Gorilla arms! Please help :0)

[ListersSister]

I have fair hair on my forearms - good. Not so good is the fact there is so much of it. With summer coming I can no longer ignore it alas. It is thick and long and curly .

How should I deal with it? It would look very odd if there was no hair, so I just want to sort of thin it out, so it looks less obvious. Can't shave it then, and don't want stubble. What else can I do to deforest it?

Aargh!

Wax it?

Oh...sorry you don't want bald arms.

TBH I'd just wax it and deal with the hairlessness.

Noooo AA! Bald would be too weird for me, and too drastic! I am not a very well tended person in general and bald would look odd . I just want less hair. I was thinking maybe an epilator - but not sure. Would that hurt lots? What about one of those electrical gizmos? Can you see I am out of my depth here ?

Epilator does the same as waxing - it'll strip em all out.

Not sure what sort of gizmo you mean Do you mean an electrolysis thingie? You zap individual hairs? In theory that might be the ticket. I don't think the home-use ones are up to much though (never tried them). Perhaps you could get it done at a salon? Would prob be £££ though.

If you wax them, I would think they will have started growing back within a couple of weeks, but will be finer and shorter (obv) for quite a while. (NB - I've never actually waxed my arms, but this is how it works for legs).

My arm-hair is quite long, and fine, and it looks pretty much invisible if I bleach it. Sounds like this wouldn't be right for you if yours is already fair.

Waxing your arms is a perfectly standard procedure. Any beautician can do it.

Any other things I can do other than go baldy??

go baldy, it looks Great. i get mine done at the beginning of every summer (they're actually not that hairy or dark, it's just that the hair is very long). your arms look lovely and thin, take a bit of tan well and the hair grows back gradually and isn't noticeable or stubbly or anything. much much better than waxing legs, which i hate.

OK...so I am now considering waxing. I have never been waxed. Could I diy at home? How long does it take to grow back? Surely it looks odd when it does? or maybe it will for me cos my arms are SO hairy (much hairier than my legs).

if you have never waxed, DO NOT DIY it!

it's not expensive at most salons.

get a nice lady to do it, shouldn't cost more than a tenner. ime it doesn't look odd growing back in. my pal has gorilla arms, she was the one who got me onto it, she only gets it done once before summer as well and i've never noticed hers coming in weirdly.

i have major gorilla arms.

they are vile.

they keep Bliss in business because i wax at home and use their poetic wax - it's the best going and warms beautifully in my warmer.

Expat - why not wax at home? Is it hard? I assumed you just bought those strip things? (am I showing my ignorance of all things beauty now?!).
Aitch - a tenner per arm? That sounds ok...

because you need to watch how the waxer removes the strip. the instructions on a box will tell you how to do it, in words.

but until you've seen it done on you, and had it done on you, i wouldn't do it at home.

i've been waxing or had myself waxed for over 20 years.

no a tenner for both. in fact it's eight quid where i go, i was just scaling up in case your hairy arms are london weighted.

i'd say arms would be hard to do tbh, largely because you are out one hand by definition. best to have two hands on the job for a first time.

Ah, thanks Aitch and Expat. I hadn't thought this home waxing thing through, had I?

So, now just need to summon the courage to go and show some beautifully-made-up-skinny-sylish-twenty-something my ape-like arms. Oh joy .

Hoping the cost isn't London weighted - shouldn't be

gosh, don't. go local, find an old minger, that's what i do.

Aitch, does the Yellow Pages have a 'Minging Old Beauty Therapists' section? (see, I really know nothing about this at akll )

wander the streets, that's what the rest of us have to do.

Huh? Maybe I should try the zoo?

don't you have hairy mates you can ask? but even if you do go to a shiny young lass, she'll have seen worse. she might even have done expat.

yep waxing's the way to go, I resisted doing my (vv hairy) arms for years but can't imagine why now, it's much better. It does feel weird at first being baldy but you soon get used to it.

i wonder the streets and find whoever is doing it cheapest, in the past or when i couldn't be arsed to do it myself.

damn, Leith Walk in Edinburgh was a veritable golden pathway of cheap salons.

oh, i think they're still telling stories about my likeness to one of the Baldwin brothers.

seriously, i'm natually a yetti, and i have fair skin and dark hair.

not course, but dark.

treat yourself to some nice self tanner or some sparkly lotion to offset your new arms, and a manicure.