You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers! Each week on Help A Reader Out, we’ll be taking your fashion and beauty troubles, turning them into informative guides.
Dear Blufashion: Hello! I was wondering how would you recommend getting rid of coarse, stubborn hairs on the chin. Tweezing isn’t always helpful, and I get very self-conscious about it.
Hi, reader! I totally understand the self-consciousness that can come from having stray long, thick, and/or coarse hairs on your face. For our whole lives, women are shown images of hairless, ageless, textureless human Fountains of Youth and expected to look the same while still being comfortable with themselves.
Unfortunately, while men and women both experience random thick hairs, especially on the face, it’s much rarer to see women discuss for fear of seeming unfeminine or unappealing.
As a lady who definitely has a few thick chin hairs that go from zero to 60 in what seems like less than a day, I know that particular shame firsthand.
(Related: 27 Weird Spots Women Find Random Hair, So You’ll Never Feel Alone With Yours Again)
Still, even if you know you’re not on your own in Chinhair Haven, you can still want to get rid of them. Here are the choices on how you can remove the hair, ranked by ease.
1. Plucking
I know you said it’s not always helpful, but I think it’s important to go over the proper technique just in case. Make sure to get a pair of high-quality tweezers (I like Tweezerman Slant Tweezer), as lower-quality ones can be worse at grabbing hair. Wash your face with warm water, then pat dry, so your skin will not only be free of makeup around the hair but also open up the follicles to make the hair easier to remove.
Stand in front of a mirror that you don’t have to hold onto (whether it’s in the bathroom or your bedroom, as long as there is lots of light), then pull your skin taut with one hand and use the other to tweeze as close to the root as possible without touching your skin while pulling in the direction the hair grows.
This is easiest with thicker, darker hairs, but if you have long, light hairs that also bug you, you can apply a bit of translucent or baby powder to make them more obvious and snaggable. I like to rinse with warm water afterward and apply a moisturizer.
2. Threading
While I know a few people who wax their chins (I used to, in fact), I have found much more luck with threading for stubborn facial hairs. Not only does it grab the hair right at the root, making it less likely to just break off and leave stubble (ugh), it also doesn’t pull on the skin, so if you have a sensitive complexion, it probably won’t leave you all broken out and red.
The professional doing your threading can look very closely at where each hair is, or group of hairs is, so you don’t need to worry about missing a spot. Plus, it’s very cheap–I typically don’t see prices over $10 for the chin or upper lip areas.
3. Home Tools
Got a fair amount of money and a bit of patience? You could go with an at-home tool instead of heading to a spa or a doctor’s office. With tools like the No! No! hair removal system and the Tria Hair Removal Laser 4X, you can work on permanently removing your hair yourself and (hopefully) maintain the results with ease. I have never personally done any of these types of treatments, but I know a few people who have had great luck with them on stubborn facial hair.
4. Laser Hair Removal
Hayley recently discussed her desire to get laser hair removal done, and honestly, it does sound like a very appealing prospect. You pay an initially large amount of money that, in the end, winds up costing much less than doing a weekly wax your entire life. You’re in pain a few minutes a session; you do multiple sessions, and then voila! You’re all sorts of smooth 4 life.
Of course, it comes with risks: you may find it very painful, it may be too expensive to continue doing after a couple of sessions, it may not even work that well on you, and you will feel like you’ve wasted quite a bit of money. And then there are the potential side effects: blistering, discoloration, severe dryness, burns, and more scary words.
We associate more with second-degree sunburns than elective beauty treatments. Still, if you go to see a reputable professional and you do your research, it can be the ultimate way to get rid of your stubborn facial hair for good.
There are plenty of other ways to go about removing or dealing with unwanted hair (bleaching, waxing, depilatory creams, and even shaving), but so far, these are the most effective and cost-effective ways we have found. If you’ve got a tip, though, we would love to hear it!
Have you got a question you want answered here? Let us know in the comments!
