Rant & Rave: Bikini Waxes
This Week’s Topic: BIKINI WAXES!
Your Mission: Tell us what you love, hate, or are otherwise indifferent to about bikini waxes. What drives you bananas? What makes them necessary?
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The initial awkwardness which last the first few seconds. All in all I just love them. The smoothness and the fact that I wont have to do anything with that area for weeks is just pure win.
The fact that I do it myself as I’m too embarrased to go to a salon. I know they ‘see it all’, but gawd .. I’m way, way too embarrased.
I’ve never had a bikini wax and I probably never will. It just doesn’t matter to me enough to pay for. I shave.
The cost is a con for me; they’re pretty pricey where I live. Also, definately the awkwardness of having someone else working “there” I mainly do it for vacations so that the area is nice and smooth, and I don’t have to spend extra time in the shower shaving.
I wouldn’t dream of doing a wax myself.. it’s so much easier to have it done. After you meet your aesthetician for the first time, you get over any awkwardness. The worst experience was being burned umm…down there.. by a new lady in a new place when I had moved. I needed a quick wax before a trip and ended up looking in the phonebook.. never again! Word of mouth only from a local friend!!!! After that I found a small reputable spa. I love the longevity of the results and no razor bumps and red rashes afterwards that I used to get from shaving. I have almost black body hair and plenty of it. Waxing has been a blessing!
I do my own Brazillian using sugar wax, but I’d like to get it done professionally at some point (read: when I can afford it). I love the smooth feeling after a wax, as opposed to the stubble from shaving, and not to mention the pain of ingrown hairs! Waxing lasts longer, too, and the hair comes out soft instead of prickly.
I’ve never had one, but I kinda want to. I hate shaving and it’s always horribly uncomfortable the day after.
Except for the pain, I’m happy to go and be hairless free for a month or so! My skin is sooooo sensitive and shaving down their is a nightmare and a nono. I can’t deal with the ingrown hair. Also, I use Aveda smoothing body scrub as and exfoliator afterwards and LOVE it. My fav beauty product EVER. If i could only bring 1 thing on an island, that would be it.
Do them myself. A jar of hard wax costs twelve dollars and lasts me… Well, I don’t know how long it lasts, it’s been three years and I’m still on the first jar.
It’s not an issue of cost, nor is it the awkwardness of someone working “down there” that I object to; it is the sheer torture of pain I do not wish to experience. Shaving works just fine for me, and as long as I do it regularly, I don’t spend more than an extra minute in the shower, and I don’t get as many razor bumps or in grown hairs, as long as I regularly exfoliate.
Everything about it – pain, expense, regrowth discomfort, ingrowns. I hate the modern expectation that hair has to be removed.
i used to love it and do it myself but since 3 or 4 years ago i started to get ingrowing hairs in my legs. had to stop using wax because it made everything worse, i got zits, pus, small wounds and scars and i felt like scratching all the time – i even stoped wearing skirts and shorts because i was ashamed. oh and also i was always in pain if i got the chills!! if i ended up being alergic i dont know, cus i have been using wax for at least 10 years. anyway, now i only use razors and have started with definitive laser. im so much better now !!
Okay, I might be the only person that feels this way on a beauty blog, but here goes… As a teenage girl, I think it’s really sad that our generation has been influenced by “porn culture” so much that 12, 13 year old girls are expected to be waxing/shaving their bikini area. If you’re a grown woman and it makes you feel beautiful and happy, that’s awesome, go for it! But the pressure for someone that young to be worrying about this is unacceptable, especially when this was not at all common not long ago at all. I guess I’ve just witnessed so many young, young girls being bullied, bullying others about this, that it’s really turned me off about the whole thing. 🙁
@CiaraAinsleyFears 12 yr old girls? The bikini area?? And they’re actually bullied over this??!?!! That’s horrible. I’m completely at a loss for words and can only say: Good for you for being so mature and wise!!
@CiaraAinsleyFears I feel the same way about female hair removal in general. If a woman prefers to be plucked, shaved, and smooth, that’s her prerogative, but the gender-policing directed at woman who don’t is absolutely infuriating. As far as I’m concerned, the only outside individual who has any right to input on the issue is *maybe* a woman’s significant other, but even that has limitations.
@CiaraAinsleyFears i’m really skeptical about young girls getting bullied about not shaving/waxing. how would they know unless you told them?!i’m in college and while some people may have a preference, most guys don’t care because they’re just happy to see a vagina in the first place.
i think you’re exaggerating about the impact of “porn culture” (most guys i know think women in porn are really gross-looking and fake anyway, which is another issue entirely), but even if it is some teenage bullying thing, once you get older nobody will care.
It really is true. I have not experienced active bullying, although girls in my class in 7th grade, well let’s just say they had a vicious look. And when the popular guy-magnets make you feel like a neanderthal, you’ll shave. I think I was born just in the right time to avoid the wax-pressure, but I really don’t see any difference. It’s still about changing into what you are not, or have not.
Mom always told me that she thought people without hair looked like 13 and that that “must be a turnoff”, so I stuck with that but after a while, the “outer” hair had to go.
I really do believe porn has got a lot to do with this. More than we know. My boyfriend and I met 3+ years ago and at first he wanted all hair gone, pretty much. I did it once or time but all I could hear was my mom’s words about that 13-yearold and I was like “screw it!” and he’s totally fine with that. He doesn’t even care anymore haha. But I think many do in the beginning of a relationship. Maybe the guys (or girls) want to see what it feels like, just since they seem to have it so “great” in pornos, and that’s generates real pressure for our 17-18-19-20-21 yearold selves.
Today I don’t have any problem with it. But it’s MY choice now, and I pretty much only do something about the bush in the summertime, cause I wanna look pretty ^^
@hope I’m actually 14 with 2 little sisters that age… at my middle school this was a very major thing. I know because people would talk about these girls on Facebook, in the halls, etc. Again, if you’re a grown woman, and it makes you happy, do it! But no one should pressure anyone else to.
Granted, I’m from an older generation, but I remember the term being tossed around when I was 17-18 years old in high school. By the time I hit my twenties (I’m 25, for the record), a substantial number of the women I knew expressed surprise when I mentioned never having/wanting one, so it’s not too far of a stretch for me to believe it’s been filtered into the teenage generation.
I don’t know if porn culture specifically is the whole of the issue, but it’s certainly part of it. In the past decade there has been a massive amount of hypersexualization injected into female media culture, and it’s getting aimed at younger and younger audiences. Somewhere along the line, pop culture managed to twist around the message of women being what they wanted into another directive about what they should be. It’s the same garbage women have always put up with, just couched in different terms and aims.
@CiaraAinsleyFears I actually had another girl make a rude comment back in middle school, but as it was some 25 years ago, I don’t remember exactly what was said. I only remember her saying something across the room about my not shaving “down there” in an attempt to embarass me in front of everyone; I simply asked her why she was so interested in where I shaved, and how hard (and why) she was even looking, as back then I wore fairly full coveage panties. She was absolutely dumbstruck, and nothing was ever said after that. For the record, I did shave my bikini line on an as needed basis at the time, but I felt no need to do it to impress a bunch of 14 year old girls in the locker room. Of course, a few years ago, I learned her dad left her mom and is involved in the porn industry; it makes you wonde what she was exposed to back then…
I have super sensitive skin – shaving is a huge irritation for me and always produces in-growns (no matter how much or little exfoliation, prepping, moisturizing, directional shaving and so forth.) Regular waxing is painful for days and often leaves me with a rash. “Hard” (100% beeswax) is amazing – very little pain during, none after, no in-growns, no rash. My only problem now is finding good, clean salons that do hard wax in my area – I’ve known too many DIYers that had horrible waxing accidents to do it myself at home. I haven’t been brave enough to try sugaring.I like how a bikini line clean-up makes all of my clothes just more comfortable. I don’t think anyone should feel obligated, though, even if they are going to be out on the beach. I dislike the sexualization in media of the bikini/brazillian wax and pubic hair in general.
i do it regularly, sometimes myself and sometimes I get it done professionally. Now that I’m almost 7 months pregnant it’s getting hard to do it myself so definitely going to a pro is my thing
Never done it, and I’m not sure I want to, either! Seems like the pain would be just horrible.
Never had one, not entirely sure if I’d go for one, either. My skin reacts badly enough to too-frequent shaving, I’d be concerned to see what waxing would do to it. I can understand the benefit from them, but I also don’t think they’re as necessary as pop culture likes to pretend they are.
Yep, it is so sad that it is like taboo to have hair down there or on the pits when every human being has it and it is natural. Contrary to what I just said, I feel pressured to do a bit of grooming. I do it myself, so I don’t get complicated, only the sides and top. If I can’t reach it, it is staying. Basically, i just don’t hair sticking outside the border of my underwear.
It wasn’t that awkward for me, I did it for the first time because I was going on holidays and I planning to wear a bikini. It felt more clean but the regrowth stung a little bit. The wax itself hurt only a bit but the major downside is the price. Average in Sydney is AUD$29 – $35
I think I’d like to try it at some point, but the cost and potential embarrassment is a bit off putting. Also shaving doesn’t cause me any problems so I’m happy with that being my method of choice.
As for hair removal as a topic I think it’s a bit like shaving your legs: when women wore long skirts there was no need to, but as soon as hemlines rose leg hair became ‘yuk’. I don’t think the bikini waxing issue is solely the result of the porn industry I think it just comes down to the fact that swimsuits became more revealing. Travel overseas in the mid 20th century and on might also have played a part, in a lot of Middle Eastern and Asian cultures hair removal has always been the norm. Makeup wearing has gone through similar cycles of being scandalous, then acceptable, then normal and even expected.
I had my first wax before my wedding (hot, regular wax). I figured that if there was ever a time to do it, it was then! It’s been almost 2 years since then; about 3 months ago I made a commitment to start going regularly ( twice so far). I hate shaving; having a wax and not having to worry about it for awhile is awesome. I go to an ethestician (sp?) who has her own business. She uses the ‘hard’ wax and so far, it’s been an awesome experience. Maybe off topic, but I’ve tried ‘hard’ wax for my eyebrow wax and I do not like that. I prefer ‘traditional’ hot wax for my eyebrows.
I would never do it! I’m a queer girl so maybe that’s why, but really, I just wouldn’t do it because to me it’s not worth the pain. I’m all natural and always will be, and I like it because, I don’t know, I feel more womanly. But like you said about perfumes above, it’s such a personal thing. I totally support other women’s choice to do it! It just wouldn’t be my choice.
I tried it for a period of time and stopped going with the price went up. Now I do it on myself in the summer before going on vacation, but other than that I just shave.
I wish I had the money to have it lasered off though. Not all, just the sides and bottom
I did it once. I went to a professional spa and everything. I was left with bloody red dots, a ton of irritation, and then an ingrown hair that I had to have lanced by a doctor. Never again. Now I use one of the little electric razors for delicate areas and it works fine.
I haven’t ever been waxed “down there,” but I have an appointment for my first brazilian on friday! I’m actually pretty excited about it. I have a pool party and a trip to the beach in the next couple weeks, so I’ll be glad to not have to worry about anything sticking out of my bathing suit (yuck!). I’m not really worried about the pain though; I’ve always kind of liked the feeling of getting my eyebrows waxed.
I got regularly, about every four to five weeks. Ever since I started getting it done (about a year ago), I haven’t stopped! I definitely prefer waxing to any other method!
I hate body hair in general (on men and women, honestly) so I get everything waxed that I possibly can (I also hate shaving). But I didn’t do my first brazillian until about a month ago. It didn’t hurt too much, honestly; no worse than my shins or my upper lip/eyebrows, and when I saw/felt the results I was like “I’m never letting this grow back again”. So I’ll be keeping this up regularly. I just feel cleaner without any hair down there, or under my arms, or on my legs, or my face….ideally I’d have no hair below my neck, and only eyebrows and regular hair on my head.
@blueraccoon I am totally with you there….less hair DOES equal cleaner!!!
I’m Brazilian and make bikini wax is almost a requirement. And it is customary to Brazilian waxing at least once a month. We believe it is more hygienic, beautiful and sexy. We can not stay with a “forest” between the legs. kkkkkk!!
I’m Brazilian and make bikini wax is almost a requirement. And it is customary to Brazilian waxing at least once a month. We believe it is more hygienic, beautiful and sexy. We can not stay with a “forest” between the legs. kkkkkk!!