Bikini waxing – let alone a Brazilian wax – is a daunting and often painful experience.
These days, most women in their early 20s are sometimes, or almost always, bare down there. The question though: is bikini waxing safe? We break down the bikini wax for you, in all its variations, so you can better understand the risks involved and how to avoid an unpleasant experience.
What Kind of Wax Are You In For?
When you attempt to go bare down there, first you must decide exactly how much hair you want to get rid of. A full Brazilian wax requires you be naked from the waste down and will leave you hairless from the belly button to every nook and cranny of your pubic area, often including the buttocks. A Brazilian wax is also commonly called the “Sphynx”, bare wax or Hollywood wax.
A natural wax only removes hair that would be visible in a swimsuit.
A regular bikini wax removes hair along the outer lines of your bikini bottoms and doesn’t require you remove your underwear while being waxed.
What Will Happen?
During a bikini wax, an aesthetician will spread hot wax over the target area, lay a cloth atop the wax, pat it slightly so it sticks, then rip it out quickly to remove hair by its root. It will hurt, but the more you get used to it, the more you can deal with the pain. It’s also a cleaner hair removal technique than shaving and it lasts longer.
How To Prep
Getting waxed hurts, so it’s best to prepare for your next bikini wax session with this in mind – anything that will aggravate the pain should be avoided. For example, the pubic area is generally more sensitive a week before and the week of your period. The pain may be felt more acutely during this time. If you went commando in the sun and feel slight discomfort in your nether regions, a bikini wax will hurt way more than it already does. It is also helpful to trim your public hairs so that the rip of the waxing strip is more effective and efficient – longer hairs can mess with the distribution of the wax and cause a less direct hair removal situation.
Schedule your appointment in the morning, after a shower. Later in the day, sweat and oil build up on the skin and create more discomfort. Before you head out to your appointment (or plan to wax yourself at home), exfoliate and condition your pubic hairs – the softer the hair follicles, the easier hair will release.
Is It Safe?
If you avoid doing anything that would cause further irritation to the skin before waxing (see above), bikini waxing can be safe. However, there are other risks involved, after the fact. A French study found that a link between pubic hair removal and a higher risk of sexually transmitted Molluscum contagiosum, a skin virus that causes raised bumps or growths. With 60 percent of American women between 18 and 24 years old sometimes or always free of pubic hair, this is a risk most women at some time or another take. Any damage caused to the skin while waxing pulls the hairs from their roots, can open you up to infection. Bacteria can enter even the tiniest of lesions, often in the form of torn roots. Additionally, waxing can cause burns from wax that is applied while it is too hot as well as infected ingrown hairs and scarring.
To avoid such a fate, especially down there, make your next bikini or Brazilian wax appointment somewhere you trust that has high sanitary and customer service standards. Ask your aesthetician what precautions she takes to prevent infection and discomfort. That way, you can have the best experience possible and attain the results you desire.
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Photo Credit: All Kinds of New