Quick warning, if you are one of my guy followers (unless you wax) this is probably of no interest to you so?you may want to?stop reading now. Go read my husband’s blog at www.barfieldmanagement.com. I’m sure he is something much more manly going on over there.

On with the story. This summer I had decided for the first time ever to get my armpits waxed. I used to regularly get my eyebrows waxed so I know the pain. Deciding about the armpits was not a decision I took lightly. I knew it would really hurt, especially the first time. I reasoned with myself that (a) I had a friend who does it and she is a huge baby. I know I am way?tougher than she is. And (b) I’ve given birth 3 times. One of them naturally. So, I am not some wimp.

I, being the way I am, set out on my research about armpit waxing and how bad it really hurts. As I’m doing some research (asking my massage therapist during my session) I learned about doing it yourself. She told me she does her own and it’s not really that bad. For some reason this sounded like a better idea to me than getting it professionally done. I don’t know why I thought that, but I did. I think it had something to do with being afraid I would cry in front of a stranger over something like waxing. How embarrassing that would be. Since I’m not a wimp I don’t want a stranger seeing me cry. So I find out from her exactly what I need and what I need to do.?

?I’ve got my list of supplies, my instructions, and off I go to my health food store to get some strips and wax. I get my little waxing kit home and start to read the instructions. First, I have to wait several weeks so my armpits can be nice and hairy. It’s gross, I know, but that’s what it says. Now I’ve got disgusting armpits that are ready for a waxing. Time fore?me to?sort out the different sizes of strips, like it says, and? pick the ones I’m going to need for my specific area. I heat my wax, like it says, but I have no idea how hot this wax is suppose to really be. (The instructions that came with the kit were not really clear on this.) I make it to where it feels pretty warm to me. I’m thinking too hot could be bad, but not hot enough could be as well.

Now I’m ready. I’ve got the wax all over the hair (like instructions say), the strip is covering the wax and hair (like instructions say), I’m rubbing the strip down and waiting (like instructions say), all that’s left is to rip it off in the opposite direction of the hair growth (like instructions say). Problem arises (not mentioned in instructions),?the strip doesn’t want to bring the wax with it when it comes off. I rip, hard and fast, and all I get is literally two hairs.?Plus the wax is still stuck all over my armpit. I’m thinking, great I have to do the whole thing again. I try to just stick the strip back on the wax since it’s still warm and pull again. Not happening. My skin is just pulling with the strip and leaving all the wax behind. Okay, well I’ll try the other side. Maybe I just didn’t get a good yank since I was using my left hand. Worse case scenario, I’ll do one side and have my husband do the other. (That’s right, he loves me enough that he would do this).

I start to try and clean off the side I had just attempted. I’m using a washcloth and water, but that wax is already drying on and it’s not coming off that easy. Lucky for me the kit came with some special oil to help you remove extra wax. I use it to try to get this stuff off of me. Time for round two. I just know this will go better since I’ll be using my right hand. It is after all my dominant hand. No such luck! Same problem, different armpit. By now I’m pretty sore and tender and thinking it would be a good idea to take a break. Maybe try tomorrow. So I rinse and repeat just like I did before to clean up my mess.

What I didn’t realize was that I didn’t get all the wax cleaned off. I thought I did. It felt and looked like I did, but I so did not get all that wax off. I’m going about my business a little later on, go to raise my arm and… it’s STUCK. Not just a little stuck, really stuck. Try other arm and…it’s ?STUCK, too. Oh my GOSH!!! All I’m thinking is my armpits are glued together and my husband will never let me forget this. I had to try and rip them apart just like the little strip. But this hurt quite a bit worse since it had time to get really stuck together. I got that little bottle of oil out and practically poured the whole?thing on just to make sure I really got all the wax off this time. That clean up was a true success and I didn’t get stuck to myself anymore that day or any day since.

The moral of my story and the lesson?to be learned?is, if you don’t know how to do something and are uncertain of your ability, go ahead and try.?You never know what you’re capable of unless you give it a shot. But, if you try and you get your armpits glued together, you need to leave it to the professionals and NEVER try again.