A New York City Health and Beauty Blog

Review: Shobha Madison Avenue

Shobha hair removal experts

I love being a woman but my least favorite part of being a woman is hair removal.  Hair removal is not fun and sometimes it can even be painful. And although it’s a beauty treatment that’s not entirely necessary, a little good grooming goes a long way, especially during bikini season or a vacation. 🙂

Bikini Wax at Shobha NYC

I recently headed to Shobha Madison Avenue Salon in New York City because they’re hair removal experts and they ONLY focus on hair removal. Shobha salons offer threading, waxing and sugaring services from the bikini area to full body hair removal -they will remove hair anywhere. I decided to go for the full monty and get a full brazilian wax.

If you’re like me then getting a Brazilian can be an uncomfortable experience. You’re lying down with your bare bum in the air in front of a complete stranger! But if you have a great esthetician then that makes the waxing experience much more bearable. And that’s why I love visiting Shobha salons! My esthetician was fantastic and really took the time to explain which hair removal method would work best for me. I opted for waxing and threading, but I’ll get sugaring for touch ups.

Shobha Madison Avenue waxing room

The treatment rooms are minimal but comfortable and most important they’re hygienic. Some salons dip the same spatula back in the wax vat possibly contaminating the wax with bacteria, gross. Shobha has a strict NO double-dip policy so they have lots of wooden spatulas handy to keep the wax clean. Shobha uses a gentle wax that contains azulene oil, a natural anti-inflammatory derived from the chamomile plant; this helps to soothe the skin while waxing. The waxing was finished with natural and organic, talc-free powder. My skin was smooth and best of all not irritated!

Shobha offers some of the best waxing services in New York City, I’ve also had my eyebrows threaded here and loved it. So If you’re in New York City, I highly recommend checking out one of the four salons! And if you’re in the D.C. area there is a Shobha salon coming there soon!

Have you visited any of the Shobha salons?

Review: R.E.M. Spring is a Hair Removal Game Changer

REM Spring hair removal

If you’ve ever had laser hair removal before, you know that during the process you must shave areas being treated, but cannot wax, pluck or otherwise pull hair out by the root. Thusly, my daily shaving habit began. Seven years later, I am still stuck shaving. I can’t wait for stubble to grow out and wax, and plucking is not an efficient way of removing the hair. It’s been like a razor-lined prison, so I was piqued when I saw this highly rated and oft reviewed gadget on Amazon- called the R.E.M. Spring. Priced at about $19, the tool is very well made- for a spring.

The R.E.M. Spring kind of works like threading, and it doesn’t require a cream/powder/lotion mess or electricity to leave you hair-free. You bend the device into an inverted U-shape and twist the handles as you move it upward over your skin. A few caveats, though not necessarily cons- one is that it really takes about ten minutes of practice before you get the hang of the spring. It may seem ineffectual at first, but it does eventually become very effective.

That’s the other consideration- the R.E.M Spring doesn’t tickle. It pulls the hair out- several at once- quite effectively. It’s definitely not a pleasurable feeling, but eventually you get used to it and kind of welcome the minor discomfort. The spring is also super effective- it will remove the hair, even if it takes a few passes.

I have to admit, I really thought I’d seen it all when it came to the de-fuzzing game, and I lamented a possible future of daily shaving forevermore. And while I’ve got a few days of compulsive springing until I am hair-free, I forsee this little thing becoming an integral part of my beauty routine. (It comes in a velvet carry case, and is about 4″ wide, so it should fit in your makeup bag.

If you’ve been trying to break a razor addiction (a common secret among women who suffer from PCOS) or just don’t like to wait to wax, the R.E.M. Spring could break you free of both or either. Do you have a hair removal secret? What methods do you find work best?