5 things your esthetician wants you to know about summer waxing

I was recently chatting with one of our estheticians about leg waxing and how it just isn’t the kind of service that provides the instant gratification clients want and expect.  As is often the case, the topic snowballed into a list of things we wish people knew about summer waxing to make their wax experience better.

1. Often, your first wax, or your first wax in a long time, won’t get you the baby smooth results you are expecting.  Why?  Because of the growth cycles of your hair.  Especially if you have been shaving, your hair is on different growth cycles.  For example, if you regularly shave your legs but grow it out for a few weeks for a leg wax, you’ll still feel stubble from the hairs on a different cycle that were too short to catch in the wax.  It will also seem like hairs are growing back sooner after some waxes because of the hairs that were on a different cycle are growing, not the hairs that were removed.

This has nothing to do with the skill of your esthetician,  and everything to do with how our bodies work.Your best bet for super smooth, hairless skin?  Regular waxing without shaving between visits.  Or letting your hair grow out a long time before waxing.

leg wax

2. Where a woman is in her cycle will affect how much her wax will hurt.  The week before your period many women are the most sensitive.  Often we’ll hear someone say one of our esthetician’s waxing is more painful than one of our other esthetician’s waxing. But then the next guest will say the exact opposite.  In the hands of a skilled esthetician using the same high quality wax and proper techniques, the level of pain variance is likely due to where you were on your cycle, not the esthetician.

Because women who wax regularly typically come in about every 5-6 weeks, they will hit different points of the cycle so back-to-back waxes might feel entirely different due to the variance in pain tolerance, blame mother nature, not your esthetician!

3. If you are planning a body wax and a massage, plan them on different days.  We’re talking leg wax or back wax here…  It seems like a good idea to save time by booking a leg wax right before a massage, or a massage right before a back wax, but saving yourself a second trip isn’t worth the potential discomfort.  Your massage therapist doesn’t want to introduce products and oils into a freshly waxed area and irritate already inflamed skin.

Likewise, your esthetician would prefer not to wax over an area that has just been massaged because it isn’t ideal to wax over skin that has been introduced to oils…plus the sting of the waxing usually takes away from the benefits of the massage!

4. Keep freshly waxed skin clean!  That means not going home and putting on your oldest hockey pads to play a game after a chest wax, not getting a leg wax the night before you plan to spend a day swimming in a lake, and not waxing your brows and lip right before going for a run.  This can introduce bacteria into freshly waxed skin and cause infection and irritation.

On that note, if you come for your wax right after a workout and plan to put on the icky workout clothes you came in, you’re asking for an unpleasant skin reaction.  It is best to have clean skin for your wax and clean, breathable clothes to put on after.  We have had to turn people away for this very reason…we value your safety!

5. Please don’t fib on the wax intake form.  I have heard people say (outside of the spa) that they don’t admit to using medications like Retin A or Accutane because they know they’ll get turned away for a wax.  The risk of omitting important information is that your skin can burn and tear.  Even if you haven’t applied or taken the medication for a few days, this can still happen.  Even if you’ve been fine previously during a wax while using these medications, a burn or tear can happen and can be serious. This is not something your esthetician is willing to risk and it is not fair for you to put them in that position by not disclosing risk factors. Tweezing, shaving, and other hair removal techniques are safer for some people.

browwaxIf you have never had a wax before or have questions, click here for answers to our frequently asked questions.

To book your wax online, click here.

Author: Cassie

Licensed Massage Therapist for 9 years, business owner since 2007.