Right?? That's what my mum said to me and what all my friend's mothers beseeched them, followed by "I'll book a leg wax for you at a salon and get it done properly. You'll thank me".
And did we listen? Did we heck! No, as soon as those unsightly hairs appeared on our shins we went straight down to Boots, against our mother's better judgement, and bought the razor we'd seen in the tv ad with the girl with the long, lean, tanned limbs, convinced that using it would somehow transform our legs not only to silkily smooth but to those of the models. Our heart racing at the till at the excitement of doing something we weren't meant to be doing and feeling all grown up, just like the time we were bought our first bra. We raced home, the Boots bag stuffed inside our school bag (lest our mothers should suspect what we were up to) with the razor and the last minute decision shaving foam inside, desperate to lock ourself in the bathroom and get on with the task.
Some girls were blessed enough to have fair hair that one could hardly notice and others cursed with thick, black, coarse hairs that screamed to be removed-I fell somewhere in between these two camps-but whatever we were given we were determined it was going to go!
So having lathered up the thick white foam all over our shins (and some were bold enough to go above the knee onto the thigh) we copied what we'd seen in the razor tv ad and did big sweeping upward movements with the razor, yelping slightly as we inevitably nicked the skin in parts, until all the shaving foam had gone. A quick rinse and a pat dry and a dollop of moisturiser later and beneath our fingertips were silky, smooth, hair free legs! Wow, they felt and looked amazing! We were almost tempted to run into the living room and declare our mothers feel our smooth leg but quickly remembered that she'd be furious and just sat admiring them for an age ,thinking how we couldn't wait to tell our friends at school the next day.
Within the next couple of days the hair grew back prickly and darker and eventually we told our mothers what we'd done who then gave us the "I told you so" lecture but by then it was too late and we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Shave every day to keep the silky smoothness or grow out and then go and get them waxed. But what teenage girl could go through the embarrassment of letting them grow out, particularly if we'd begun the shaving process in summer when we wouldn't be able to hide the hairiness under the obligatory opaque school tights. So the chore of having to shave every day commenced and we rued the day we ever bought the damned razor and wished we'd paid heed to our mother's advice.
This went on for a few years until epilators became all the trend and they sounded like the perfect solution. Weeks of hair free, smooth legs sounded like heaven, all done in the comfort of your own home with no costly salon visits. My mother had bought one (I cannot recall which brand it was) and suggested I try it. Well I certainly was not prepared for the utter pain that ensued!! It was like getting a fine blade and rapidly jabbing it into my skin over and over-horrendous is an understatement! I couldn't finish even half a shin, it was so painful and that swiftly put an end to any hopes of perching elegantly on the edge of a chair and gliding an epilator along my legs in a dainty fashion whenever the hairs reared their ugly heads, without having to spend a bean (after the initial lay out obviously which I recall being quite considerable at the time) or leave the house.
Since then I have had varying experiences waxing -from slick in and out jobs at nice salons including the strip wax treatment at Urban Retreat in Harrods, to regularly visiting Katherine Jenkin's personal waxer , to tea tree waxes-I've never had a sugar or chocolate wax mind you, although I'm sure they would smell heavenly! I've been in salons that shouldn't really be in the beauty business, one salon in particular springs to mind, a small beauty parlour in Oregon, Washington State where the therapist (or should I say butcherer) did a horrific job of trying to wax my legs that it nearly put me off waxing for life. I've been surrounded by countless bits of cloth and towels on the floor of my living room for almost two hours, repeatedly having to heat a pot of wax I'd bought from Sally's Beauty Supplies, a million times in the microwave because it never got quite hot enough. After all that I couldn't even reach the backs of my legs! On the whole though I must say I find waxing relatively quick and painless and I've found a good therapist and salon locally ago who charge £12 for half a leg wax which I think is pretty good going. The down side is that I don't always have time to get to an appointment.
The perfect solution to my lack of free time would you believe, is epilating. Yes, after my horrendous experience as a teenager I never thought I'd be saying these words but a few years ago I happened to be watching a show on the QVC Shopping Channel, while I was in the studio for another show, and there waxing lyrical (no pun intended) about an Emjoi Total Concept Epilator were two female presenters and a model demoing the product. The main consensus that they kept repeating time after time was that it wasn't as painful as the epilators of the Nineties used to be and how it was so quick and easy to do yourself at home. Plus it came with a very reasonable price tag of £29.99. They had me convinced I needed this in my life so I rang up the number on the screen and days later this little baby did in fact change my life. It sounds a bit dramatic but it had exactly the same results as waxing ie I could go for 6-8 weeks between using, my legs felt smooth afterwards and the hairs grew back finer , it was slightly uncomfortable but certainly very bearable after a shower when my pores were open. But the main beauty of it was that I could do this at ANYTIME or any place which was fantastic for someone who was always working and couldn't keep salon appointments. I have taken this away with me, used in my bathroom, bedroom, hotel room, sun lounger (no one else was there!) and outside on the terrace. It takes 20 minutes (if you're really anal about getting every last hair like me) per leg, is small enough and lightweight enough to carry and takes just 2 AA batteries.
So to summarise (yes I am aware I have waffled on somewhat) I would say waxing and epilating both have equally good results but one is for when I have time to go to a salon and the other is for when I don't. It's that simple and if like me you are a busy bee and barely have time to tie your shoes laces let alone sit in a salon then I would go online now and order an epilator! It'll change your life.
