When I was 25, I bought a self-waxer from the Sears catalogue. Like clock work, every two weeks I would drag out the waxer and go about dehairing my body.

About two years ago, Sears stopped carrying the units of wax that fit into that specific waxer model. Scrambling, I tried a bevy of over-the-counter dehairing alternatives but nothing worked all that well. I was forced to default to shaving.

Shaving worked well enough, that is until I was in my last trimester of pregnancy. Because of my round belly, I could neither bend over nor see the massive amount of hair growing on my nether regions. Hair problem was relegated to the category of: out of sight, out of mind.

That is until six months after giving birth…I had whipped into the shower and coming out, I glanced in the mirror and noticed a massive afro of hair where there used to be a perfectly coifed Brazillian. I looked down even further and there were two hairy mammoth legs.

A genuinely befuddled, “when did this happen?” crossed my mind. I remembered vaguely shaving my legs once or twice in the last few months but, like everything else at the time, it all was a blur.

I used to be so fastidious and take pride in my appearance.

Sadly, instead of immediately running back into the shower to rectify the situation, I allowed myself to feel unsexy and push on with my day—I had breast milk to pump or one of a million other things I needed to get done before my son woke up from his nap.

Two weeks went by and I was doing a TV interview. I wanted to wear a skirt so I was forced to shave the unruly mats of hair on my legs. On impulse, I decided to also tame the wild jungle afro with my husband’s electric shaver. It was a really messy job but the massive bush was gone in under two minutes.

We all know taking care of ourselves is quintessential for feeling sexy. “Funny” though, I feel incredibly superficial to say that I really like to maintain my appearance. It makes me wonder if women are given a drug while birthing that makes us feel guilty about wanting to still look good. Otherwise why would we feel bad taking five minutes out of our day to primp and feel good about ourselves?

My concession on the leg front is to shave my legs while my son takes his bath. Or, while he’s splashing around in the water, I do other pampering things like take care of my nails or give myself a facial. It’s a great compromise as we both get a little “spa” time in every couple of days.

Listen to Dr. Trina’s bi-weekly podcasts and read an excerpt from her latest book, Till Sex Do Us Part. You can read other articles and her blog here.

Filed under: Fabulous Guest Bloggers, Sex, humor for women