Body hair bleaching? Advice required

[AC2002]

Hi,

Slightly odd questions I know but any help would be appreciated.

I'm an 18 year old male who has a fair bit of body hair (not excessive or anything, just a bit more than average). It is quite dark in colour. I would like it to be lighter if possible - when on holiday in the sun it turns a slightly more golden colour which looks a lot better and I am much more happy with - leaving me wanting to a.) make it more gold/blonde/light and more importantly b.) keep it quite that when I come home off holiday and don't get any sun. In pursuit of this I purchased some Garnier permanent hair dye which worked fine at first, but then disappeared fairly quickly. You could tell the hair was growing out (because the bottom half of any given hair was dark and the upper half white with quite a distinct separation), but it also seemed to fade quite quickly. I knew it wasn't intended for body hair but I was disappointed to see it wasn't anything near permanent (probably my fault).

Anyway, I just wanted to ask - are there any alternatives? Is there any way to permanently lighten body hair? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

[Janineb]

Please, please never use a hair dye on your body again. The problem is, hair dyes can have incredibly severe reactions. The more skin it's used on the more likely this is to happen. Also, the hair on your scalp is tougher than the rest of your body, your body is more likely to react because it's less thick. The more you do it, the more you will risk a reaction as an allergy can build up over time. Each time you use it your body reacts a little more and then suddenly you have a massive reaction. Again, the more of your skin this is spread over, the more  of your skin will react, possibly even all of your body. I've seen a reaction to hair dye. A woman's face swelled to twice it's normal size, the rest of her head was even swollen. She started to have severe breathing problems just before the ambulance showed up because her throat was swelling up too. Now, this was on her scalp and only the second time she'd used hair dye. She didn't react the first time. You also risk severe chemical burns as hair dyes aren't designed to be put on skin that isn't the scalp. It's not even really meant to go on the scalp but it's hard not to. So, yeah, please, never do that again.

There are body hair bleaches, but they're just meant for the moustache area for women. I don't recommend it. It'll be expensive because they're sold in very small amounts and you'll have the same regrowth problem. You will for any method of dying it. There's no way possible at all to permanently dye hair because it keeps growing and there's no way to make it produce from the follicle a different colour.

Waxing or shaving is one option, but as a woman that has shaved legs and armpits most of her life, in part because of societal pressure, don't go down that route unless you really, really can't live with it. I'm afraid you will likely get more hair over the years, it happens to both men and women, but at least it's more or less accepted for men. Shaving or waxing all that hair will be rubbish. It itches as it's growing back in. With shaving you'll have to do it at least a couple of times a week, probably more. With waxing you have to make sure it's at least a few mms long and that's a rubbish wait. It's a big and annoying commitment. I've been shaving for 30 years now and I wish I'd never started. I wish I had the confidence to go without it, but I'm stuck in a cycle now.

Really, your best option is to learn to live with it, love it even, before you go down a route of self loathing. As I said, it's more acceptable for men to have hair bodies. I'm even pretty certain it's going to become more fashionable quite soon. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s body hair on men was considered super sexy. Beards came back into fashion (they were hated for a long time!) I'm pretty sure natural hairy bodies will be next. Regardless though, I guarantee you others don't see it the way you do

[AC2002]

Please, please never use a hair dye on your body again. The problem is, hair dyes can have incredibly severe reactions. The more skin it's used on the more likely this is to happen. Also, the hair on your scalp is tougher than the rest of your body, your body is more likely to react because it's less thick. The more you do it, the more you will risk a reaction as an allergy can build up over time. Each time you use it your body reacts a little more and then suddenly you have a massive reaction. Again, the more of your skin this is spread over, the more  of your skin will react, possibly even all of your body. I've seen a reaction to hair dye. A woman's face swelled to twice it's normal size, the rest of her head was even swollen. She started to have severe breathing problems just before the ambulance showed up because her throat was swelling up too. Now, this was on her scalp and only the second time she'd used hair dye. She didn't react the first time. You also risk severe chemical burns as hair dyes aren't designed to be put on skin that isn't the scalp. It's not even really meant to go on the scalp but it's hard not to. So, yeah, please, never do that again.

There are body hair bleaches, but they're just meant for the moustache area for women. I don't recommend it. It'll be expensive because they're sold in very small amounts and you'll have the same regrowth problem. You will for any method of dying it. There's no way possible at all to permanently dye hair because it keeps growing and there's no way to make it produce from the follicle a different colour.

Waxing or shaving is one option, but as a woman that has shaved legs and armpits most of her life, in part because of societal pressure, don't go down that route unless you really, really can't live with it. I'm afraid you will likely get more hair over the years, it happens to both men and women, but at least it's more or less accepted for men. Shaving or waxing all that hair will be rubbish. It itches as it's growing back in. With shaving you'll have to do it at least a couple of times a week, probably more. With waxing you have to make sure it's at least a few mms long and that's a rubbish wait. It's a big and annoying commitment. I've been shaving for 30 years now and I wish I'd never started. I wish I had the confidence to go without it, but I'm stuck in a cycle now.

Really, your best option is to learn to live with it, love it even, before you go down a route of self loathing. As I said, it's more acceptable for men to have hair bodies. I'm even pretty certain it's going to become more fashionable quite soon. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s body hair on men was considered super sexy. Beards came back into fashion (they were hated for a long time!) I'm pretty sure natural hairy bodies will be next. Regardless though, I guarantee you others don't see it the way you do

Thanks for the advice and nice words (I will heed from here on)!

[Janineb]

I just realised I said, "the hair on your scalp is tougher". I meant the SKIN on your scalp is thicker. Hopefully it still made enough sense

Good luck!