Bring on the Burn

Wellllll... sorry about the pictures. I had envisioned an epic follow up post titled When in Rome, Part II but it ended up not happening. So a picture of my stove seemed like it would suffice under the circumstances.

That's right, people! I tried it today. And wow. I can't believe there is a whole industry devoted to ripping the hair out of women's bodies. Why would we ever volunteer for this torture?! It's terrible. I must have been super pale when I left because I actually needed to sit down and drink a juice to stop the shakes. I went into it thinking, oh it'll probably hurt a bit, but all the women down here seem to do it, and I'm really sick of razor burn. Afterward, a pain-induced cost-benefit analysis reveals that razors are where it's at. Do see:

Shaving:
time = 3min/2 days = 45 min / month
cost = 8 blades for $24 = $3/blade = $6 / month (assuming 2 week usage)

Waxing:
time = 30 min / 15 days (I nearly cried when she said I should come back in 2 weeks.) = 1 hour / month
cost = R$37 + R$2.70 for graviola juice = R$39.70 =~ $20US

This back-of-the-envelope calculation does not include time spent in planning and traveling or the quality of results from both (still waiting for the redness and tenderness to decrease to determine the effectiveness of waxing). It also does not include the pain induced through both methods, but I can tell you now that the razor wins there- even if you have a terrible razor and knick yourself a lot.

The lady who did the work was really nice and gave me her card, telling me to come back. I pretended I would, but the first pull of the cloth, and I knew this would be my last wax. Anyone know how tattoos compare to waxing, pain-wise?