Afraid Of Waxing? Don't Be!

When I was driving to the supermarket to get groceries the other day, I heard a horrifying commercial in which a voice actress was detailing an experience she supposedly had when having her upper lip waxed. She claimed to have strolled into a full-service salon to rid her upper lip of a few dark hairs to prepare for a Christmas party--and ended up having to take Christmas photos with large red blisters on her face.

Now, you should know that the ad was for laser hair removal, which is a great way to semi-permanently or permanently prevent re-growth of unwanted hair. But with marketing like that, it is no wonder that so many men and women alike are terrified of waxing. If that sounds like you, then let me--someone who has her eyebrows waxed regularly--give you the real lowdown on waxing as a way to remove unwanted hair.

Let me deal with the big question first: does waxing hurt? Well, it depends upon the area being waxed, how much hair is removed, and how sensitive you are to pain. The wax is warm--NOT hot, and especially not hot enough to give you blisters, and the sensation of the warm wax is actually relaxing for me. If for some reason it is too hot, alert the esthetician, and s/he will gently scrape away the wax and wait for it to cool off before re-applying.

The removal is what hurts for some people, but if you go through the same procedure often, your sensitivity will most likely decrease each time.

As you probably already know, removal via waxing lasts longer than shaving or even tweezing, so even if you find the experience semi-uncomfortable, the length of time between appointments makes it a worthwhile endeavor.

What's more, if you suffer from frequent in-grown hairs--which are certainly more painful and troublesome than waxing--you can rest assured that you will not face so much irritation when you have the affected area waxed, as the process removes each hair from the root, preventing the infection that results from the hair burrowing into the skin. Ongoing problems with ingrown hairs motivated me to begin waxing my bikini line, and now I feel so much more confident in a bathing suit.

Many guys have the mistaken notion that waxing is exclusively for women, and that they will somehow be emasculated if they ever step into an establishment that specializes in this type of hair removal, but the truth is, many women I know wish their boyfriends or husbands would get rid of that uni-brow or get rid of the stray hairs growing on their backs. Believe me, women won't be turned off if you go through with it. Quite the contrary, actually.