Fear # 38: Wax My Legs.

"Beauty is Pain." 

- my mother

In aesthetic school, practice makes perfect. To know exactly what our clients are going through during treatments, we must find out for ourselves. Over the next few weeks, we are learning about body waxing, and what better way to knock out the fear of pain than being forced to have my full body waxed?

Friday, I decided to overcome my algophobia (fear of pain) by having my legs waxed at school. Why waxing legs? Two reasons. 1. Legs are one of the most painful waxing areas, and 2. As students, we have never experienced waxing another person before. After hearing the horror stories of third degree burns and ripping off skin, I realized that putting my full trust into an amateur wasn't going to be easy.

I pride myself on my pain tolerance level, and I am usually pretty strong when it comes to experiencing pain in front of others. During this waxing experience, I tried to hide the discomfort... however... I could not help but wince as I heard the ripping sound echo through the classroom. With eyes watering, palms sweating, and teeth gritting, I endured 45 minutes of the constant, ripping, stinging pain.  

I think my childhood prepared me for painful situations like this. As a dancer, I was forced to squeeze into uncomfortable costumes, pull my hair into a skin-pulling tight bun, and wear makeup that took hours to scrub off until my skin was raw. Whenever I began to whine about the discomfort, my mother would remind me of her life motto: "Beauty is pain."

The waxing experience gave me nostalgia as my mind went back to those moments. With every rip, my mother's voice repeated the motto in my mind... Beauty is pain... beauty is pain... beauty is pain... And just like that, 45 nerve-numbing minutes later, it was over. 

So - was it worth it? For me, definitely! For others, maybe not! A few of my classmates took the leg wax challenge, and nearly came to tears as they screamed, "OWWW! Courtney made it look so much easier!" This made me feel pretty strong, and I owe it all to my mother. In so many ways, beauty really is a pain... But overcoming the fear of pain brings about much strength, and as I have seen from my mother's example, I believe that strong women are always the prettiest.

From this funny fear, I have been reminded of one thing: sometimes the things that bring about the most pain are the most beautiful! Thanks for following, until the next fear... 

-Courtney