Top Lip - thread, wax, bleach or ... cultivate?

[ScottOfTheArseAntics]

That's it really. Since passing 40 I have started to develop a moustache and I need advice on how to disguise/manage/get rid of it.

I am quite dark and so therefore is my 'tache. I control my rampant monobrow with threading but the thought of doing this to my top lip makes me wince. I also worry that threading and waxing will make the darn thing grow in thicker.

I actually have a friend who cultivates her facial hair by plucking it and she has quite a long beardy thing going on which is great for her but I'm just not feeling it for myself.

Any advice gratefully accepted.

I've got dark hair/dark eyes and pale freckled skin.

So the 'tache just adds a certain something.
I tried bleach, but it just looks really obvious in certain light.And when I missed the edge of it, the dark hair stood out.

Wax every time for me. Veet warm wax. Bite the bullet and the deed is done.
It grows back finer (I've definately noticed that waxing my armpits makes it finer) but I get a few tiny spots a couple of days later.

Thanks LOTF. I am a bit nervous of DIY waxing because I am a klutz and the last time I used hot wax for eyebrows I spilt the wax on the hob and it was a devil to get off. Had to chisel it off with a knife.

I use the hair removal cream - doesn't take long at all and seems less of a faff than wax. Agree that bleaching just seems to highlight the tache.

Threading, I love it. If anything threading will make your hair appear finer not thicker.

Threading for sure...waxing gives me little spots afterwards, threading doesn't. Blooming agony though!

I also use veet hair removal cream especially for facial hair. It's easy and the regrowth is always soft. Only problem is that the skin can be a little read for about 30 minutes afterwards. It stings very very slightly and its best to avoid getting the cream on your lips but otherwise quick and easy.

How painful is the threading (compared to eyebrows, for example)? The hair removal cream leaves me with a rash and patches of dry skin and the bleach started to burn as soon as I put it on. Eyebrow waxing gave me a rash as well, which is why I switched to threading.

I am blonde and was worried that it might grow back darker or thicker after waxing, but it hasn't. I seem to need to do it about once a week now though!

Don't thread nnnnnnooooooooooooo I cannot emphasis enough that you must not thread. Our threading lady does a vague hand gesture towards your face, raises an eyebrow and says "anywhere else?" and after a few times of saying no I thought that there must be something she could see that I was missing so I said "yes"

Fuck me IT HURT. And it's in public so you can't jump out of the chair and run away scream.

Now I either use cream or epilate. The cream doesn't hurt and neither does the epilator after a stiff gin.

My skin is on the sensitive side but I have waxed my eyebrows in the past and been OK. I stick to threading though to be on the safe side.

It sounds as though neither threading or waxing will make it thicker and coarser so I think I will give threading a go and just brace myself for the pain.

Oh cross-posted with crotchflakes!!

There was a thread on here recently about this and someone recommended those veet wax strips, warmed with a hairdryer.

There's nothing to tip over as they're sealed in paper. I am absolutely crap at anything like that but it worked really well so I am converted.

Personally I would start by bleaching. Once you start hair removal you could be stuck with it for ever.

Have a go at bleaching. I have a veet kit that I use. I bought it last summer and its still going strong and I bleach about every 6 weeks and it takes 5 to 10 minutes.

I too am apporaching my 40's and this is a recent addition to my ever increasing beauty routine as I too seem to have become an overnight member of the moustache club.

I personally have found bleaching OK but would recommend using a very thin layer of vaseline before you start. Do it on a day/night when you wont be going out because it can temporarily lighten the skin - within 24 hours its back to normal.

Try this first before removal as sometimes regrowth can be stronger and bleachin may not be suitable if you ae unlucky with stubborn regrowth.

If you dont like bleaching then try removal and I would suggest waxing or threading.

Hope this helps.

Scott threading might hurt the first time, but you will get used to it after a few times, I find it hurts more when I am due for My period. It's ok for Me because My sister does it, and she is an expert at it, and also I can scream if it does hurt ( she comes to My house, or vice versa)

Wax at a salon. Less room for error. Last thing you want is to mess it up and take half your skin off

Rhubarb you put a good case for bleaching but are you saying that regrowth stronger after bleaching or after removal?

Jessica is your sister a beauty therapist then or is she self-taught? I am wondering if DH could be trained to thread my facial hairs? I bet there's an instructional video on YouTube or something.

Nice mental images I'm getting now Geordieminx

Scott She did a course on Indian threading. I would love to learn threading, but then I know every party I attend, I will be upstairs doing threading, just like My sister is .

Threading is the only way!

I think bleaching looks AWFUL and just high lights it even more. I use cream and tweezers.

Its only happened to me once and thankfully it was bikini line but jeez what a fucking mess.

I had my lip (on my face ) done a few weeks before I got married and was terrified just incase... Can you imagine the horror? Thankfully all was well.

Threading is agony and gave me spots. Veet cream much the easiest and most effective in my experience.

nothing makes a difference to regrowth (maybe electrolysis or IPL). creams work a bit like shaving, in that they dissolve the hair at skin level, leaving a blunt end so regrowth looks like stubble. Waxing and threading pull the hair out. Regrowth is slower than shaving / cream, and the hair is a new hair with a tapered end, so the regrowth appears finer. I use the veet ready-to-use strips. Very easy and no risk of burns. Cut in half and spare paper around edges removed to make them more manageable. After a week there is a little visible regrowth, but not enough to wax, so I wax and bleach alternate weeks. Waxing can leave you red after, so I wax at bed time so the redness subsides by the time I get up.

I use veet sensitive, I tended to react badly to threading.