Hair Today, Gone Also Today

I am hairy. I don’t remember not having hair on my body. I’ve always had mixed feelings about body waxing and men and during the rise of metrosexuality, I stood by the rights of the hairy man. But, I always feel that I should try something once that I either am fascinated by or criticize, so I took the plunge and got my back waxed this week.

When I arrived at the salon, I was offered water or tea. This never happened when I went to the barber shop! (On a side note, I haven’t been to a barber shop in years thanks to baldness. God likes to toy with some hairy men) As I sipped my water, I was taken back to a room of scented candles and nice New Age (or voodoo depending on your perspective) music. It was relaxing given I had just gotten off a long day of work.

As I had never even experienced waxing before, my entire perception came from movies like The 40 Year Old Virgin or random scenes of men screaming in pain while getting waxed. I was preparing for such an experience. But, in reality, it wasn’t that bad at all. My esthetician actually complimented me on my lack of flinching. That made me feel good. I’m a real man. Real men don’t scream during their back waxes. It was also a historical moment for both me and my esthetician. For me, it was the first time I ever got a waxing done. For my esthetician, it was the first time a person almost fell asleep during a waxing. It wasn’t a testament to her workmanship. I just found the whole experience to be so relaxing. It was like the environment of a massage except tons of my hairs were being ripped out of my body. It’s also evidence that I’m probably not getting enough sleep that a table and New Age music had more of an effect on me than someone tearing something from my body.

In the end, I walk away with a clean back that can be displayed with my mediocre physique on a nice beach vacation getaway soon. Would I endorse the experience to someone interested in doing it for the first time? Definitely. Will I ever do it again? I don’t know. I actually found it to be fun but in the process I may have turned my back (no pun intended or pun intended – who knows?) on who I am and my gender and my race. Ehh, why should I look at this with any depth? My back is so smooth!