Axen Jennifer - The Strippers Guide to Looking Great Naked

Illustrations by Barbara McGregor

Who doesnt? As a stripper, Ive spent a lot of time naked and a lot of time thinking about setting naked. I must confess that I have supreme body confidence. How did I get so comfortable? Simple: practice, some great products, and a whole lot of poise.

Over the years, I have worked with many women who are not conventionally attractive. Women who arent in single-digit sizes, women whove had children; hell, Ive worked with women who were eight months pregnant. Ive worked with women who have huge boobs, tiny boobs, uneven boobs, fake boobs, no boobs, one boob. Vou name it, Ive seen it. And what do all these women have in common? Theyre confident, they flirt and flaunt their bodies, and they make an obscene amount of money doing it.

To look good naked, you have to be comfortable naked. Easy for me to say: I grew up in a hippie household where nudity wasnt only accepted, it was encouraged. This upbringing definitely made stepping on stage for the first time easier for me, but its not the only way. You can learn to be comfortable in your body. Face it, people who hide their bodies from others look bad. They move ungracefully; they hunch their shoulders and turn their backs. The first step in looking great naked is to get over yourselfliterally. Stop judging your body and start loving it. Its fun to be naked.

Reality check: If we all thought we looked good naked, we wouldnt spend our money on diet pills, surgery, control-top pantyhose, and Thighmasters. Advertisers depend on our feelings of inadequacy. Its very simplethey tell us were not good enough the way we are because they want our money.

Please understand, I am not necessarily advocating a razorless, deodorant-free lifestyle (unless thats what sexy means to you). I have been stripping for five years, and, believe me, my colleagues and I dont feel like sexpots every time we work. After thousands of hours on stage, weve learned that a little beauty know-how goes a long way. In the dressing room youll see us primping, painting, and doing whatever it takes to bring out our natural shine. Our makeup bags are our tool-kits, and we simply couldnt work without them. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but, over the years, weve learned how to get the attention of those beholders.

The trick is to stop comparing yourself to other people, who are no doubt comparing themselves to you. After all, you are not trying to turn into someone else; you are cultivating your own individual sex appeal. This is where so many women go wrong. They see what works for one sexy woman and think thats what sexy is. Well, her boobs are huge and shes blonde, so if I had big boobs and blonde hair, Id be sexy, too, right? Huge boobs and blonde hair are sexy on some women, sure! Look at Marilyn Monroe. But now look at Kate Moss. If Kate Moss had huge boobs and blonde hair, shed never work again. The stereotypical stripper may be a bleached blonde with breast implants, but Im making a fortune as a brunette with natural breasts.

I am a true believer in what I call the Zen of sex appealbeing at peace with yourself. Getting sexy isnt about becoming a different person. Its about discovering and displaying what already lies inside you. So get out there, do what you have to do to feel sexy, and get to work. And remember, honey, you dont have to look like heryou have to showcase you.

Maybe you have a new beau, maybe youre hosting a coed hot-tub party, or maybe youre ready to debut your goods at that bachelorette party next weekend. Whatever the case, youre preparing to take off your clothes and you need to look goodfast! The Strippers Guide to Looking Great Naked is one-stop shopping for a beautiful body when you dont have time for a personal trainer or a crash diet.

No one knows more about looking great naked than strippers. After all, they spend 90 percent of their time sans clothes, buck naked, unclad, and in their birthday suits. These women are not all built like Britney or stacked like Angelina Jolie, but they do have one thing in common: they bare it all with confidence. So whats their secret? Pilates? Nope. Atkins? Not even. Fen-phen? No way. The key to looking great naked is what you know and how you work it.

To find out just how they do it, we talked to strippers all across the country. We interviewed them in their bathrooms, boudoirs, backstage locker rooms, and wherever we could get the skinny on how to look your best in the buff.

We are not strippers; we are regular women who stumbled onto a goldmine of information. Late one Saturday night, we found ourselves backstage in a San Francisco strip club helping a friend with a documentary film. We soon discovered that the strippers had all kinds of beauty tricks unknown to most women. From how to cover stretch marks to how to create cleavage and elongate legs, we learned dozens of invaluable lessons. It was in this locker room that our book was born.

This book gives you the fast track to the tricks of the trade that you can use yourselfwhether you have five days or five minutes. We designed this book for women of every age, every skin color, and every body type. Month after month, magazines peddle beauty tips for your public areasbut what about your private parts? From beauty and confidence tips to taboo topics, this book coversand uncovers everything you need to know about nude beauty. To hell with being In Styleyoure going to be en fuego!

Everyone wants to look great naked, and a lack of confidence in our bodies can hamper our social lives and hold us back from being our true selves. Most people have a tremendous fear of getting naked in front of others. How many times have you dreamed that you showed up for class or a business meeting buck naked? Thats not a dream; thats a nightmare.

Were passing on to you the naked truths we learned from strippers. Youll find step-by-step instructions and expert tips from the women we interviewed. In addition to straight-up beauty advice, well reveal the essentials of looking great naked, including how to move, how to dress, and how to create the most flattering backdrop to show off the new naked you.

So get up and get ready to get in touch with your inner exhibitionist. By the time were finished with you, youll jump at the next chance to get naked!