Invitation to Brazil

Brazil is one of the most amazing countries that I've had the pleasure of visiting. The food is fabulous (yes, even for us vegetarians!), the weather is warm, the beaches are gorgeous, the men are hot. As we are in the midst of SPA WEEK, I thought I would write a little bit about my favorite Brazilian export --- alright, in light of Paulo to my left here, I will write a little bit about one of my OTHER favorite Brazilian exports... the Brazilian Bikini Wax.

Once upon a time, I was a brazilian virgin. That's right, I had heard about it, and I had winced in pain at the thought of it, but I had not taken the plunge and embraced it full force. While living Los Angeles, I remember complaining to one of my girlfriends about the hassle and upkeep associated with the upcoming swimsuit season, and the first thing she said was, "Well, why don't you just get brazilian like I do and not worry about it at all?" The first thing I thought was, SHE gets brazilian??? She is so normal. I mean, she didn't exactly strike me as the freaky type. So of course, I just had to check this out. I asked her a bunch of questions, including where she gets it done --- The Nance Mitchell Salon (330 N. La Peer, 310-276-2722) ---, how much it hurt (a lot), what it was like (weird the first time, but oh-so addicting), why she did it (it was cleaner, sexier, and her boyfriend loved it).. and so on and so forth. By the end of the day, I had my very own appointment with Nance for Saturday afternoon.

I was insanely nervous when I walked into Nance's Salon. She asked me a bunch of questions: Why I wanted it done (for swimsuit season), how I knew about her (through my friend), did I have a boyfriend (at the time, no), etc. She made me feel at ease. Interestingly enough, she also told me that at one point, she was the sole waxer for the entire cast of Showgirls. Talk about a reference! The procedure is painful... I will admit to that. But, then as I always say, beauty is pain. It's also somewhat embarassing. I never thought I would meet another woman who would tell me to "Strip, get on all fours, and grab a cheek.", and what's worse, that I would willingly oblige. Nance mentioned that, in her opinion, 99.5% of guys prefer the brazilianed look. I will leave that up to you all to decide. She also told me stories of girls that wanted different shapes waxed into their nether regions. Once she managed to wax a picture of a basketball for a girl who's boyfriend was a professional ball player. Another girl requested a mercedes benz symbol because her boyfriend was a car fanatic. My guess is the airbrushed designs of COMPLETELY BARE (www.completelybare.com) stemmed out of these sorts of requests.


My verdict on the Brazillian? Now that I've had it, I can never go back. It's so clean, the upkeep is only once every 4 to 6 weeks, and you can wear any swimsuit or lingerie you want and never have to worry about anything looking unkempt. And, to a certain extent, it makes you feel exotic. Since I left Los Angeles, Nance referred me to the J Sisters (www.jsisters.com), who are the girls responsible for bringing and popularizing the Brazilin within the US. They have many celebrity clients, including Gweneth Paltrow and Bette Midler. However, instead of Nance's "grab a cheek" method, they have a "legs over the head method"... which to an extent, I prefer --- it mitigates the pain when you are concentrating on holding a position. If I had to say what is most painful, it's the removal of ingrowns at the end. And remember ladies, the more you do it, the less painful it is.

Marina had asked about how much the procedure costs. Well, it depends. Nance (when I was in California) was $50 a session, and the J Sisters recently raised their prices to $65 per session. But when you are dealing with such sensitive areas, I rather pay a little more and get it done quickly and well. I think you can find places in Manhattan that do it for $40 or $45 a visit. Interestingly enough, since my departure from California, I've had a hard time finding other Brazilian worshipers. Maybe it's a west coast thing. Or mabye, there are still many brazilian virgins waiting to discover the excitement they are missing.