Dealing with veins, hair, cellulite before a beach day

Veins, hair and cellulite: Three beauty issues that have many women heading for cover rather than heading for the beach. Today there are a multitude of options to help you bare beach beautiful legs, but if your plans are to head out this weekend, your options may be limited.

Veins

Traditionally, spider and benign veins of the legs are treated with sclerotherapy. This injection treatment irritates the vessel walls, literally obliterating them. Laser treatment is another option if you're needle shy, but this solution is best for spider veins. While both treatments are permanent, there are a few time considerations: With sclerotherapy you may be in compression hose or leg wraps for a few days to a week after treatment. Both treatments may result in skin discoloration from bruising that lasts a few days to hemostasis (iron stains from blood in the skin) that takes weeks to resolve, and can worsen with sun exposure. Either treatment may also require more than one treatment to clear veins and three to four weeks is the recommended time frame between treatments.

If you don't have three to four weeks for a permanent solution, a quick fix to camouflage veins is self-tanning or a bronzer. Waterproof, rub-proof, sweat proof camouflage cosmetics like Jane Iredale mineral make-up are a quick fix.

Excess hair

The only hairy legs that look cute on the beach are the canine variety. And stubble or razor burn on the legs or bikini area is downright unattractive. Laser hair removal performed in your dermatologist or plastic surgeon's office is a great long-term solution, but it requires several treatments, several weeks apart to result in total clearing. After treatment, skin may be sensitive and red, and you'll need to wait several days before heading out to the beach. If you're got any color at all from the beach or a bottle laser or IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatment to remove hair can be dangerous as tanned skin is more susceptible to burns. All this translates to one thing: planning.

If you don't have the time to plan ahead, but still want fuzz-free, bump-free legs, consider waxing. Preventing bumps and irritation requires exfoliating well before waxing, and applying soothing, healing skincare rich in antioxidants like green tea and vitamin E after treatment. At home, try Lancome's Resurface Microdermabrasion Body Cream ($46; Nordstrom.com) and Bobbi Brown's Beach Body Oil ($28; gloss.com) for silky, sexy scented legs after waxing. A new post-waxing treatment from Europe called Epilar (epilar.net) is also premiering this summer, offering a reduction in hair regrowth and slower regrowth with the application two-step gel application after waxing.

Cellulite

Laser treatments like Velasmooth and TriActive promise some improvement from cellulite with the combination of dermal heating and massage in treatments cycles that may require as many as 6 to 12 treatments two to three weeks apart. But if time is of the essence and you need an instant fix, a cute sarong or mini can cover the problem zones and make a fashion statement with matching string bikini top.