‘It looked like a murder scene’. 8 women share their hair removal horror stories.

If ‘beauty is pain’ then goddamnit I’ve got the scars to prove it, because let’s just be clear here, hair removal sucks. 

From knees that have been left with a thousand white marks from accidentally cutting myself while shaving approximately 547,893 times since I was a teenager, to the four centimetre gash I took out of my left ankle after a two-week home quarantine in 2020, it obviously doesn’t get any easier. 

And don’t even get me started on the Brazilian wax I had done before a romantic weekend away. With the beautician arm deep in my lady bits, I winced in sheer pain every time she pulled. 

Watch: Cameron Diaz on why women should keep their public hair. Post continues after video. 

“It’s not nice for me either!” she said, crossly. “I won’t be able to keep going if you keep moving.”

So, in the bid to ease my hair care PTSD, I asked eight women to share their own hair removal horror stories. 

The duct tape job.

“The first time I tried to DIY remove my snail trail, I was 13 or14 and did not have the proper equipment for it. I used duct tape which worked for the hair removal but I went to the beach later that day and still had some of the duct tape residue on me. It reacted to the sun and gave me a really tanned strip under my belly button where I had put the tape to DIY wax. Safe to say I was not doing that again.”

The mole removal.

“I was using hair removal cream on my upper lip to get rid of my little moustache but I also have a little mole that sits just on the top of my lip. I accidentally got hair removal cream on my mole and it started BURNING. I tried to rinse the cream off, but it was too late, the cream burnt my mole off. Once it healed though my mole grew back (turns out only the top layer was removed), but I learnt a valuable lesson that day.”

Image: Giphy.

The ‘beautician’ ex.

“I had my ex wax my bikini line, and he really put emphasis on the "catch me by surprise when you pull the strip off" part of my instructions. Unfortunately, when he did this, he wasn't holding my skin tight, and I had a massive red mark the size of a wax strip on my inner thigh which I decided to just own for a three-day beach trip. I did not let him finish the other side so was rocking razor burn on one thigh and a huge red mark on the other.”

The skin-splitting wax.

“When I was in my early 20s, I went in for a Brazilian. I'd had a few before, so I knew the drill (and the pain). But when the waxer ripped this particular strip off me, the sting was sharper than usual. And when she said, ‘Oh! Are you on your period darl?’ I knew something was wrong. 

'No..’ I replied. "Oh, you must have just finished it then, there's a bit of blood,’ she said.

Listen to the hosts of The Quicky on why we need to talk about pubes. Post continues after podcast.

I... was nowhere near my period. Anyway, she kept going, finished the job (because half a Brazilian isn't cute), and I investigated when I got home. The skin of my labia had SPLIT with the force of the wax strip being ripped off. I later found out I have a skin condition called lichen sclerosis that makes the skin down there extra thin and prone to tearing, so it probably had something to do with it, but suffice it to say I turned to laser pretty soon after that.”

The red moustache.

“My friend tried to wax her moustache but waxed off the skin of her upper lip too and ended up rocking a scabby red moustache for a few weeks until it healed.”

The pre-birth shave

“I was about to go into surgery for a caesarean with my second child (who is now 30). I was on the trolley, had just been given an epidural and they brought out a dust buster vacuum.

Image: Giphy.

"I couldn't move due to the epidural so they just got on with the dry shave and dust busted up any stray hairs. I could only laugh!"

The widow’s peak.

“In highschool, I had lots of fluffy little baby hairs so I couldn't pull my hair back in a ponytail without looking like I had wispy 80s bangs. I had a brilliant idea one day and decided to use chemical hair remover on my forehead. It burned my scalp and I now have a reverse widow's peak because my hair won't grow back there anymore.”

The murder scene

“I popped in to get my eyebrows waxed and they ended up tearing off the skin under my brows. I was an easy bleeder and it looked like a murder scene. I have a fear of waxing now and will only pluck!”

Image: Getty + Mamamia.

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