Unwanted hair

Another curse of getting older is the hair that pops up in unwanted places. I mean, it's not as if I didn't have enough unwanted body hair but jeez. I've talked about my foray into laser hair removal before. Let me give you an update on that since I posted it four years ago. I completed the New York treatment and I would say hair was 80% gone on my legs.

When I moved back to London, a new beauty salon opened opposite my house. Thank god it did. I am in there a lot, let me tell you. It's completely brilliant, small with two awesome therapists who just know what they're dong without it being all la de da intimidating.

I embarked on finishing the leg project with IPL treatment. I am including a link to explain IPL as it does it so much better than me. Good news: it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much as the laser. Lovely cold gel is applied first and it's a breeze in comparison. Having said that, it's not pain-free and the longer you have it done (in one session) the more it hurts as the nozzle gets very hot. I reckon with several of these sessions (specifically on the hair, not the whole leg) I got down to 5%. Which is when my therapist told me the only way to completely get rid of those stubborn last few was electrolysis. The hairs may be stubborn but so am I. I was determined to be hair-free so we have been on that project for the last few months. Yes, my quest for hair-free legs has now been going on for four years!

I've never had electrolysis before. It is still the only guaranteed way to get rid of hair but obviously it's time consuming since each hair is zapped individually. On my legs it's mild pain, nothing too bad (but don't talk to me about toes, I drew the line when she started needling my toes and decided a few odd hairs on my toes can be dealt with thank you very much).

Which leads me on to my current obsession. Chin hair. Oh yes. I have a few, not like a beard or anything but more than none is too many, am I right? I've always tweezered them and not thought anymore about it. This is a no-no. They just come back more fierce than ever. This is actually true. My therapist confirmed it and said she would zap them. This was my third new year's beauty resolution.

The hardest thing about this is that you have to let them be until your appointment. This is really hard when you are borderline obsessed and have tweezers in every room in your house together with magnifying mirrors. Come on, I am not the only one. I have weekly appointments and I've had three treatments. It takes no more than five minutes because your chin is not a large surface area and each week I race across the road, offer up my chin and say ZAP THEM ALL! The relief, I can't tell you.

It barely hurts. Your chin is hardy and if you've been plucking them as I have, it's used to pain. I would almost call it relaxing. If you've never touched your chin then yes, it will hurt. I honestly don't know why it took me so long to do this, it's deeply satisfying and I am so pleased to be on the way to a hair-free chin forever. Any new buggers that come up will be zapped pronto. It's also cheap - £5 a session.

Is it all worth it? Should we just embrace hair and not worry about it? It's up to you, if you do, fair play to you. I am too much of an 80s girl to not care. I was brought up conditioned to want to be smooth and I can't uncondition my mind on this. So, the battle continues but I am winning.