My Science Experiment: Post-Surgery Leg Hair

Dear Neighbors:

The day of the cast removal.

I have been out of the cast for almost five days and my foot is enjoying the freedom. To the left is a picture that was taken immediately after the cast was removed. I didn't realize I would be faced with so much dead skin hanging off of it. It's taken a great deal of soaking and a few showers to remove all of it. As a bonus, the scabs fell off as well. 

The way my foot looks right now.

The other picture is how my foot looks right now. Not bad, right? I don't have much range of motion and I can't put much weight on it, but it feels good to be making progress. Yesterday I went for a swim and it felt great!

I would never be seen in public like this.

Having been in a cast for two months, the hair on my right leg has grown to rather epic proportions. I have lived my entire life in Southern California, so I have never let my legs get hairy. Not in the summer, not in the "winter". NEVER. Because I haven't had a choice in the matter, I'm now tasked with trying to eliminate the hair without going through several razors...or a weed wacker. I also had to wait until all of the dead skin was gone. This puts me in a prime position to conduct an experiment, much as my fifth graders have to do a science fair project every year. 

Hair Removal: Are Depilatory Creams Effective?

Question: Which product will more completely remove the hair on my leg -- Nair or Veet?

Hypothesis: The hair on my leg has gotten very comfortable there, so neither Nair nor Veet will be able to budge the the unwanted squatters. 

Background Research: Both products contain many of the same ingredients, such as water, urea (used to remove rough, scaly skin),  mineral oil, and potassium thioglycolate (an acid used to chemically break down hair fibers). The rest of the ingredients contain aloe or other skin soothing products. This is why both Nair and Veet should be equally effective (or ineffective).

Materials:  One 6.78 oz tube of Veet Fast Acting Gel Cream

                   One 13 oz bottle of Nair Shower Power Max with 

                   removal sponge

                   One washcloth

                   One excessively hairy leg

Veet vs. Nair...Who will be victorious?






Procedure:
1. Apply both products to excessively hairy leg, according to directions on packages.

Applying Nair with the provided sponge.

No such sponge, just putting it on with my hands.

2. Cover both sides of leg equally, keeping track of which side is covered in Nair and which with Veet. 

3. Wait 5 -10 minutes for products to work. Read a book, drink a Cherry Coke Zero while waiting. 

Book, cell phone as stopwatch, Cherry Coke Zero.

4. Test after five minutes.

Nair -- the hair is already coming off.

Veet -- Hair is also ready to come off.

5. Shower. Use sponge to remove hair from Nair side; use washcloth on Veet side. 

(You didn't think I was going to take a picture, did you?)

6. View results. 

Success!

Conclusion:

My hypothesis was wrong. It seems that both Nair and Veet were equally successful at removing unwanted hair from my oh-so-hairy leg. 

Further Comments:

In the future, I plan to stick with Nair. While Veet was effective at removing the hair, the product had a horribly pungent smell that I don't think I'll ever be able to forget. Nair had a scent, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. 

Heading out without hairy legs,

D