Pain is Beauty: Tria Beauty Review

Pain is beauty, right?

I've always been a believer in the "no pain, no gain" attitude, so I don't hesitate to push myself when I'm running to go just a little faster or a little further, and I'm not afraid to spend some time in front of the mirror torturing myself plucking my eyebrows from time to time. I wear high heels that occasionally result in blistered feet, soak my nails in acetone that eats away at my cuticles when my gel nail polish needs a change, and I've been known to wiggle into movement-restricting Spanx for the sake of a smoother silhouette.

I'm not alone.

I've spent stupid amounts of money on makeup and hair products, body lotions and everything in between. But I'm lazy. I like to sleep in a few extra minutes, so I forsake my perfect hair or nice eye makeup pretty regularly. Sometimes, even on a hot day, I'll wear long dresses to avoid shaving my legs.

I'm not a particularly tall person, but I've got long legs and shaving them can be time consuming so I decided to wax them. That was a bust - spreading hot wax across my hairy legs and then tearing it off was messy and hurt more than I seem to recall labour and childbirth, so I gave that up. Did I mention that there was a lot of hair still hanging around? Then I contemplated a No-No, but the idea of burning my hair off didn't sound very pleasant at all.

So I bought an at-home laser remover by Tria Beauty.

Let me say, the results are fantastic. But holy-effing-Christmas-trees-and-honey it hurts.

It too is a bit time consuming, and I've realized that I made a fatal (not actually) mistake in my using it in the spring/summer. I'm a little too tanned to continue. I also need to cut out a section of time every two weeks to use it, and no way do I have time for that nonsense during the summer! There's sun to soak up and BBQ's to attend, so I've packed it away for a couple of months... knowingly sacrificing all the progress I've made.

If you're thinking about using the Tria, I strongly recommend it. An Advil or two about 30 minutes before your treatment helps with the pain, and the results truly are fantastic. The price tag is worth it too, and the newer models treat a larger area with each time. I'll definitely resume my treatments in the Fall when I have a bit more time.

What's the craziest beauty product you've ever tried? What about a favourite? I'd love to know!

Pink Boy

What's your favourite colour?

Remember being a kid and asking your new friend on the playground, or on a date where the conversation hadn't gotten off to the right start? I've asked the colour question about 4.6 million times in my life, if not more. Mine is yellow. I like it's punchy, in-your-faceness and how it's bright and somehow manages to complement my skintone. I had a bright yellow room all through high school - it looked like a toddler's playroom, and I effing loved it.

Does our favourite colour say anything about us as people? Maybe, maybe not. Do you know what says a lot about us as people? Dictating that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. How silly is that? I like blue and green also, purple and pink besides. My adorable little guy - you may have heard mention of him, oh 9.3 billion times, he loves pink and I love that about him.

"Pink is for girls," my Mom tells him when he excitedly jumps up and down and says "No, Grammie! I want the pink one! The pink one!" His favourite cup to drink out of is pink. When I ask him what his favourite colour is, he almost always tells me that it is pink. "Boys should drink from blue cups or green cups," my Dad will tell him, but if my little F wants the pink cup, you can bet your ass no other cup is going to be up to snuff. He likes the pink train, Rosie, from Thomas and Friends and the case on his iPod Touch (Yes, my toddler has one... there's a reason and I'll explain later). At the end of the day, pink is just a colour and it's as great a colour as yellow, blue or orange if you ask me.

If F tells me he doesn't want to play hockey or soccer when he gets a little older, that's cool. Right now, he really loves cars, trucks, trains and tractors but if he decides he wants to play with dolls or dinosaurs, that's awesome. If he wants to do ballet, be a doctor or go to art school instead of college that's super. He has to be who he is, he has to love the things he loves and explore his interests. So, if my little guy decides that his favourite colour is puke green or sky-blue-pink, that's going to be my new favourite colour, too... It will be his colour.