Mama's first Brazilian Wax

Ok, so I took the plunge and went in for a famed Brazilian wax. Being as picking as I am about shoes and they only go on my feet, you KNOW I had to do my research to decide who was best equippted to deal with my lady biz. After pouring over webpage after webpage, I finally found a salon in my price range with great reviews. I was planning on having it done after I got my SL's, but found myself with some free time, so went ahead and gave Charmed Salon in Roseville, Ca a call.

Dang, I was all bummed out because I got voicemail, but then my call waiting beeped. I click over and hear "I am so sorry, wasn't able to get to the phone fast enough, how may I help you?" Taken aback at the pleasantness of the voice at 0900, I asked "Is this Charmed?" "Yes, the voice replies, how may I help you?"

I inform her that I am interested in a brazilian wax. She asks me if I was open to coming in today as she had an appointment @ 11. I say to myself "Why not," and book the appointment. She took my name and phone number and gave me the name of my waxer, Valerie. 

At promptly 45 min prior to my appointment, I apply No Scream Cream from Relax and Wax. It promises to relieve 80% of waxing pain. I used darn near half the tube!!!

I arrive about 10 min early, just incase I have to sign a release or something...I'm totally lying, its so I wouldn't chicken out. As I enter, I am greeted and asked who my appointment is with. I give Valerie's name and am instantly impressed that I this establishment is considerate enough to not have me announce to an entire salon (although it was empty,) that I was having my cooter depelted. 

I take a seat and moments later, Valerie comes out. She lets me know it will be a few min and then she will be right with me.

When it's my turn, Valerie takes me into the waxing room, instructs me to disrobe from the waist down, where to place my head etc etc.

She asks me about my prior hair removal methods and explains to me the two types of wax she will use. She also explained that she would require me to pull some of the skin taut to ensure proper hair removal. 

I have heard all the stories about legs and bodies in contorted yoga type positions in order to remove all the crevice hair, but I only had to do two. The first was frog legs, which is basically feet bottoms together and knees agape and flush to the waxing table.

She cleaned the area first, checked it out while wearing her handy dandy miners light, then applied powder. She then applied the soft wax to the upper parts as she explained that she would. 

Ok babies, I'm not even gonna front, this mess HURT. If the No Scream Cream lessened waxing pain by 80%-90%  then I would have to say, ladies (and brave gents) don't do it, run like the wind and slap the face of anyone that tells this is a good idea lol. But even though it hurt, once the smarting subsided (after 10-15 seconds,) it was fine. 

Next she moved on to the labia, which actually hurt LESS than the mound. She applied a harder wax, which takes longer to set, so she used the setting time to pluck some of the stray hairs that broke during waxing, which can happen when being waxed after being a shaver for a long time.

***all of the above done in the same frog leg position, nothing contorted or uncomfortable, well any MORE uncomfortable than having hair ripped from your womanly place*****

So after the labia wax set, she did a little bit of picking to lift the edges, then ripped them off.. Now this hurt less than the prior area, but still smarted a bit..

Then she moved to the back, which actually, felt like a reg eyebrow wax, didn't smart much at all, which was suprising.

She asked me if I was prone to ingrown hairs and I stated yes. She suggested exfoliating a few days after being waxed a few days a week as well as using the PBF roll on exfoliator I have a few times a week and a few days prior to waxing. 

Valerie also explained that while waxing can last 3-4 weeks, some people do need to be touched up every two weeks depending on the speed of hair growth.

After the ordeal was done, I was able to walk regular, although I did stick my chones in the ziploc bag I bought in my pocketbook as I thought I would be sore and didn't want to further irritate the situation. I did have a few red bumps when I got home, but nothing  a little visine couldn't handle.  

All this care and attention for the low price of $50. Great price, great service, will come again for sure'

Charmed Salon

104 Lincoln Street

Roseville ,CA 95678

(916)772-3555

http://www.charmedsalonroseville.com/

My Journey to Natural Hair

As with many black women, my hair has been a constant struggle in my life. I didn't have many of the issues many sisters have had as my mother was a gifted stylist.  My long, thick nappy hair was always carefully beaten into submission with perms and dryers and of course, my mamas trusty grease. Being as I was blessed with constant hair care when I was younger, High school rolled around and I realized I had no idea how to do my own hair. So I took the braid route.

I wore braids most of my high school career. It was easier as I was very active in dance and HATED getting up in the morning to fuss with my hair in its relaxed state. It was way too easy to toss my long locks in a pony tail than to make sure it looked nice and presentable. 

Well, then came college, with my mother hundreds of miles away and a limited income, I found myself stumped for fresh hair styles. I was lucky enough to find a black cosmetologist that was gifted in hair weaving that would service my hair as long as I hair modeled and promoted her as the black hair dresser in our black lite Northern California town. 

I had the bombest weaves being as Ms Roz had no idea how to straighten my thick long mane with out breaking off my hair and having it still look like a bunch of SOS pads. So weaves it was.

After 9 years of hiding my natural hair, I decided to get locked. I had 5 years of perm free natural hair and figured this was as good of time as any to get "locked down." Unfortunately my loctitian flaked on me the day before I was to start a new job, so off to Walgreens for two boxes of creamy crack and the cycle began again.

Then, my perm laziness kicked in once again, I didn't feel like wrapping my hair up at night sometimes, wouldn't want to wake up early to flat iron it, so after two weeks, up in a tired ponytail it would go. 

I kept thinking, I need to just go back to wearing braids. But my hair grows crazy fast (a blessing and a curse.) It is also naturally thick so I would be charged an arm and a leg for small braids and then have to take them down after 6 weeks because I had an inch or so of bushy new growth. 

I finally found an affordable braider, a college student yippie. Well after the 2nd takedown, I realized why she was so cheap. She got tired of braiding the entire length of my hair so she only braided it half way down the shaft and then superglued my hair to the extension hair to prevent it from unravelling. Something I didn't notice until I was upbraiding my hair and half of it was broken. 

So I said screw it and stuck to getting my hair deep conditioned and cornrowed and then wearing wigs. The lady that cornrows my hair would always comment on the length and thickness and asked why I never wore it natural and uncovered. I really couldn't give her a straight answer but I suppose it was because as long as I could remember, I had a perm, my hair was never in its natural state. I was so tenderheaded that my mom used to joke I came out of the womb with a jar of TCB slapped on my head. My long straight hair was always so praised that I realized that I was embarrassed to let my hair admirers down by letting my hair kick it in its natural state. 

She offered, for the same price as my typical cornrow, to give me a natural style just to see if I liked it. Well who am I to turn down a free style, I took it, nervously and went to show it to my mother, who actually loved it. It got great reviews. 

It also encouraged me to look into other natural styles. I still loved locks, but was nervous about the everchanging female mind. Kept wondering "What if I don't like it after a while." While researching on the net I came across Sisterlocks. They looked so pretty I couldn't wait to get them installed.