, unwanted facial hair "so it blends beautifully into your natural skin tone!" It certainly does lighten hair, but unfortunately for me, it dyed my ULA an iridescent platinum shade that shone unnaturally whenever the hairs caught the light, making my 'stache infinitely more noticeable. Sexy. Additionally, the application process was a bit clunky: the "creme" comes as a powder that you have to mix with an activating ingredient. You do this on a tiny little tray with weirdly sized tools before applying it, letting it sit on your face for 5 minutes, and scraping it off with a miniature spatula. It gets 2 tentacles for letting me feel like an amateur chemist, but it loses 6 because it left me looking like I had silky, golden corn cob tassels hanging above my lip.

Rating: 2/8 tentacles



While this wasn't exactly a bad decision, it wasn't the miracle I was looking for either. These little guys come in a pack of 4 double sided strips for $10. They're pretty simple to use, but they don't get all the hairs after the first or even third application. I guess the whole process only takes five to ten minutes, but it was just a little frustrating to keep waxing the same spots over and over.

They leave a pretty thick residue, too. The kit comes with a little vial of oil that helps eliminate some of it, but I had to use the oil, then soap, then toner to get all the wax off. Also, despite being hypoallergenic, I've been breaking out like crazy above my mouth. Not pretty, and it definitely draws attention to the area. It gets 4 tentacles from me because after enduring a shiny gold ULA for a few weeks, I was happy just to be rid of the hairs for a fraction of what it would cost to get waxed in a salon.

Rating: 4/8 tentacles





5 comments:

  1. Hiya.

    As a proud mustache grower since prepuberty, I went through bleaching and tweezing and waxing with all sorts of side effects (weird skin colors, tiny whiteheads, wax burns) before I found sally hansen's wax strips.
    the trick is to really rub those suckers together, get them nice and warm, and use your tongue to apply pressure from the inside of your lip as well. the more times you have to repeat, the more you'll break out, so make it count the first time. pull the skin taut!
    Hope that helps!
    -jrb

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  2. I also use the Sally Hansen wax strips :-)

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  3. I'd give Nair face cream 6/8 tentacles, I think. The trouble is it seems to be less effective when it's down to the end of the tube, and it doesn't seem to work as well as it used to, but maybe the hair is becoming sentient and throwing up shields...

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  4. Well thank you! I will definitely give those strips a try. I'm nervous about using a depilatory on my face but I might give the Nair a try also.

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  5. Yikes! "Iridescent platinum" hair is definitely not what you want to end up with.

    If you do decide to try the Sally Hansen and/or Nair, let us know! I used to use Nair but it's been ages, and I wouldn't mind knowing what works for you!

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