Eye Watering finish of a hairy journey…

I had no expectations how my wax appointment would go this morning as i don’t start thinking about appointments until i am present for them. In hindsight I am pleased i maneuver through life in this way. I am used to hair removal as i regularly have my eyebrows, tops half of my legs & bikini area waxed. I had heard several times that underarms are the most sensitive area to get waxed and after my first ever experience of this, the reviewers were not joking! Lucy the beautician was welcoming, friendly, professional and kind. Luckily i chose to leave the underarm area until last on the last (eyebrows,face,neck,chin,navel,bikini,legs feet toes,) Tears were streaming from my eyes during the underarm waxing combined with my legs waving around in the air due to the pain. I honestly don’t know how ladies put themselves through regular waxing of this area. I will certainly NEVER be having my underarms waxed again (this is no bearing on the skill of the beautician, just an EXTREMELY sensitive area of the body to wax) You can see the redness still present in tonight’s photos and this is 12 hours after my appointment. I enjoyed my appointment other than the pain element and feel all new and fresh following the hair removal.

I am pleased i have completed this challenge as it has given me an understanding of why some women choose to keep and accept their excess hair. I prefer to remove my hair due to personal choice but have the up most respect for ladies who love it and live with it. 🙂

I would like to say a HUGE thankyou to everyone who has supported me and will continue blogging every now and again on my journey through choices of permanent hair removal so watch this blog.

Please see my final photos of this challenge below with an update of my sponsorship total…

Eye Watering finish of a hairy journey…

I had no expectations how my wax appointment would go this morning as i don’t start thinking about appointments until i am present for them. In hindsight I am pleased i maneuver through life in this way. I am used to hair removal as i regularly have my eyebrows, tops half of my legs & bikini area waxed. I had heard several times that underarms are the most sensitive area to get waxed and after my first ever experience of this, the reviewers were not joking! Lucy the beautician was welcoming, friendly, professional and kind. Luckily i chose to leave the underarm area until last on the last (eyebrows,face,neck,chin,navel,bikini,legs feet toes,) Tears were streaming from my eyes during the underarm waxing combined with my legs waving around in the air due to the pain. I honestly don’t know how ladies put themselves through regular waxing of this area. I will certainly NEVER be having my underarms waxed again (this is no bearing on the skill of the beautician, just an EXTREMELY sensitive area of the body to wax) You can see the redness still present in tonight’s photos and this is 12 hours after my appointment. I enjoyed my appointment other than the pain element and feel all new and fresh following the hair removal.

I am pleased i have completed this challenge as it has given me an understanding of why some women choose to keep and accept their excess hair. I prefer to remove my hair due to personal choice but have the up most respect for ladies who love it and live with it. 🙂

I would like to say a HUGE thankyou to everyone who has supported me and will continue blogging every now and again on my journey through choices of permanent hair removal so watch this blog.

Please see my final photos of this challenge below with an update of my sponsorship total…

Day 36 – The Last Stroke..

Waking up today, I felt a mixture of feelings as this is my last full day with excess face and body hair before I begin removing it again. (waxing commences tomorrow at 10am BST with Lucy of lucys.therapies@facebook.com) I have found the experience liberating, have started to reflect on my feelings towards my appearance, have recognized how my feelings have developed and changed prior to the start of this challenge and also learnt about feelings of fear and how to control these. What a roller coaster of emotions it has been!

I have found a lot more acceptance of who I am as a person rather than just focusing on how I look in the mirror. This experience has given me broader views/opinions of having and living with PCOS and excess hair as a symptom. It has provided me with opportunities to learn about other women’s experiences living with PCOS & excess hair and I hope in a small way has encouraged a few women to talk about and accept living with PCOS &/or excess hair which they may not of done previously. Prior to the start of this challenge I would of been concerned when stroking my face and discovering stubble present as I was self-conscious of others ability to notice this. From growing my hair the past 5 weeks I am confident my self-conscience will now be lower when discovering a bit of stubble in the future. Friends/family and colleagues have commented on my hair not being as noticeable as I feel it may be due to the fair colour of this. Just goes to show we perceive ourselves to look worse than what reality is. The saying about fear is definitely true ‘Fear is always worse than the reality’.

I have saved a total of 9 hours through not shaving the last 36 days! Hair grew on my face, neck, top of chest, underarms, boobs, navel, legs, toes and feet. The longest hair I have grown is 3/4 of an inch and this grew on my chest. The highest populated area of hair growth was under my arms and my favourite area of hair growth were the tufts of hair I grew either side of my chin. Acceptance

I may have started off resenting PCOS and all its symptoms but I now feel acceptance and positivity for having this condition. After all every cloud has a silver lining. For me I find I have found this lining in the people I have met along my journey. I will work with some of these people to continue promoting PCOS and the national UK charity Verity. I have also gained some new friends and acquaintances to share experiences and support with in the UK and around the globe. This is invaluable and I thank PCOS for this!

Finally how can you help…? Thank you for reading my blog and following my journey. This alone has made the approximate 72 hours of blogging over the last 36 days worthwhile. Thank you if you shared my blog, retweeted, took my daily photos and/or sponsored me. Every gesture REALLY is appreciated by myself, all other women with PCOS and the national UK charity Verity. To date with the support of friends/family/colleagues and fellow cysters/readers of my blog £774 for PCOS! I would love to reach £800 so if you would like to sponsor me please visit https://www.justgiving.com/hairyfairyweymouth/ or text KHFW66 £5 (amount can be smaller or larger) to 70070, thank you. I will share my experience of my waxing session tomorrow evening. Please find photos below of my last day as the hairy fairy from Weymouth, thank you and goodnight 🙂

 

 

Day 36 – The Last Stroke…

Waking up today, I felt a mixture of feelings as this is my last full day with excess face and body hair before I begin removing it again. (waxing commences tomorrow at 10am BST with Lucy of lucys.therapies@facebook.com) I have found the experience liberating, have started to reflect on my feelings towards my appearance, have recognized how my feelings have developed and changed prior to the start of this challenge and also learnt about feelings of fear and how to control these. What a roller coaster of emotions it has been!

I have found a lot more acceptance of who I am as a person rather than just focusing on how I look in the mirror. This experience has given me broader views/opinions of having and living with PCOS and excess hair as a symptom. It has provided me with opportunities to learn about other women’s experiences living with PCOS & excess hair and I hope in a small way has encouraged a few women to talk about and accept living with PCOS &/or excess hair which they may not of done previously. Prior to the start of this challenge I would of been concerned when stroking my face and discovering stubble present as I was self-conscious of others ability to notice this. From growing my hair the past 5 weeks I am confident my self-conscience will now be lower when discovering a bit of stubble in the future. Friends/family and colleagues have commented on my hair not being as noticeable as I feel it may be due to the fair colour of this. Just goes to show we perceive ourselves to look worse than what reality is. The saying about fear is definitely true ‘Fear is always worse than the reality’.

I have saved a total of 9 hours through not shaving the last 36 days! Hair grew on my face, neck, top of chest, underarms, boobs, navel, legs, toes and feet. The longest hair I have grown is 3/4 of an inch and this grew on my chest. The highest populated area of hair growth was under my arms and my favourite area of hair growth were the tufts of hair I grew either side of my chin. Acceptance

I may have started off resenting PCOS and all its symptoms but I now feel acceptance and positivity for having this condition. After all every cloud has a silver lining. For me I find I have found this lining in the people I have met along my journey. I will work with some of these people to continue promoting PCOS and the national UK charity Verity. I have also gained some new friends and acquaintances to share experiences and support with in the UK and around the globe. This is invaluable and I thank PCOS for this!

Finally how can you help…? Thank you for reading my blog and following my journey. This alone has made the approximate 72 hours of blogging over the last 36 days worthwhile. Thank you if you shared my blog, retweeted and/or sponsored me. Every gesture REALLY is appreciated by myself, all other women with PCOS and the national UK charity Verity. To date with the support of friends/family/colleagues and fellow cysters/readers of my blog £774 for PCOS! I would love to reach £800 so if you would like to sponsor me please visit https://www.justgiving.com/hairyfairyweymouth/ or text KHFW66 £5 (amount can be smaller or larger) to 70070, thank you. I will share my experience of my waxing session tomorrow evening. Please find photos below of my last day as the hairy fairy from Weymouth, thank you and goodnight 🙂

 

 

 

Day 35 – New Friendships & Feeling Happy…

Hello readers, I am feeling much better and back to normal health today, although a few additional early nights (which I will be having more of from this weekend on wards) will certainly boost my health further. 🙂

I am also feeling a little liberated having had 4-5 weeks of not removing my excess hair but at the same time I’m also looking forward to having a ‘smooth appearance’ again. My hair is going to be removed by wax on Saturday 6th September 2014 thanks to a local beautician in Dorset called Lucy who runs Lucy’s Therapies. For more information please see the following Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/lucys.therapies?fref=ts I understand why some women accept their excess face and body hair and choose not to remove it having been through the challenge of growing my own. It feels good to be natural, my skin is in better condition (as not so sore and rough from constant shaving/plucking/waxing) and I feel less pressure from not having to be so vain about my appearance. Plus I have saved time on getting ready in the morning and before going out which is an excellent bonus! However I will still be removing my hair as planned and will then start looking in to other hair removal options which I will continue to blog about as I try out alternatives to shaving/waxing. So watch this space…

I will upload the second radio interview (within the next 24 hours) I took part in on Friday 29th August 2014. Sorry for not posting this sooner, what with feeling unwell, working full time and my OH being away time has been somewhat limited recently. 

Due to the publicity of my hairy fairy fundraiser I met a local lady who has now discovered she is not alone in living with PCOS. Tonight we met for the first time and this was the greatest reward from raising awareness that I could have hoped for. To know I have helped just one other lady no matter how small is a fantastic achievement and I am very happy. I have also spoken with ladies from around the globe through social media which has been equally as rewarding. Stepping outside of my comfort zone has been VERY hard and a personal challenge I did not think I would do only 12 months ago and I am so pleased I did. I have gained new contacts/friends and also learnt about other people’s experiences of living with PCOS.

I will blog again tomorrow, until then please see my photos as below.

Final thought for the day ‘You cannot stop the waves, but you can learn to surf’ 

 

Day 34 – Still feeling a little hairy :)

Feeling a little better than yesterday evening but not 100% so please find today’s photos as below (more photos to come tomorrow) and I hope to be back on the blog in more detail tomorrow evening.

Thought for the day ‘To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance’

 

 

Day 33 – Short n Sweet

Good evening readers. I am not feeling well this evening so there will be no blog tonight. 😦  I hope to be back blogging again tomorrow.

Following several late nights over the last few weeks, I think they have started to catch up with me. 

Take care and remember ‘life is what you make it’

 

Day 32 – Just when you think the sun has gone in, warmth appears… :)

Today I returned to work and received a mass of support from fellow colleagues. People were asking how I was and asked what I had experienced over the last 2 weeks living outside of my comfort zone. It was good to feel so much warmth towards me. As I said to my work colleagues, I have enjoyed this hairy experience but it has been challenging due to a number of factors. I am proud of what I have achieved with raising awareness and much needed funds but a little disappointed my hair growth was not more. Typical when you don’t want hair your body grows it and when you do you can’t grow enough! 🙂

I am REALLY in need of some rest following several late nights recently so I will end here. My photos are as below.

Final thought for the day “Life is not about receiving. It’s about giving, knowing that someone might learn, understand or grow that little bit from the experience.”

Day 31 – Happiness & Confidence are the prettiest things you can wear…

Today was the last day of my summer leave from work & it was a beautiful day. I took my daughter to a large outdoor park located in a busy town approx 40 minutes from where we live. The population here is a lot higher than the small town I live in. The park was very busy due to the glorious sunshine. I received a few looks whilst playing with my daughter on the outside play equipment. This didn’t bother me though as I expect looks when I go to new environments outside of my comfort zone. I was fortunate enough to again not receive or hear any comments on my appearance. (Obviously this doesn’t mean there weren’t any comments I just wasn’t aware of any)

It would be interesting to know if my thoughts and feelings on living with excess hair changed if I encountered negative/unkind comments towards me. As this has not happened (and I count myself extremely lucky having had other bearded ladies share their experiences with me) I cannot confirm if my thoughts and feelings would be the same. Although I feel lucky to have received support and have been treated the same when out and about except for looks/stares I feel slightly cheated as it would have been valuable to experience the other side of human behaviour towards the sight of a female with excess hair (especially on the face/neck area) 

Completing this challenge is hard as I often find myself experiencing conflicting feelings. This is because I want to achieve the best outcome to help me understand how ladies living with excess hair feel whilst also experiencing first-hand the behaviour they experience from others. Although I only have another 5 days left of being the hairy fairy from Weymouth I will always be hairy on the inside 🙂

Back to work tomorrow and got an early start so I will end here. Please see my photos from today as below.

Final thought for today…“Happiness and confidence are the prettiest things you can wear”

Day 30 – Reflection as completion draws closer…

Been out and about at a couple of different local parks today and also popped in to a large home and garden store. As I am with my young daughter I tend to temporarily forget about my hairy appearance as she keeps me busy with her activities. I have had a good day and not noticed anyone looking at me or heard any comments about my appearance. 🙂

I have also had a day of reflection. I am looking forward to removing my face and body hair again from Saturday 6th September as I prefer a smooth hair free exterior. (This is just my personal preference rather than conforming to what society promotes.) Having said that there will be a small part of me that will miss the extra time in the morning & evening I gained from not removing hair (current time saved approx. 7 hours 30 minutes) I will also miss stroking my facial hair which I tend to do in the evening. Before this challenge I regularly stroked/brushed my face/chin/neck area to feel for stubble to ensure this was kept as smooth as possible. Now I find myself stroking the hair to feel how long it has grown as I want it to grow more and also investigate what it feels like as this changes through the time scales of growth. The hair on my face and underarms started off as quite bristly but is now lovely and soft. My skin also feels noticeably softer and moisturized since it has had 4 weeks razor free time. 🙂 I find myself accepting the extra hair growth on my face and body more than I have done previously (This does not mean I will be keeping it, sorry fellow proud bearded cysters.) Just wanted to be honest about how I am feeling. If anything I now feel I have opened and broadened my thoughts relating to women who chose to live with excess hair through completing this challenge. I believe everyone should chose to present themselves in the way that makes them feel their happiest. 

Before I end I would like to share the following quote which I read earlier and strongly agree with…

“If people were more concerned with how they looked on the inside, then on the outside, the world would be a nicer place to exist.”

Photos for today as below so until tomorrow goodnight all and thank you for reading. 🙂

(p.s tried out a different camera tonight so photos not as good hence only a couple posted, will get more tomorrow)