Auntie Nangy

My hairy problem
Dear Auntie Nangy,
I'm 19 and my body is just covered in hair! I cannot even take my shirt off in front of friends of my age, because I'm shy. Is there anything I can do or use to remove the hair permanently? I like my body but the hair makes me uncomfortable.

There are several options that you can choose from, like shaving, although the hair tends to grow back quickly. You can use a depilatory product that temporarily removes hair by chemically dissolving it. You can get one of several of these products from a pharmacy, but be very careful to follow the instructions as they can cause an allergic reaction. You can also consider waxing every four to six weeks, where you apply hot or cold wax to the areas and then peel it off. Because the hair is removed at the roots this will actually result in hair getting thinner and less with time, but this process hurts a lot. You can get all kinds of wax from any pharmacy. You can also get professional laser or electrolysis treatment, but these treatments are very expensive and you may need several of them, depending on the amount of hair that needs to be removed. Of course the cheapest and most long term solution is to make peace with every aspect of your body, hair included, and you will see that is not important to the type of person that you are.

She wants me circumcised
Dear Auntie Nangy,
I'm a 20-year-old guy and I'm in love with a Herero girl. She's always telling me that she hates a guy that still has the skin that covers the penis. Luckily she hasn't seen mine yet but I have it. What can I do about it at my age? I love her and I don't want to lose her.

If it is really that important to her and she is really that important to you then it seems to me there is only one choice, lose the skin or lose the girl. You can have yourself circumcised (the removal of the foreskin), but you should consider this procedure very carefully as there are other aspects. Besides the pain and normal risks involved with a surgical procedure such as this, circumcision results in a desensitisation of the glans (head of the penis) and also reduces the lubrication normally produced by the complex and specialised tissue of the foreskin. This may result in you having to use synthetic lubricants to facilitate intercourse or masturbation. There are advantages to circumcision like the aesthetical effect and research has shown that circumcision lowers the risk of contracting certain kinds of cancer and even HIV/Aids.