Anyone planning a brazilian wax before their birth? TMI! - Page 5

[meesh38]

Originally Posted by ccohenou

I wonder about the infantilizing/porn-izing aspect of it...there's something odd to me about trying to have hairless genitals as an adult woman. I am no longer prepubescent, and the porno 'landing strip' doesn't appeal to me aesthetically. And pain/itching/bleeding/pimples/ingrown hairs on my labia sounds totally unappealing. So no, I don't really "get it" either. A trim seems more than adequate if needed to keep things hygienic.
But I've got no problem with people seeing it differently.

:

[AugustLia23]

To each their own.

[PPK]

I wax my own upper lip and brows/above brows with the same amount of pain as before.

I had my armpits waxed a few times years ago and it was pretty horrible, but not so bad as to stop me from doing it a few more times.

Brazilian HURT! I have thick coarse hair and after one strip I stopped, I was trying to do it myself..there's no way I could do it again, pg or not.

I got laser (full Brazillian) two times and it was painful but awesome results!! Once I'm not pg I'll get it again (it wasn't really permanent for me, maybe 6 months or so. Trying to shave now at 6 months is getting tricky, but just go by feel and will keep on shaving.

I didn't shave any body/facial hair for a number of years. Now I'm just the opposite. I like the feel of both and think its great any way you want to decorate yourself. I do it for myself. My dh met me hairy as can be so it certainly isn't for him.

[Hazelnut]

I thought it was supposed to be bad in pregnancy for various reasons. I'm not a waxer and have issues with brazilian waxes but have shaved a little on the sides. Anyway what's wrong with just going au natural while pregnant?

[Libelle]

I never shave down there (maybe I don't need to?). I think, it is a cultural thing, but I like my hair and I would rather colour it than shave it off.

I will ask my mw about this as well - as I don't want her to have some kind of expectation to that regard.

[ckhagen]

I, personally, wouldn't do it while pregnant... based on experience.
I got my eyebrows waxed when I was about 3 months pregnant with my first child. The same woman who had been waxing them for two years without incident did it that time too, except that it was the first (and last!) time I got anything waxed while pregnant.

She did the wax and it hurt ten times more than it did when I wasn't pregnant. It bled really badly. The area that was waxed was swollen, red, and feverish for 4 days!!! I had to take Tylenol for 2 days the pain was so bad. So... for me anyway, I don't dare get a brazillian while pregnant.

[GinaRae]

I've got to have hubby trim for me.

I also heard this type of wax in pregnancy is excruciatingly painful!

[tinyscrafts]

OMG!

emla cream is a great idea,LOL
I know another doula that carries a battery powered epilady in her doula bag to pull out when a mom has gets an epidural- for comic relief. I think this would be a VERY different use of it

all i can say is OUCH:

I'll add, doulas/nurses etc see all kinds, hair no hair, landing strip, shapes,,, and it really doesn't matter

[Nathan1097]

I tried a brazillian wax at home. OMG that HURT!!! I will NEVER do that again. And I can only imagine that doing one while pregnant would put you into labor.

[AugustLia23]

Originally Posted by ckhagen

She did the wax and it hurt ten times more than it did when I wasn't pregnant. It bled really badly. The area that was waxed was swollen, red, and feverish for 4 days!!! I had to take Tylenol for 2 days the pain was so bad. So... for me anyway, I don't dare get a brazillian while pregnant.

Originally Posted by GinaRae

I also heard this type of wax in pregnancy is excruciatingly painful!

My own personal experience was that it wasn't too painful. The upper lip waxing hurt much worse. I'd never had it done not pregnant, and I am quite sensitive down there now that I am pregnant, but it really wasn't bad. It didn't hurt at all by the time I got up fromt he table. It hurts a hell of a lot less than those darn ingrown hairs that I get too. I brought some tylenol with me for if I needed it, but I never needed it.

I don't think there is anything wrong with going au natural. I was totally all natural with the last pregnancy and that was perfectly fine, but this time around I just didn't enjoy being all furry. It feels so much cleaner to me right now.

[candicesj]

Definitely test-wax part of your hair before starting. My skin can get crazy when I am on certain medication or have extra hormones... I tried to wax my upper lip at the beginning of pregnancy and literally took off a layer of my skin with it. I've had similar problems from being on Accutane a few years ago and being on the pill.

And as others have said, the pain can be more extreme since you're pregnant so that's something else to take into consideration.

[seaheroine]

I don't think so much about the "infantalizing" of it as much as I've come to associate having a hairless cooch (except I do like that "landing strip") as my personal preference of feeling clean. I've shaved for years, a good decade nowadays, and simply like the way it feels cooler and, IMO, carries less of a smell for me. Without an air conditioner our home gets to be 100 degrees inside (it was 89 indoors today, in April) and I simply want no hair on my body. For me it applies to my partner as well - I'm turned on when he shaves/close trims down there - much more fun for me being intimate with him. I just hate feeling unclean down there. I like using wet wipes during the day a few times just to keep feeling fresh, kind of like reapplying underarm deodorant a few times during hot days. I hate feeling hot and sticky and feel a lot better body-hairless. Not so much a feminist/empowerment type thing for me...

I'm going to have to enlist DP's help for this later on it seems!
That is something we've never done together. He doesn't seem to have a preference either way when it comes to my styling down there.

[intorainbowz]

.

[weliveintheforest]

I heard you can get varicose veins from waxing during pregnancy, from the stress on the skin... I don't know if it's true but it's enough to stop me.

[RachelSerena]

I purchased an epilator specifically for doing brazilian hair removal, partially because I have been wanting to for quite a while now, and because of the horrendous "blood clots" in the hair after the birth of my first DD. I am 22 weeks PG and have used it 3 times. The first time hurt, but the others didn't (except once, I didn't finish the job because it was very sensitive). With hormone fluctuations, I am sometimes extremely sensitive, and other times not.

I think if you start it early (If you want to be hairless for the birth) you will have an easier time of it, rather than getting the first one done right before 40 weeks.

I also do not think removing hair on your own determinism has anything to do with anti-feminism, or setting women back from fighting for their right not to be shaven during birth. I think do what feels good to you, for yourself.

[momazon4]

At 26 weeks my whole "down there" region is so incredably sensitive that sometimes walking is too sensitizing. I can't imagine getting WAXED!

Then again, I'm of the school of thought that if it grows on a body, it belongs there so I'm sure I don't understand the whole issue

[Tofu the Geek]

I am the OP and noticed all the posts on this thread. I was 5 months pregnant at the time I posted this and was already huge since baby stuck was out the front and nowhere else! Shaving was becoming painful, not in the pubic area, but my stomach ached from bending over, I got dizzy from bending over, my one foot was swollen and would turn blue if I put it up on the edge of the tub or toilet, and DH was not competent to do any shaving for me. I also had mild discharge continually and couldn't stand the feeling of it caught in the hair! Ick! That being said, I despised the feeling of having my bikini area done the one other time I waxed there (for the week of my wedding in the Caribbean and I didn't get a Brazilian, only cleaned up the sides), so I was too scared to get the whole thing done. I ended up shaving myself bald (so I wouldn't have to trim too often!) and then trimmed as short as I could every couple of weeks. And let my foot turn blue and get dizzy while I was doing it. Ugh.

As for the posts that implied I wasn't natural and don't belong here because I *considered* a Brazilian once in my life so I didn't have to uncomfortably trim for the last 4 months of my pregnancy and so that I didn't have to spend 7 weeks yanking blood chunks out of my hair after birth....that is the first time in the 3.5 years I have been a member here (and 11 years of reading Mothering magazine) that someone has implied that about me. I guess my 2 unmedicated/midwife attended/vaginal births, our organic/mostly vegetarian diet, exclusively breastfeeding on demand for the first 12 months of life and child led weaning after that (and still breastfeeding on demand), sling wearing, non-vaccinating, anti-circumcision, recycling, co-sleeping, plastic hating lifestyle doesn't count for being natural.

[Tofu the Geek]

Then again, I'm of the school of thought that if it grows on a body, it belongs there so I'm sure I don't understand the whole issue

My questions is directed to others with this belief (not just the person who said this line, so I took her name out of the quote). Do you (general you) cut your hair? If you ever had an odd hormonal balance or had to take some sort of medication that made you grow a moustache (I know women that this has happened to), would you pluck or wax off your moustache?

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by intorainbowz

Things we CHOOSE to do to ourselves... Great. Things done to us... not so great.

Agreed.

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by RachelSerena

I purchased an epilator specifically for doing brazilian hair removal, partially because I have been wanting to for quite a while now, and because of the horrendous "blood clots" in the hair after the birth of my first DD. I am 22 weeks PG and have used it 3 times. The first time hurt, but the others didn't (except once, I didn't finish the job because it was very sensitive). With hormone fluctuations, I am sometimes extremely sensitive, and other times not.

I own an epilator and have tried to use it on my bikini area unsuccessfully. I think I must be more sensitive in that area. I absolutely love my epilator for my arm pits though! I haven't shaved an arm pit in over 2 years. I just run the epilator over them twice a week to pick up any stray hairs and I'm done! No ooey stubby feeling under the arms, no "crap I forgot to shave my pits" at the beach or pool, and no razor burn! You are really lucky that you're having success with the epilator in the bikini area!