Arm hair question

[musincy]

Do any of you bleach your arm hair? I definitely don''t want hairy arm wedding pictures, so I thought I''d start working on that now. I''m afraid to wax or shave them, so I think bleach might be the route for me. Any brands you would recommend or any products that would be less toxic than bleach?

 

[joflier]

I''ve done this and it works good. Any bleach will do. I think I use nair''s hair bleach. It usually looks good for a few days, but then it slowly starts to grow out, so when it comes to wedding time, probably just a day or 2 before would work best. Unless your skin is sensitive and breaks out......

 

[Indylady]

Jolifer has a point, some people are sensitive to bleaching products. If it gets down to the day before, I''d probably just shave. But, if you''ve got some time I would experiment with the bleach. Personally, I don''t like the look of bleached hair on my skintone, but it looks just fine on a lot of people and may look great on you too.

 

[Elmorton]

I''m a dark brunette and arm hair didn''t show in my photos at all. Honestly, this is one of those beauty things that can backfire so much more easily than it can improve a situation, and if it were me/my wedding, I''d leave it alone and just tan or spray tan so your complexion is a touch darker to let it blend in.

 

[iheartscience]

You could always just shave your arms. In high school my family hosted an exchange student from the Czech Republic and she shaved hers (although I''m not sure why since they weren''t really that hairy!) and they looked fine. Depending on the type of arm hair you have and your skin tone, shaving your arms might look better than bleaching the hair.

 

[Jen_91909]

My friend uses Jolene bleach I think it''s called... or Jolie? jeez I don''t know. She gets it at CVS and it works well for her. I agree though it sort of depends on your complexion: if you are fairly pale you will likely be happy with the results, but if you are tan sometimes the white-blonde hair can stand out just as much as before.

 

[AGBF]

What the heck? Why not let it all hang out in this thread?

I never realized how lucky I was to have the kind of body hair I did until my daughter hit puberty!!! Some of us, you see, have fine, short, platinum blonde hair on our arms and other parts of our bodies where some other women have long, dark, plentiful hair. Heck! I never had to shave my legs above my knees! The hair never grew above my knees! I have friends who have to shave all the way up their thighs!

Naturally, I never bleached or waxed my arms. No one can see any hair on them unless he uses a magnifying glass. But my poor daughter hit puberty at 10 and suddenly needed some help with things like hair on her arms and I was the wrong mother to have!!! So I asked my Italian friend from Brooklyn. I'd shaved her legs for her after she had abdominal surgery once and didn't want to ask her husband to do it. I figured she would be a good person to ask .

In my opinion, bleaching doesn't look very good...at least on my daughter's skin. Shaving or waxing is the way to go if you have her skin and hair color!

AGBF

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I wax my arms every 6 weeks or so--I used to bleach between waxing, but to be honest ripping my hair out at the root is more comfortable for me than letting the bleach sit on my arms for 10 minutes. It itches. BADLY. But you can''t really scratch it because if you rub the bleach, it rubs into your skin and then begins to burn. Those last couple of minutes when it''s really, really, really itchy and starting to burn feel like FOREVER.

I have a waxer at home, but before that I just had my arms waxed at a salon and it was sooo easy. I was in and out in less than a half of an hour with no wax residue at all.

I''d either do nothing or wax. The bleach works, but if your hair lightens quickly it may look a bit platinum, which seems to be more noticable than dark hair.

 

[oobiecoo]

I shave my arms... its really not a big deal. I''ve only had a couple of small cuts near my elbow and it doesn''t grow back thicker or darker. Its a little... stiffer, I guess... but after a week or two it kinda calms down and is back to normal.

 

[AdiS]

Date: 5/28/2009 10:59:24 PM
Author: AGBF

What the heck? Why not let it all hang out in this thread?

I never realized how lucky I was to have the kind of body hair I did until my daughter hit puberty!!! Some of us, you see, have fine, short, platinum blonde hair on our arms and other parts of our bodies where some other women have long, dark, plentiful hair. Heck! I never had to shave my legs above my knees! The hair never grew above my knees! I have friends who have to shave all the way up their thighs!

Naturally, I never bleached or waxed my arms. No one can see any hair on them unless he uses a magnifying glass. But my poor daughter hit puberty at 10 and suddenly needed some help with things like hair on her arms and I was the wrong mother to have!!! So I asked my Italian friend from Brooklyn. I''d shaved her legs for her after she had abdominal surgery once and didn''t want to ask her husband to do it. I figured she would be a good person to ask .

In my opinion, bleaching doesn''t look very good...at least on my daughter''s skin. Shaving or waxing is the way to go if you have her skin and hair color!

AGBF

I''m exactly like you! I still wax my arms sometimes, mostly when I''m bored

Thanks to that, my arm hair started to get even thinner and is almost gone now. A friend of mine bleaches hers though (she''s a brunette with really dark skin tone) and I agree, it doesn''t look too good

So that''s really something you have to consider before bleaching.

 

[Viola]

My arm hair is blonde, but I still wax it off every 6 wks or so. It''s not *that* painful, plus you''ll be hairfree for atleast a month. I have a friend with dark arm hair who used to bleach them, but wasn''t happy with the results, the hairs grew and you could see the dark roots, plus they would sometimes turn orangey instead of blonde...just a thought. Good luck!

 

[gemgirl]

I started sugaring (which is the same as waxing) before my wedding because I was getting married in short sleeves and I didn''t want anything fuzzy in my pictures. Then I switched from waxing to buying an Epil-Lady and I still do it to this day from my fingers on up. It looks so much nicer not having stray hairs on your fingers for those wedding ring pictures.

 

[monarch64]

Um, I don''t know the answer to this one, but I''m sitting here examining my arms trying to decide if I need a wax job or not. Never really thought about it before...but my arms are sort of hairy.

 

[Viola]

Date: 5/29/2009 9:04:02 AM
Author: gemgirl
I started sugaring (which is the same as waxing) before my wedding because I was getting married in short sleeves and I didn''t want anything fuzzy in my pictures. Then I switched from waxing to buying an Epil-Lady and I still do it to this day from my fingers on up. It looks so much nicer not having stray hairs on your fingers for those wedding ring pictures.

I can''t live without my Epil-Lady.

 

[tlh]

omg... I''ll admit it... I nad my arm hair only. I haven''t in a really long time because honestly my DH doesn''t care about my thin blonde armhairs... but I like it because it grows back thin... and not all stubly.

 

[packrat]

I used to Nair my hands/arms. My hair is blonde, but ugh, I just don''t like body hair. Plus it makes your arms look thinner.

 

[musincy]

Okay, I just tried a test spot with bleach... looks okay I think, but maybe I''ll look into some other options. What''s the epil-lady?

 

[asscherisme]

Date: 5/29/2009 9:04:02 AM
Author: gemgirl
I started sugaring (which is the same as waxing) before my wedding because I was getting married in short sleeves and I didn''t want anything fuzzy in my pictures. Then I switched from waxing to buying an Epil-Lady and I still do it to this day from my fingers on up. It looks so much nicer not having stray hairs on your fingers for those wedding ring pictures.

After I had my first 2 kids, the hair on my arms went from not noticalble to scary dark and yukky. I tried bleaching but it looked odd when I had dark hair on my head and platinum on my arms. Shaving was not an option because I did not want stubble! I waxed for 2 years and got tired of paying for it. So I tried home waxing. Messy messy.

One night I could not sleep and was perusing online for hair removal options and ended up buying an epilady on amazon after reading the great reviews. I love that little machine! I''ve had to replace it. So much cheaper than waxing but just as effective. And so much more convient. Not yukky, or hard to use like wax. The nice side effect is that over time the hair on my arms grows slower and is not as heavy as it once was. And it never is stubbly at all.

I will warn you though, the first time you do it, it hurts like H**l. Then over time it gets less and less. Now it does not hurt when I do it. Also, I find that it makes my skin look red and blotchy for about 6-8 hours afterwards. So I solved that problem by doing it at night. I do fingers, hands and arms.

 

[brightlight]

I took a tweezer and plucked out the hairs on my fingers. My arm hair wasn''t really visible in our pictures. I noticed it in maybe one or two.

I bleached my arm hair once when I was in high school. I don''t know if anyone else has had this experience, but my arm hair developed dark roots. So, I ended up just waxing it all off.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 5/30/2009 1:08:21 AM
Author: brightlight


I bleached my arm hair once when I was in high school. I don't know if anyone else has had this experience, but my arm hair developed dark roots.

That sounds liike what happened with my legs . As a child I had light blonde hair on my legs. Then, at around 12, I decided I needed to have smooth legs, of course. I shaved, and after one shaving I had dark leg hair for the rest of my life. Never having shaved my arms, the hair remained blonde and invisible. Now I think it is even less visible than it used to be, though. I have to say that I was lucky never to have much body hair. As I got older I have had less and less! No one told me, but I think when the hormones reverse course things like arm hair are affected!

AGBF

 

[musincy]

Date: 5/30/2009 12:46:28 AM
Author: asscherisme

Date: 5/29/2009 9:04:02 AM
Author: gemgirl
I started sugaring (which is the same as waxing) before my wedding because I was getting married in short sleeves and I didn''t want anything fuzzy in my pictures. Then I switched from waxing to buying an Epil-Lady and I still do it to this day from my fingers on up. It looks so much nicer not having stray hairs on your fingers for those wedding ring pictures.

After I had my first 2 kids, the hair on my arms went from not noticalble to scary dark and yukky. I tried bleaching but it looked odd when I had dark hair on my head and platinum on my arms. Shaving was not an option because I did not want stubble! I waxed for 2 years and got tired of paying for it. So I tried home waxing. Messy messy.

One night I could not sleep and was perusing online for hair removal options and ended up buying an epilady on amazon after reading the great reviews. I love that little machine! I''ve had to replace it. So much cheaper than waxing but just as effective. And so much more convient. Not yukky, or hard to use like wax. The nice side effect is that over time the hair on my arms grows slower and is not as heavy as it once was. And it never is stubbly at all.

I will warn you though, the first time you do it, it hurts like H**l. Then over time it gets less and less. Now it does not hurt when I do it. Also, I find that it makes my skin look red and blotchy for about 6-8 hours afterwards. So I solved that problem by doing it at night. I do fingers, hands and arms.

Hmm, okay I''m looking into that right now!

 

[musincy]

Which epilady do you use? Is it the Legend? So basically... these pluck out all the hairs, but faster than using tweezers? This sounds like it''s going to hurt really bad.

 

[arjunajane]

I epilady my arms - it hurts for about the first 30 seconds, than you get used to it.
I would rather do this than bleach - I think because I am olive skin, dark hair and eyes, blonde arm hair would
stand out more and possibly look odd..

 

[Lilac]

I used to HATE the hair on my arms! I had the same fear about seeing it in pictures for my wedding, so I went to my dermatologist and began laser hair removal on my arms... but I didn''t start early enough to get rid of it before the wedding, so I waxed it off. I LOVED it! I had never wanted to wax before, but it really ended up being fine and I was so happy I did it.

 

[oneandahalfrock]

It''s all about Veet!
I''m Italian, and my arm hair is darker/longer than I like for big events- weddings, work conferences, formal events- so a day or two before the event, I just use Veet on my arms and it all comes off No mess, no pain, no razor nicks..
I put in on for 5 mins, take a shower and it''s history!

 

[AGBF]

Date: 5/31/2009 6:35:11 PM
Author: oneandahalfrock

It's all about Veet!
I'm Italian, and my arm hair is darker/longer than I like for big events- weddings, work conferences, formal events- so a day or two before the event, I just use Veet on my arms and it all comes off No mess, no pain, no razor nicks..
I put in on for 5 mins, take a shower and it's history!

What is Veet? A depilatory cream?

AGBF

 

[asscherisme]

Date: 5/30/2009 7:56:25 AM
Author: musincy
Which epilady do you use? Is it the Legend? So basically... these pluck out all the hairs, but faster than using tweezers? This sounds like it''s going to hurt really bad.

The brand I have is braun. I just checked on drugstore.com and they don''t sell this model anymore. The first time I did it, it DID hurt really bad. Then after that it hurts way less because you have less hair (the first time you are taking it all off and hair grows in cycles so you have less coming back) plus its shorter. Over time, I don''t know if I''ve bulit up a tolerance or the roots have become less sensitive but it does not hurt. And the thing I like about this method is that there are no creams, sticky was, etc. Chemicals bother my skin and I hate dealing with home wax.

 

[oneandahalfrock]

Yup- just hit up veet.com
It worked much better for me than Nair..

 

[*Danielle*]

I shave and have never had a problem with it. I would be afraid of burning my arms with no time to heal.

 

[musincy]

Date: 5/31/2009 6:35:11 PM
Author: oneandahalfrock
It''s all about Veet!
I''m Italian, and my arm hair is darker/longer than I like for big events- weddings, work conferences, formal events- so a day or two before the event, I just use Veet on my arms and it all comes off No mess, no pain, no razor nicks..
I put in on for 5 mins, take a shower and it''s history!

Hmm, I''ve tried Veet and Nair on my legs and it hasn''t really worked. Maybe it would work better on my arms?