Hi! and D.I.Y.

Greetings! My name is Chaia and I do a lot of beauty stuff at home. Partially because I’m cheap, partially because I’m crafty. I’ve gotten really good at some things and….not so good at others. I look forward to sharing my experiences here on Spa View.

The following is a cautionary tale:

They say that some lessons have to be earned to be learned. I believe I experienced such a lesson the time I decided to self-Brazilian. The financial tide was out and I couldn’t deal with the downstairs stubble, so I bought the Bliss Poetic Wax kit (about $40 at Sephora), figuring I’d just D.I.Y.M.P.

Gentle readers – Please believe me when I tell you that it is MUCH, MUCH less painful to get your bits depilated by a qualified professional than to take matters into your own hands. Knowing what I know now, I would have just spent that $40 on a visit to my regular esthetician (review coming soon, because she is five-star awesome). My hands were sweating and shaking, and I was actually whimpering from the pain – even on 800mg ibuprofen – but determined to see this project to completion. Worst of all, I was in such fear and pain that the process took an hour…six times as long as it takes when said qualified professional does it. An hour of horror.

Equally bad: The wax (blue colored) went EVERYWHERE. My bathroom was trashed; my manicure ruined; and I had to conduct a total Our Bodies, Ourselves-style full body cavity search in order to rid myself of the excess product. That said, the results were quite satisfactory; I’d followed the easy-to-understand, minimalistic directions to the letter – melt wax, cleanse skin, apply powder or oil, apply wax, rip off, scream, apply supplied soothing oils, take another painkiller – and ended up with smooth skin, if a traumatized psyche. The one thing that surprised me was how long it took for the wax to melt; it’s in a metal cup, so microwaves are out of the question and old-school double boiler action it is.

Satisfactory results aside, however, I would rather dress up in my favorite ensemble and spend an hour having chimpanzees pelt me with their feces than have to live through this ever again. There is a time and a place for frugality, but poon waxing is not it.

Stay Beautiful,

–Chaia