I've got pluck

I've always been aware, and tried to keep it under control, but ever since Cicada first posted about chin hair, I've been especially vigilant. I don't want to lose a friend over it. So far, she has not registered any complaints. Believe me, whenever we're going to see each other I do a special once over, just in case.

But the playing field has changed, along with the aforementioned hormones, to which post I will not link. You get the gist. It's no longer a matter of finding a lone, black chin hair and pulling it out. This is almost to the point of requiring a full-time esthetician.

And it's not just about the chin hair, which keeps me on my toes. Fortunately, many of the chin hairs are turning white, so they don't show up as well, unless you are invading my personal space, in which case you deserve to be frightened and alarmed. Unfortunately, this means I often don't discover them until they're about an inch long. Ew.

Silver lining: my moustache has decreased in intensity over the last few years, and no longer requires the application of painful depilatories (conceived by some sadistic mind) in order to avoid looking like Frida Kahlo. So I don't pay much attention to it anymore, my main focus being the beard. Big mistake! The other day I found a solitary, wiry moustachio that was well on its way to founding a handlebar. It was unceremoniously removed.

Then there are the eyebrows. The unibrow problem has also diminished (I do not say disappeared), but then there are the white eyebrow hairs which, no other way of saying it, look weird. When they're scattered throughout a black eyebrow, that is. They are tares that must be weeded out carefully, so as not to disturb any of the good grain. This is not an easy task.

Let's not even talk about the neck area. It is not my intent to make anyone physically ill.

I have become an afficionado of the tweezer. No cheap grocery store brand for me. I can tell you the best places to find the most precise tweezers--the ones that really grip the offending hairs and extract them almost painlessly. Those bargain tweezers are known for allowing their quarry to slip away repeatedly. I no longer have time for that.

Fortunately, I don't currently hold down a full-time job.

Maybe it doesn't matter that much. I know women who seem to go about saying, "I know, I know, but this is just the way I am." I can't seem to do that yet. I'm still trying to come to terms with exhibiting my blinding white skin as though I'm proud of it. Perhaps someday I'll find the courage to show my natural chin to the world. Today is not that day.

Poink! Another one bites the dust.