Hairless wonders: Who knew getting smooth could be so sweet?

Taking notes while Lara Olsha gives me my first ever Brazilian via the sugaring process provides distraction from the pain.

Big breath in, blow out really hard.

I'm not gonna even kid with you. Nothing short of several shots of liquor is going to numb the pain.

		Karen Ducey / P-I
	Sugarist De Ane Price removes hair from a client's legs using a sugar paste at The Sweet Spot in Fremont.

After all, she's pulling hair out of the body -- my body -- below the skin's surface, from the root.

But because the goopy, baseball-size, all-natural mixture -- sugar, lemon and guar gum -- is at room temperature, it doesn't burn. Without using strips, the thick honeylike substance used in sugaring pulls at the hair, but not the skin. Olsha is also molding it and then pulling in the direction the hair grows, so it is less painful than I expected. And she's fast, merciful God. Speed is salvation in these types of things.

I've already crossed over into TMI territory, so I might as well plunge in. Consider yourself warned. I am at The Sweet Spot in Fremont, listening to the soothing sounds of Death Cab for Cutie, lying on my back but propped up on pillows so I can write. I've never taken notes naked from the waist down in front of a stranger.

OK, I'll admit Olsha, 37, is a very cool stranger who wears a Dresden Dolls hoodie T-shirt and puts me at ease in explaining the sugaring process, a hair-removal alternative to waxing and shaving. But she's still a stranger who is suddenly privy to parts of me unknown to even my closest friends.

Why am I doing this again?

Well, just because summer is over doesn't mean giving into temptation and letting your body hair go boho. Seattle has some interesting ways to get rid of hair -- sugaring, lasering, speed waxing -- and at least one wax specialist who serves beer with her treatments.

Besides, aestheticians will tell you hair removal is a year-round activity if your ultimate goal is to have your hair grow back slower and finer. They also say this is the time of year Seattleites often fly to warmer, exotic locales where a hairy back is so not sexy, and where an uneven bikini line is going to be noticed, and not in a good way.

"Seattle has really changed in the last few years," said Karen Jahn, 30, who recently opened her dream, the Wax Bar, after working 10 years at Habitude. "There's really a market just for this (hair removal). ... This time of year, it's vacation time and it's just as busy as the summer with people going out of town."

And fellas, don't think you're exempt.

"Almost three years ago, I was planning a trip to Hawaii with my girlfriend at the time and she didn't want to be seen with the hairy beast at the beach. I had no choice, but to comply," said Richard James, 36, of Seattle. "My back and shoulders needed work. I tried waxing once and I was miserable for days following the experience. My girlfriend heard of The Sweet Spot. I tried it, I wasn't miserable at all and haven't looked like a beast since."

He added: "With all of the maintenance women put themselves through to look good for us guys, I don't think it hurts to do a little extra maintenance to look good for them."

		Karen Ducey / P-I
	The paste pulls hair, not skin.

When I decided to sacrifice my body in pursuit of this story, I chose to have a Brazilian via the sugaring method, underarms done via lasering, and brow, lips and legs done by traditional waxing.

A Brazilian, just so you know, is the removal of hair down there. It's the most popular hair removal service in these businesses. But the degree to which the hair is removed depends entirely on the individual.

Sugaring

"Seattle sees hair removal as seasonal, but if you're looking for lasting results, you need to do this regularly," said Olsha, whose Sweet Spot heralded the arrival of sugaring in Seattle two years ago.

She's been doing the procedure for five years, ever since she learned about it while still a respiratory therapist training to become an aesthetician.

Jill Maurisak, 41, owner of Madison Park's Smooth Sugaring Studio, also changed careers, leaving marketing to become an aesthetician three years ago.

"When it came time for me to be waxed, my skin was too sensitive," she said, "I looked like a plucked chicken, bruised and burned."

Sugaring quickly won her over. And being in business by herself for just over a year, she's won over clients.

"I don't think it's an indulgence. People spend money on their hair," she said, pointing to her head. "Why not on the hair on the rest of your body?"

Looking good does not come cheap. Sugaring at the Sweet Spot ranges from $25 for brows to $75 for a Brazilian, while a sexier back goes for $65. Maurisak's rates at Smooth Sugaring Studio are a little lower.

Maintenance treatments occur about every four weeks.

The main difference between sugaring and traditional waxing is that there's no chance of getting burned by sugaring. The sugar mixture adheres to the hair, but not the skin, so there's also no chance of skin coming off and bleeding. Sugaring uses natural ingredients and some consider it more hygienic, because what is used on you is used only once, whereas waxing can include dipping into a pot that's been used before.

		Karen Ducey / P-I
	Wax Bar owner Karen Jahn gives Debbie Kamran an eyebrow wax. Jahn's Ballard shop is the only place in Seattle with happy-hour waxing specials. Like a brew with that brow wax?

Up until my session with Olsha, I shaved, but never again. No longer will I remove hair at the surface/skin level, not when it comes back the next day (or even the same day). Why do that when a professional -- and you do have to be trained to do this -- can pull it out in all its different growth stages until it becomes consistent? It has been two weeks since my initial sugaring treatment and only now has the hair begun to grow back -- it's bare bliss. At first, the skin was red. This is trauma, after all. Maybe even a few little bumps -- a histamine response. Leave it alone. It will subside. Mine went away overnight.

Lasering

For another option, one that is more costly on the front end, I tried lasers. It appealed to the sci-fi fan in me. Angela Corpus works with ophthalmic plastic surgeon Tim Heffernan, and among the services his office offers is laser hair removal.

It's a medical procedure rather than a spa treatment, so sessions take place at the physician's office. Corpus uses a blowup illustration of the hair and skin to explain her method of hair reduction. In it, intense light pulses go through a crystal and then radio waves go between electrodes on the device.

When she used it to remove the hair from my underarms, she shaved first because, in this method, light has to travel under the skin and down the hair shaft to the root to be effective. Each burst covers an area of about one square inch, so she was done with me in about 10 minutes. It feels like a hot rubber band snapping against the skin each time.

Clients do this procedure five times -- once every three weeks -- to reach hair in its active growth phase, and then that's it. Once in a blue moon some maintenance, but otherwise no more after the initial 15-week period. But you pay upward of $1,000 for it.

"So many more people are fit now, more healthy," Corpus said. "You want to look as good as you feel."

Waxing

With Jahn, at The Wax Bar, I went for more traditional treatments: brows, lips and legs. This minimalist mod establishment sits between Pasta Bella and Tobacco Plus on 15th Avenue Northwest in Ballard, and while there are many waxing options in the city, this is the only one that has a happy hour with reduced prices for brows and lips and a liquor license that lets it serve beer, including my favorite non-beer-tasting beverage, Lindemans Framboise Lambic. Yummy.

Jahn is a pro. She's calm, friendly and informative every step of the way. And she specializes in 15-minute Brazilians.

"I don't know what it would take to shock me," said Jahn, who has also done Brazilians on men. "I'm so comfortable with it, it's like I'm talking to my best friend when I'm with a client."

Jahn's waxing ranges from $12 for "happy hour" brows to $65 for a Brazilian and $40 for backs.

The Wax Bar also stays open until 9 p.m., giving women squeezed for time more options.

The bottom line

I've become a sugaring convert. The ease of sugaring, coupled with the fact that my skin recovered much faster than it had when I waxed turned me around. I also figured the first Brazilian would be the worst in terms of pain. It can only be less painful after that.

The laser also is tempting. The idea of not having to go back after that initial period is appealing, but it's like laser eye surgery. Do you blow the big wad now or continue with lower-cost contacts and glasses indefinitely?

I turned to another fan of sugaring, who gave me her conversion story.

"Friends turned me onto sugaring during a discussion of how painful and awful waxing is," said Sweet Spot client Brooke Young, 32, of Greenwood. "We were discussing whether to go all winter without grooming because waxing is so stressful and not worth it during the winter. But sugaring is actually something I would do year-round because it's so much less painful."

BARE FACTS

SUGARING

From Lara Olsha, The Sweet Spot (473 North 36th St., Suite D, 206-632-3602, sweetspotonline.net):

Do not shave for at least a week before your appointment.

Do not use sugaring if you are on Accutane on Retin-A. Your skin will be too thin and likely will be damaged.

After your first treatment, tweeze sparingly. Try to resist doing anything until your maintenance appointment.

About 48 hours after a treatment, exfoliate the sugared area two to three times a week to prevent ingrown hairs from developing.

Use purified water to remove any lingering stickiness, but expect the area to be red/pink and sensitive for up to 24 hours afterward.

Refrain from sex, swimming and working out for 24 hours after a sugaring session.

WAXING

From Karen Jahn, The Wax Bar (5919 15th Ave. NW, 206-789-2963, thewaxbarseattle.com):

Let your hair grow as much as you can stand it before you come in.

Leave it alone if the hair is already very fine. "Why go there unless you absolutely have to?"

LASERING

From Angela Corpus, office of Dr. Tim Heffernan (3216 NE 45th Place, Suite 212, 206-438-9897):

Shave before you go if you can, but do not pluck or tweeze for at least one month before treatment.

The darker your hair is against light skin, the better lasering works.

Do not do lasering if you're pregnant, on Accutane or have had skin cancer, recent chemical peels, diabetes, bleeding disorders or pigmentation issues.

Possible side effects include blisters and redness of the skin. Do not pick at blisters or they could become infected.

-- Athima Chansanchai