Close Shave

Kerrie Charrett, 50, prepared her intimate area for a date night, but she never imagined that it would nearly kill her…

- Katie Pearson 

Dipping my toe in the hot bath, I sank into the bubbles and grabbed my razor.

‘Time to neaten up,’ I giggled to myself, reaching for the shaving foam.

I ran the razor around my bikini line, before hopping out of the bath and slathering myself in moisturiser.

It was August 2016, and I was giving myself a quick pamper session before I met my husband Derek, 51, for dinner.

We were celebrating our two-year anniversary and we had planned to go to a lovely fancy restaurant in our hometown of Sydney, Australia.

The pair of us were childhood sweethearts who lost touch and found each other years later.

He was my rock. Our kids – Tiffany, 31, Summer, 25, Demi, 24, and Jayden, 23 – had all moved out by then, but we were a close family.

I scanned my wardrobe for inspiration, choosing a little black dress, before plucking a pair of knickers from my drawer.

As I got dressed, I noticed the skin around my bikini line was quite irritated and some raised red bumps had appeared. Must be a pesky ingrown hair, I thought to myself.

I got them all the time from shaving – they were so annoying.

Sometimes they’d get bigger and turn into spots, and other times they’d go away on their own.

Either way, I didn’t think it would be anything to worry about– they were normal.

After getting dressed, I headed downstairs and saw Derek waiting for me with a bunch of flowers.

‘You look beautiful,’ he said, giving me a kiss. And after a lovely evening of being wined and dined, I forgot all about my pesky ingrown hair.

It was back to reality the next day as I headed into work.

I was a care assistant in homes for the disabled.

It was a challenging job, but I loved what I did.