posted on May 17, 2003 03:09:00 PM new
This is a little light hearted warning for those of you who decided to throw away your razor and home wax.
Today while at the drug store, I decided I would try that new Veet roll on wax hair remover. What the heck, right? Who wants to spend all summer shaving constantly? Well, ladies, it has turned into a nightmare. It's fine if you like the first layer of your skin to be ripped off. It's also fine if you like bright red blotchy itchy skin. I managed to do one leg and less than 5 minutes later, the real pain started. Just imagine using it on your bikini line. Television commercials making these products look like a God send should be banned. I have to wonder how much they pay the models NOT to scream in agony as the hair is ripped from their body. If you have light and sensitive skin, stay away from this (Nads, too). I think I'll stick to the razor. In the meantime, hopefully it won't get too warm and I won't have to wear shorts.
Owie, owie, owie. I don't think skin was meant to be this color of red. LOL. I'm a real sight to behold.
posted on May 17, 2003 03:28:50 PM new
I hate to laugh at anothers pain but I can't help it. Remember the miracle of modern technology and science combined... the Epilady?
For guys that never quite understood this one - it is a spring wrapped in a figure 8 that spins at high speed, as the spring rounds an edge, it expands allowing it to grab the hair, it then clamps down on them and rips them from your body. All of the women seen in these commercials are hiding their morphine drips because I don't care what anyone says - there is not a painless way to rip hair by the roots from your body. Period.
The only miracle product I am curious about is the spray on/wipe off one but I have to wonder about the lasting effect of hair dissolving acid on the skin
My daughter tried the spray on a wipe off products. They don't work. You can laugh because that's exactly what I'm doing. I remember the Epilady thing. I have a friend who used to do drag shows for charity events and he decided that he would use it to shave his entire body (and I do mean ENTIRE). Hee, hee. Now, THAT was funny. I can still hear his girlish screams in my head. I was ROTFL!
posted on May 18, 2003 11:14:43 AM new
Thank you so much for your infomation. We were at the store today thinking about buying some of this. My husband thought it was a little to expensive to have to keep buying this type of product, so I didn't get any. Deb
posted on May 18, 2003 08:30:11 PM new
Why DO women have to shave their underarms and legs, while men do not? Just think how much time European women gain each week by NOT shaving.
Cheryl, I think you were lucky. I used something a few years ago that did the same to me.
From www.pubmed.gov National Library of Medicine website. There are more studies but this was a search for "Veet + allergy."
1: Contact Dermatitis 2002 Aug;47(2):67-70 Related Articles, Links
An epidemic of allergic contact dermatitis due to epilating products.
Goossens A, Armingaud P, Avenel-Audran M, Begon-Bagdassarian I, Constandt L, Giordano-Labadie F, Girardin P, Coz CJ, Milpied-Homsi B, Nootens C, Pecquet C, Tennstedt D, Vanhecke E.
Departments of Dermatology, University Hospital, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Over a period of 19 months, 33 cases of acute allergic contact dermatitis from Veet epilating waxes and/or the accompanying tissue (Reckitt Benckiser, Massy, France) were observed in France and Belgium. The lesions started on the legs and spread to other parts of the body, especially the face, and were sometimes so severe that hospitalization and/or systemic corticosteroids were required. Primary sensitization occurred as early as after the first application in several patients. Patch tests were performed in 26 of the patients and produced strong positive reactions to the tissue (25 times) and/or the wax (13 times). The allergenic culprits in the wax were modified-colophonium derivatives (colophonium in the standard series testing negatively in all except 4 patients), while methoxy PEG-22/dodecyl glycol copolymer and to a lesser degree lauryl alcohol turned out to be the main causal allergens in the tissue.
I've gone through contact dermatitis and have the small scars on my arms and legs to prove it. I cannot believe that the makers of Veet haven't let this fact be known. Once you get contact dermatitis, you are more likely than not to get it again.
I used a household cleaner that caused the reaction. I would have worn gloves had I known. Where was the warning about wearing gloves? In teeny, teeny print at the very bottom of the bottle. It was just awful.
I also suffered from it when I got badly bitten once by fire ants. I was in a hotel in Texas and somehow they managed to make a home in my bed. I got into bed one night, fell into a deep sleep and woke up the next morning covered in bites. I started to swell and had to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital. Geeze, I could have died with that one.
posted on May 19, 2003 08:59:18 AM new
Believe it or not, you can get used to anything. Waxing/epilation hurts a lot less after you've done it a few times and you also get a lot better at it. (Remember how much it hurt the first time you plucked your eyebrows?) The real problem I have is that you have to wait about three weeks for hair to get long enough. In Florida, winter rarely lasts three weeks!
But on the other hand, there are people with really sensitive skin (this is probably Cheryl's case) where the wax actually grabs the skin more than the hair and then you are ripping your skin. I've heard that Veet in particular has chemicals* in it that really inflame sensitive skin, and that irritation has to be worse when your skin's already torn up from the wax. I use a product called GiGi Honee (it's what most salons that offer waxing use) and it's never irritated me, but my skin's not sensitive to much.
(*About chemical ingredients: Many skin products advertise that they're "all natural" and lead you to believe that means they're non-irritating - which isn't the case. In fact, some synthetic products are a lot kinder to your skin. I shared a hotel room with a friend and she dramatically announced that the two top ingredients were in my moisturizer were derived from silicone! I already knew this - I also knew they were excellent moisturizers. She then pulled out her skincare to show me the "better" product ... and the ingredient list contained rosemary, lavender, peppermint and nettle! These are all strong skin irritants, even in small amounts. Her shaving cream had the same types of ingredients. What is really funny is that she was always complaining about her legs itching after she shaved and her face getting flaky. Gee, I wonder why ....)
[ edited by msincognito on May 19, 2003 09:55 AM ]
