After reading all of this... I am NEVER EVER doing an at-home bikini wax or using an epillator. NOT worth it. My most painful beauty experience was when my aunt was plucking my eyebrows for the first time. My eyebrows are already shaped but only tiny super small not even visible blonde hairs are under my brows...so I can imagine how painful it must have been for people with thicker eyebrows! :O

Having my pubes waxed

HAIR BRAIDING! I'm not of African decent (not trying to offend! But I'm Middle Eastern and I believe that's a "woman of color", too! :) In the hot summer months I sometimes get my hair braided straight back, like Alicia Keys. It's a fun treat for me; but that throbbing kept me up for days! Brazilian wax was no problem; but I totally believe "wax "and "at home" are a couple words that should never be combined!

Landscaping below the belt with a pair of shears, I swear I saw my meat wash down the drain. Never again!

I purchased some off brand cold wax strips and I thought I would try and tame my Brooke Shields' brows on my own. (this was way before they had brow bars because I am 48) BIG mistake! The strips took off the first three layers of flesh! I walked around for 2 weeks with bog scabs all over my eyes. It was awful and make me want to hide. How does one explain rug burns on your lids?

Having my brows threaded. Horrible! I don't even have bushy eyebrows and it made my eyes water so much.

The worst was when I used Veet on my bikini line. It felt like someone had poured gasoline on my crotch and threw a match on it. Never again! A close second would be when I use makeup or a skincare product that causes me to have a cystic acne flare-up. That can be excruciatingly painful depending on where it is.

A few years back I was going on a 3 day trip to a waterpark with some friends and family and tried out Nair thinking I wouldnt have to shave the next few days after using it .... Worst idea ever! It did disolve the hair but at the same time decided it would burn the living hell out of my legs and cause a terribly itchy and red rash all over my legs. I was so embarassed and in pain on my trip, being in a bathing suit and even shorts made me so self concious because of my burned red itchy legs! Horrible products, never try them. My friend once, being experimental, decided all in the same shower to do her legs, bikini area and eyebrows with Nair..... She had no eyebrows for weeks, rashes in those areas and struggled to sit thanks to her "private" discomfort.

omg my most painful is the same as yours! I used "honey wax" b/c it sounded like a good idea at the time. I don't even think it ripped off the hair, just my skin! It was like 10 years ago and I'm still traumatized. LOL

I was going on vacation and I ran out of wax, and I really wanted to get my upper lip before I left. I was talking to a friend on the phone about that, and how I was getting ready to go the store, and my friend suggested to just Nair it away. So, I had some I've never used that my grandmother gave me, I did it, and it burned burned burned! I got it off right away and I had a nice red (and black from hair) mustache. I call back my friend and said "How can you do this, you have sensitive skin, and I don't!" and he responded that she's never actually done it before. I should have just read the label, it says don't put it on your face, or maybe I should have used common sense and not put a icky chemical on my face.

Well, at least it got you familiar with "parts unknown" -- it is your body, after all! Never had a problem with at-home bikini waxing, actually. Using the pre-prepped strips definitely helps, though. I think the most painful experience was probably having my first facial peel. (Walked into derm's office and the next thing I knew is nurse was applying glycolic to my face - without warning or even asking!) THAT was not just painful, it was scary. I thought I'd be scarred for life!

I had my WHOLE face threaded - brows, upper lip, chin, face. I liked to die. My face was "tingling" for many, many hours after the procedure. And to add insult to injury - I had to go to work and everywhere else with a hairy face before the threading. Never again....

Mine too has to do with hair removal. Nair, left on way too long, burned the top layer of my skin fresh off my legs. I also had my legs waxed once, I cried, lol. Only razors for me for now on.

I've heard enough stories to never try at home bikini waxing. I try to avoid pain at all costs -I even always still tear up whenever my eyebrows are waxed and I should be used to that by now! Because of my cautiousness, I can't think of anything really painful. Maybe just the first time I got my eyebrows plucked. I was really young -like middle school- and a friend offered to do everyone's at a sleepover party and I just remember feeling like it lasted forever.

That is so funny. My first "At home" bikini wax left me with a permanent blood blister. I SOOOO hear you.

When I was 15, I had a tragic accident with an eyelash curler, and tore out a good-sized clump of lashes, right over my right pupil, where you couldn't miss it. I was having a terrible first year in a new school, and had just gotten contacts! I very inexpertly glued a cluster of false lashes over the bare spot. Sometimes they stayed where I'd put them, but often they didn't. Naturally, I had P.E. first period, and sweat doesn't exactly help eyelash glue to hold better. My lashes eventually grew back in, but to this day (I'm 47), I'm obsessively careful with my lash curler.

The epillator most definitely! it feels as if you were rubbing a burning cigarette on your legs.....

omg...lol. that made me laugh so hard. 'the futility of it all'...i've been there!

When I was about 13 I was annoyed with my blackheads, so I figured if I took a washcloth and scrubbed my face really hard for a while I would get them all out and be super clean! Kinda like scrubbing a kitchen counter.. anyway, I scrubbed and scrubbed and scubbed my face with a washcloth and *cough* bar soap D: OH MY GOD my face was so raw and red, it hurt so bad I had to sleep on my back at night and I just could not stop crying

Electrolysis, hands down. Before laser hair removal was invented, that was the only way to remove hair, and I tried it in various bodily areas. And it didn't work, so the pain wasn't even worth it. (Now I'm getting laser removal pretty much everywhere, and I'm loving it!)

Do braces count? haha. My teeth are more beautiful because of them. If not, then I'd say eyebrow threading. It's not horrible, but it does pinch a bit.

For me it was the IPL laser! I had it done for rosacea and some sun spots! everything went fine until the 3rd time I went and she evidently set the settings on too high! I felt like my skin was burned! I was swollen and red for almost 2 weeks! ended up going to be dermatologist to make sure I wasn't burnt! Luckily she said I wasn't but my rosacea flared up! so she put me on Finicea! But that stings and burns too! Been almost 3 weeks and my skin is still super sensitive but alot better!

The first and only time I used a Rimmel mascara. It literally felt like a caustic chemical was burning my eye, and I ended up washing off all of my makeup and rinsing my eye with saline solution just to get it to stop. Tweezing, waxing, accidental pokes, none of them felt as bad as that!

Full Brazilian wax!!! What was I thinking...painful..

The very first time I went to have my upper lip waxed. I was 12 or something and basically still a child. It hurt so bad. But I now I am kinda used to it because I really need to have it done... The other experience also involves waxing: I tried the veet waxing strips on my legs and it didn't work at all. After that, I was left with a stripe of raw flesh and the hair hasn't even been removed...

Laser, especially brazilian, is the worst, a lot more painful than waxing, including bad waxing jobs.

Oh God this is horrible! I've had a few painful experiences. Threading my eyebrows hurt like hell. Epilating my legs was so painful I never did it ever again. And then trying to remove my acrylic nails at home and pulling up half my own nail was absolute agony! Why do we put ourselves through these things!? We must be mad!

First time I tried Brazilian waxing. Omfg it hurt so bad.. It took me 2-3 days to finish it. But I continued and now it's almost painless! And I do it at home!

Waxing my upper lip with those Bliss wax strips from Sephora that you rub between your hands. I thought it was a good idea to just put the whole strip on my lip without cutting it for more precision and just yank it off. Well, i ended up drawing blood. Worst idea ever.

When I was a preteen, my Dad had the brilliant idea to treat my face and back acne with rubbing alcohol. It burned. I cried. Many times. After a few months he concluded the procedure was having no effect. His logic was acne is caused by bacteria and oil. Rubbing alcohol is a disinfectant and it will burn off the oil. It sure burned Dad!

When I was 17 and I was going on my highschool grad trip to a beach, my mom tried waxing my arm hair for the first time. She put the wax on and the paper strip, then had to leave suddenly. I couldn´t pull the strip myself since I was too chicken. When she got back she pulled the strip off in the wrong direction and the top layer of skin of my arm came with it. I spent the trip to the beach with a bandage on my arm and couldn´t go to the pool or beach :(

My most painful beauty experience was in about the summer before I went into either 9th or 10th grade. I disliked how my pores always seemed clogged no matter how much I wash my face. Silly ol me nobody told me that mixing facial cleansers one right after the other could damage the skin. I don't remember much except that it hurt A LOT and I ended up chemically burning my cheeks and to this day my skin-tone has yet to fully recover.

I attempted to wax my legs one summer. I had the largest bruises on both legs for 3 weeks. Looked like I had been in a tragic accident.

Three way tie, here: Attempt at at home bikini waxing, getting a chemical burn above my upper lip from a hair removal cream, and using this sander thing that's supposed to remove hair... I used it above my lip, got an awful rash that immediately got infected and was awful for a good couple of months until I finally went to a dermatologist! :( And yet, I still keep trying to remove the hair... it isn't even that dark, it's just that my skin is soooo pale that it shows up really easy. Anyone have any suggestions for sensitive skin?

When I put on Almays liquid liner, it burned me so bad it left a red ring on my eyelid. Another one would have to be a small particle of hard eyeliner stuck on the area above the eye...

brazilian wax!!!

A gal at Bath & Bodyworks wanted to "do my eyes" and ended up pinching my eyelid when she went to curl my lashes. Of course, I flinched, which only made things worse. From now now, I curl my own lashes!

I have heard way too many horror stories about bikini waxes to ever try them (especially the ones that involve hospital-level infections), so I don't have anything that extreme to share. However, the skin around my eyes is a bit sensitive, so plucking my eyebrows is painful regardless of how gently I do it. It's one of the reasons I only groom them once a week, if that.

I second the at-home underarm waxing. Not only did my attempt not remove any hair, it was so painful I couldn't lift my arm all the way for a day or two. It made shaving them every day look like a great option!

When I tried a hair removing gel: ended with chemical burn all over my calves.

AAAAUUUUGH. I remember my first at-home wax. I spent half an out trying to slowly rip one overzealously applied piece off, and there may have been tears involved. I gave up and the result was a patchy red mess. I went in for a professional job later and paid special attention to all the esthetician's tricks, and the 2nd (and following) attempts went MUCH better.

I am so glad I am not the only one "silly" enough to try an at home waxing kit. I was trying to be more cost efficient in law school. Let's just say my story ended in an empty container of baby oil gel, hair shears, tears, and a vow to never ever make that mistake again!

last summer, Veet burned my leg. it was bright red and THROBBED, and since it was summer in the South, I couldn't cover it up :| I threw that stuff out immediately.

Burning from lying in a tanning bed with my porcelain skin.. it was itching sooo bad, I was itching, bleeding and rubbing aloe vera lotion all ovr, it was the worst time in my life haha

The epilator. I used that thing religiously for like six months. Always hurt like hell and would break off as many hairs as it tore out so I'd have to use it twice a week which didn't save anytime over shaving.