I shave my legs. Nothing new. It's all part of the camraderie of sport. Or some other collective psychosis.
But shaving my legs is a pain in the butt. It takes somewhere around 30-45 minutes. To be sure, I've gotten faster as my skills with the blade have grown. But 30 minutes is still a lot of time.
And it's messy. Goopy shave cream splattered all over the place. Hand towels covered in hair. Used blades. Blood dripping. Just cleaning up takes another 15 minutes. (Which is why I generally skip that step until somebody visits the house.)
In the race packet for the last triathlon I did there was a little Nair packet. I didn't even notice it the first night. But somebody at the race off-handedly mentioned the Nair For Men. Later that night I put one and one together (got two) and looked into it. Seemed like a good concept and I decided to give it a shot.
In truth, I didn't even use Nair For Men. Last night at Target I compared Nair For Men ($4.99) to regular Nair ($2.99). While there was some chemical difference, I decided to go with the regular Nair to save two bucks. I figure it's more of a marketing play than anything else. I'm confident enough in my masculinity to buy Nair for Women.
Nair For Men is a new product designed to help men rid themselves of unsightly hair. It's a chemical product that you lather on, wait for a period of time and then rinse off. On their website they say "Read directions on the product carefully before using this product."
Good idea.
The directions on the Nair For Men say to keep the product on for 8 minutes. On the regular Nair it says to keep the product on for 4 minutes.
Hmmm... is this because women are sensitive? Or because male hair is thicker? Or because Nair regular is stronger?
Lots of factors.
"Screw it," I said. "I'm going ten minutes."
They say in big bold letters "NO LONGER THAN 10 MINUTES" on the bottle. Man, I love pushing the limits.
When you lather it on it's uneventful. Nothing really happens. But then you start to smell burned hair. It's working!
When you wipe it off with a wash cloth it doesn't come off all at once. A few wipes is necessary. I hopped into the shower to clean the goop off.
Twelve minutes after starting out I was hairless. There was no mess to clean up... it went down the drain.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
I have a first degree burn on my upper thigh from overexposure, but that's OK. I'll swim in some chlorine today and that'll help it along.
You may wonder how close to get the toxic goop to your twig and berries. I got within a few inches and some even got onto the berries while I walked around the house naked for the ten minutes. Nothing bad happened. So far.
I was a little worried that I'd still have some residue on my hands after cleaning it off my legs. Washing the hair on my head I was a little concerned. So far I still have head hair though.
My legs are burning a bit. But overall a good product. I think I'll use it from now on. I may try going for only six minutes next time though.
Three Months to Ironman Florida 2007 Plan