Wax On... Wax Off

...don't forget to breath. Very important.

So. Stewerdess Sal opens her own aesthetics shop, and she needed help from her friends. Specifically, she needed volunteer models so that her staff could practise their techniques when it came to brow treading, manicures, pedicures and waxing. Volunteer male and female models.

Everyone was apprehensive about the waxing thing, whether it was the axillae, the legs, nose hair, and most balked at the idea of going brazilian. The private bits, open for viewing, subjected to scrutiny, and soon shorned of shrubbery.

The thing is, everyone has this idea that waxing brings about an entire world of pain never felt before. The closest we think waxing may feel like, is like having a Handyplast plastered to the leg where there is hair, and yanking it off. Already as it is, peeling the bloody plaster off slowly may sting, what more will waxing feel like!

Since it's for a friend, most of us agreed to lend a helping hand, or in this case, helping arms and legs. We had the impression that it would be just us and the trainee after all. A trainee that we didn't know.

We were ok with volunteering, so our only question we needed to ask Stewardess Sal was, "What's the minimal hair length required for waxing?"

'Cos it's no point us volunteering when the hair length isn't long enough to wax off, isn't it? We've been shaving for close to a year now and it's been taking a toll in razor blades, as we have to shave every other day. If we leave it, at the most after a week it'll start getting prickly and we'll have to do something about it. And we were curious about two things about waxing: just how painful waxing really is, and how long does it take before hair grows again.

And so we made an appointment, and as the day drew closer we received and email from Sal saying that we're the first male model for waxing and that she would be the one to attend to us as the other trainees are working on other volunteers. If we weren't comfortable with that, we can come in later that day after she's done with another volunteer.

Naturally we hesitated. It's one thing having a complete stranger wax you, it's another when it's a friend that you aren't that, er, close with.

It's also a good thing Sal told us this earlier and not on the day we arrived, 'cos we had time to think it over and in the end we thought, what the heck, let's get this over with. If she told us upon arrival we might just have chickened out for good, or else gone through with the thing but felt as if we were doing it against our will.

So when we arrived we got a quick tour of the place, and when it was time we were shown into a room where we changed and waited for Sal. Sal then tried a brand of hot wax on our right axilla. Smelled of rose, and while we couldn't see her applying it we could definitely feel something warm there. Not searing hot, but comfortably warm.

Then we felt a slight pinching feeling.

Then she yanked. And immediately after that, using a gloved hand, pressed on the area waxed.

And in our opinion, it's not that bad. Certainly nothing to scream about!

Then she informed us she was trying a different brand of hot wax on our left axilla (the, well, advantage of being the first volunteer, you get to try a few different stuff!). This time we felt it sting a bit more, so for the rest of the session Sal used the rose-smelling wax.

It was all professionally done. And the pain nothing that would cause us to take pause and breathe or whimper. All the while the two of us chitchatted about this and that. And in under an hour we were finished! With, admittedly, bits of beeswax stuck here and there on our skin, as there was no shower room to clean up after a session.

So our take on waxing? Not the horrifying scream-inducing painful experience that you hear about, probably because hot wax was used and not wax strips. And we're now three weeks past without feeling prickly!

And we gather we had an easier time after all - Rambunctious Ron was the next to be waxed, and in his session he had Stewardess Sal overseeing two trainees waxing him! Turns out he was ticklish during his session, and his laughter could be heard outside the room! Would have made anyone wonder just what was going on in there. Well at least it wasn't the three girls who were laughing!