Yes, you read that correctly. I actually did have to ask my boyfriend how to shave my face! You are probably thinking why?????? The reason is that I have started a course of laser hair removal on my face and in between sessions I need to shave the hair. This is not a normal activity for me and therefore I am not 100% sure of how to shave my face!!
Let me take you back, since I was young, I have had hair in places that I don’t really want to have hair in. I remember being in high school and absolutely hating the dark, long hair that grew on my forearms – so I shaved it off! My mum and other adults told me that I shouldn’t do this as it would grow back thicker and darker. I thought, ‘I actually don’t care, I just want it off me!’ The hair didn’t grow back thicker or darker, so they were wrong, but I wouldn’t advise this method of removal for arm hair.
Another area unwanted hair grew, was on my face, particularly on my top lip, this hair I hated!! Boys would often point it out, like I had chosen to grow a moustache on my face…….get real!
My mum advised bleaching the hair and introduced me to Jolene. Anyone who has used this knows about the smell! Using Jolene, I had to mix it into a paste and cover the hair I wanted to bleach, then sit and wait for it to work. It did work but then one day, a lad pointed out that I had a blonde moustache, great! Being a teen girl and dealing with this facial hair was tough in those days. I mean this was before we were that bothered about make up or getting our eyebrows done but facial hair was a big no, no.
As I got older, I discovered tweezers and plucked any excess hair off as quickly as I could find it. Looking back at my eyebrows in those plucking days, I looked like I had plucked far too much. They were not in a great shape!
Then I was introduced to threading, finally, a way to get rid of all this excess facial hair and have amazing eyebrows! If you’re from Manchester, then you will probably have visited or at least heard of Maryams Beauty Box – my eyebrows had never looked so good after a visit to her and my face was as smooth as a babies bottom.
This may sound sad to you, but it is actually on my bucket list, to get rid of this hair using laser hair removal. For some women, this may either not be an issue or they are not bothered about excess hair. I guess it’s a personal preference and personally I will be glad when it’s gone! But don’t body shame women about this kind of stuff, we don’t choose where hair grows on us and it can be difficult to manage. Looking back I think a lot of my frustrations with my hair was linked to my identity. My father is Pakistani and I didn’t grow up with him in my life, this affected me in many ways but I think it definitely affected the way I viewed myself. That’s a story for another day……
So, roll on to 2018, I’ve finally taken the step to undergo laser hair removal. I am hoping this will be a more permanent form of hair removal and I can finally say good bye to my moustache and chin hair. I always thought laser hair removal was too expensive but not with the deals you can find on Groupon, its much more affordable. I have had one session and need to leave 8-10 weeks in between sessions, until then I need to keep on shaving with the help of my fella.
At my age I am able to be open and talk about this, I know when I was younger this was not so easy. I hope that by being honest in areas like this it takes away the embarrassment from young girls, that actually most women will go through this or some form of body issue. We need to find a way to be happy with our bodies, while also taking care of them. I encourage young women to find a way to accept how we were created in my video How to look beautiful with no make up on But I also understand that most of us have our hang ups and there are some things we can do to make ourselves feel more comfortable in our skin.
I will update you on how the process goes, in the meantime let’s keep pressing on to be who God created us to be!
Love
Amber
x
Photo by Nik MacMillan on Unsplash
It's a Faith Thing 
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