I was 12 when my mother handed me a pack of Daisy razors, a can of Barbasol, and told me that I needed to start shaving my legs and under my arms. I only had a few short transparent measly hairs in my armpits and lots of it on my legs.
My pubes looked like they could use a hedge trimmer. When I trimmed my bikini line for the first time, I nearly clogged the tub. My mother told me, “Oh, you don’t shave that hair.”
Her solution to my swimwear dilemma: full bottom coverage one-piece bathing suits from the women’s department.
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I kept the side entrances to bush gardens trimmed on the sly, but there was always a tell-tale stubble that kept me in modest bathing suits. Over the years, shave creams for women came on the market. They were always getting “improved” with moisturizers and lotions, but only enough for them to feel a tad bit silkier and smell prettier than the stuff the guys used in a generic soapy kind of way.
As razors got more advanced (and more expensive), I tried them all – disposable razors with moisture strips, triple blade razors, quadruple blade razors. None of them performed any better than the original Daisys my mother started me off with as a kid.
What also makes shaving a challenge is that I have hypothyroidism and Type 1 diabetes. My body hair is much thinner and sparser and my skin has become extremely dry since my thyroid went kerplunk. (My pubic hair never got the memo.) Even though my blood sugar is under good control, even the tiniest cuts and scrapes are slow to heal. Either way, shaving is a risk, but my vanity insists on bucking the challenges.
So when the fine folks at Kama Sutra asked me to write a sponsored post about their Intimate Caress Shave Crèmes, I jumped on the opportunity. I’ve been a big fan of some of their products for years, but I never considered spending three times more for shave cream than what I pay at my local big-a-mart.
Let me start out by saying that the Intimate Caress Shave Crèmes are nothing like the stuff you buy in the cans. Not even remotely close.
The crèmes go on clear. You can actually see what you’re shaving. There’s no guess work involved. They don’t run off your skin the moment they come in contact with water. They stay on the skin like liquid silk.
For the first time ever, I was having fun shaving. I wasn’t going over the same spots two and three times over trying to mow down the stubble as far as I could. The hair just sliced away leaving behind soft skin I never thought I had for the past 26 years.
In actuality, the small amount of moisturizer, usually lanolin, does little to counteract the high alcohol content that gives the sensations of coolness and cleanness in conventional shaving creams. But the aloe vera, jojoba seed oil and avocado oil in the Intimate Caress Shave Crèmes work as a natural triple threat against dry skin. Even hours after I towel dried my skin, it still felt remarkably soft, even without my post-shower moisturizing routine. I kept touching myself. It was as if I discovered parts of my skin and body that felt sexy in a new way, even the morning after my shave.
And my skin smelled good the next morning, too.
The folks at Kama Sutra were kind enough to send three different scents of their Intimate Caress Shave Crèmes – Coconut Pineapple, Passionate Pomegranate and Sweet Honeysuckle — and I had to try them all on different parts of my body. These aren’t in-your-face aromas, but they’re very authentic. The Sweet Honeysuckle took me back to those early June days when I’d sit along my next-door neighbor’s fence, pluck the stamens from the flowers, and suck on them like liquid candy. I’ve always loved pomegranate for its subtle berry smell. And the Pineapple Coconut reminded me of a wonderful week that I spent in Hawaii years ago. The smell wouldn’t let that daydream get out of my mind.
I didn’t smell like a fruit cocktail, and it wasn’t a perfumey smell. I smelled like me, only more intriguing. If I were someone else, I’d want to get closer and try to figure out what kept pulling me in.
Then it dawned on me. These are aromas that meld into my own natural scent, not overtake or mask it.
Until now, I never understood why Kama Sutra would carry a line of shave crèmes. As much as I am about the sexual power of touch, I appreciate a good shave on a whole other level. I’m sure my lover will, too.
This post is brought to you by Kama Sutra. Information and opinions about this topic are genuinely my own.
Friday, November 13, 2020