I presently lack the necessary motor control to shave properly - I can't apply as much pressure as I need to without cutting myself. So I am a shambling zombie proving to the world that hair really does keep growing after death.

Hirsutism!

Feb. 19th, 2010 01:11 pm
I've only been shaving my face for a couple years, and I don't have to do it every day, so maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I'm still only a level 2 face-shaver. Maybe I don't have enough face-shaving EXP.

But I read these reviews of razors where guys talk about how easy it is to cut yourself with a cheap blade, and I just do not understand how you can cut your face shaving. The idea makes no sense to me. Faces are not hard! They don't have a lot of surface area and you can see all of it right there in the mirror! I guess most guys are hairier than I am, and thus have to make more passes with the razor than I do, but you know what? Try doing multiple passes on the backs of your thighs.

Basically, I guess I'm saying I think guys should learn to shave their legs.

-

Relatedly, here is an awesome thing that you should know if you shave any part of your body and are cheap: safety razors are really environmentally friendly - if you've got access to steel recycling, there's no waste at all - and they're about a million times cheaper than regular razors. You can get the razor body on eBay for $5, and 50 blades for about $10.

You do need to be a little more careful than with a regular razor, but I've gone two months without doing myself any damage. (Also, I am shaving like Archie Goodwin, which I posit will eventually confer upon me some measure of his power.)

Today it was kind of warm in the classroom, so I pushed my sleeves up, allowing Zuzu, Princess, and Cookie to discover my arm hair.

Zuzu said, “That’s a lot of hair!”

“Yup. So what’s this letter?”

“S! S is for snake!” (One of the reasons I love Zuzu - even when she acts up, she keeps participating in class.) “Why do you have so much hair on your arms?”

“Princess, what’s this letter?” Princess, who does not have Zuzu’s multitasking abilities, was too busy trying to pinch my hair to respond.

Zuzu demanded, “Are you actually a man? Are you a man who changed into a woman?”

Cookie said helpfully, “That’s called a “New Half.”"

On the theory that denying outrageous accusations made by children has never in history done any good, I said, “Yes.” I wish I could figure out whether “New Half” is derogatory, so I know whether or not to yell at the kids for using it.

In Bonze, Jerkface, and Ken’ichi’s class we were playing a game where I gave each of the kids a color of Jenga block, and they had to try and collect all their color by completing a complex feat involving marbles. Bonze is named for his haircut, his extreme stoicism, and his voice, which sounds unnervingly like that of an unpleasant priest of my reluctant acquaintance. He had the red blocks, and was using them to make a line of torii. I found this adorable. (Bonze doesn’t like being found adorable.) (And I’m aware that multiple torii are for Shinto shrines and not Buddhist temples, yes.)

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

Urrrgh.

Jul. 12th, 2007 01:20 am

Gynecological exams teach one interesting things about one’s reactions to pain. Apparently, my default curse word is “shit;” once I get started, I do not feel the urge break up my rhythm with other, less-privileged terms; and when the source of pain disappears, I start giggling.

Nurse M clearly finds my low threshold of pain worrying. Doctor C is merely very deadpan. She holds the implements where I can’t see them and asks when my sisters are going to be coming in for their HPV vaccinations.

The past year or so, I have acquired a slight facial hair problem. To be extremely precise, I have acquired a goatee. It is a pretty respectable little goatee if I don’t shave it - all I need is a flannel shirt and a disgusted expression and I can major in cinema. My goatee was the main reason I went to the gynecologist. My testosterone levels have always been off a little, and this seemed like it might be turning into more than a little.

Doctor C didn’t think it was significant; she talked about someone who’d come in the other day with “worse hair than you,” and gave me a prescription for some cream. This is fascinating. Are there lots of female goatees out there? Should I leave it in place for some kind of empowerment purposes? Well, no, because I don’t like it and I’m breaking out underneath. But it’s useful information. I bet I can use it to make people I dislike uncomfortable.

I went online to research the cream when I got home - it’s called Vaniqa, though Doctor C’s handwriting is so bad I had to type a couple variations into Google to get what I wanted. Apparently the drug’s manufacturer at one point ceased production because its main use is in curing sleeping sickness, which mostly affects people without any money. People in Africa, specifically. But then, a miracle occurred, and it was discovered that it could be used in topical form to retard hair growth! And thus they restarted manufacturing. Us rich white women have saved Africa again.

I’m feeling kind of ambivalent about this.

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

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