How to Understand Waxing

By eHow Fashion, Style & Personal Care Editor

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Waxing is a great way to temporarily remove unwanted hair. Although it can be done at home, most hot waxing is performed in professional salons.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Towels
Body Lotion
Body Wax
Facial Wax
Oil-free Moisturizers

Step1

Know that waxing consists of applying a warm melted wax, oil and rosin mixture over unwanted hairs. The wax is applied with a spatula over your unwanted hairs, and a strip of muslin is pressed on top of the melted wax and pulled off.

Step2

Understand that waxing must be done every six weeks.

Step3

Be sure that the unwanted hairs have grown ¼ to ½ inch above the skin, otherwise the hair is not long enough to become embedded in the wax.

Step4

Expect to have some redness and soreness at the waxing site for 2 hours.

Step5

Realize that waxing can be painful, and the application of over-the-counter topical steroids shortly before or after the procedure may help the sting and irritation.

Tips & Warnings

It is possible to "cold" wax, although it is not as effective. Cold wax comes with an adhesive strip running the length of the wax application, and is recommended for home application.
Average cost for hot wax session for bikini areas run from $8 to $25 dollars depending on the salon.
Waxing can be used for mustaches, chins, eyebrows, legs, arms and bikini lines.
You can be severely burned if wax is applied when still too hot.
If you use Retin-A, be sure to stop it three to four weeks before your waxing treatment. Otherwise you might be left with brown spots on your waxed skin.

Comments

Anonymous said

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on 8/8/2006 When I get my eyebrows waxed, the lady always puts Visine on my skin afterward. It relieves the redness and is soothing. I know a lot of salons don't use it, or may not even know of this trick. Try it, it works.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Sugar-based wax is much easier to clean up after than rosin, requiring only water as a solvent. In addition, if (contrary to the instructions) it is used unheated rather than being warmed up, it is stiffer and therefore grips the hairs more effectively, and smaller quantities of the wax will be needed. Sugar waxing is not very effective on damp skin or greasy hair, so avoid doing it immediately after a bath or if you are perspiring. A moderately large hand mirror (usually obtainable cheaply at a dollar store or similar) will be needed to help ensure effective hair removal in the bikini area.

Before the stripping begins, use scissors to trim the hairs to be waxed to a length of circa 1/4 or 1/2 cm. This enables the cotton strip to be pulled more uniformly across the skin, causing less pain. In addition, it means that less sugar wax will be needed to cover the hairs. Apply the cold sugar wax thinly and slowly with a spatula in the direction of the hair growth, no more than about three or four inches at a time on flat areas of the body that are to be de-haired, and no more than about two inches on curved areas. Restricting the size of each treatment area helps to ensure that all the waxed hairs will be grabbed by the cotton strip during the stripping movement. Also, avoid getting the wax on any external hemorrhoids (varicose veins on the anus), as they may start bleeding if they are wax stripped. Smooth down a cotton strip on the wax-covered area in the direction of the hair growth, leaving enough of the strip free at the far end to enable you to grasp it firmly between thumb and fingers before you snap it sharply back against the direction of the hair growth. Paradoxically, the quicker the action, the less painful it is. Before you make the movement, make sure you are not at risk of banging your elbow into an adjacent wall or furniture.

Do not wax strip the same area of skin more than twice during the same session, as you are removing a thin layer of skin cells each time, and excessive stripping can in effect graze your skin. Any hairs remaining should be removed individually with tweezers; otherwise, wait two or three days before any subsequent wax stripping in order to allow the skin to recover. At the end of the session, immediately after you have thoroughly rinsed off any sugar residue, it is a good idea to dab some disinfectant (preferably non-stinging, hence non-alcohol-based) on the stripped areas before optionally applying any soothing ointments. This will help to prevent zit-forming bacteria from establishing themselves in the damaged hair follicles and causing local inflammation.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 I think I read this somewhere but anyway, I read that some professional waxers dust a minimal-moderate amount of talcum (baby) powder over the wax prior to waxing. It does minimize the sting involved but by no means does it totally get rid of the pain.

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