Do not scream. Do not scream. Those words are running through my head when Miss Queen Chng, 23, therapist at Strip in Mandarin Gallery, applies the warm wax on my soon-to-be fuzz-free legs.

'Some men scream,' she says, when I ask her for funny customer stories in a bid to keep the rising panic under control. It is as if she has read my thoughts and wants to hush me pre-emptively. It works.

She lays the first cloth strip on the cooling wax on my shin and with a yank, the first step to freedom from fur is taken. I used to moan about my genetic inability to develop a manly carpet, but no more. Less hair means less pain during waxing. There is a sting, but it is tolerable.

And as the 15-minute removal session for both legs progresses, that sting recedes to almost nothing. Legs done, on to the fingers. The joint�above the knuckle can be hairy for some, but I have a light, downy layer. Or rather, had one. It vanishes, pain-free.

As I walk away from the salon, for the first time, the rough texture of the inside of my jeans becomes known to me. Suddenly, I feel vulnerable, like a frontiersman without his beaver hat and fur coat.

Later that night, I go on a bicycle ride. It is hard for me to gauge the speed. It might have something to do with how there is a need to subconsciously feel wind blowing across the leg hair, so as to feel a sensation of motion. In my mind's eye, my ex-strands wave gently, like sea anemones in the ocean current.

There is research to show that body hair evolved because it serves as sensory antennae. Like a force field around the body, the nerves at the root of each hair strand can sense the landing of a mosquito or other parasite, or in my case, act as a speedometer.

The following night, I go for a swim at the pool. It may have all been in my mind, but I slip through the water faster, now that my lower half is as smooth as a dolphin's flank.

Getting my legs de-fuzzed has not been a life-changing experience, perhaps because on my body, the transition from hair to bare is not a great leap. A sharper contrast could be felt with a - gulp - boyzilian.

Not yet though. The garden might be overgrown, but it is another thing altogether to turn it into a parking lot.

John Lui

This article was first published in The Sunday Times.