Before Your Appointment...
What Is an Appointment Like?
Typically, in an appointment, you would dress down the area you are getting waxed. Your aesthetician will come in, cleanse the area, examine hair length and hair pattern. All of these elements factor in to how best to wax you. Make sure to discuss what your desired outcome is - for instance, clarifying if you actually wanted a Brazilian wax instead of a bikini wax. Then you are ready to wax!
After the wax, your aesthetician will remove any residual wax, apply a warm compress to bring down redness, and will apply appropriate lotion to continue soothing the area. For example, we can use Yonka's Emulsion Pure to wipe off excess wax in order to immediately treat and sooth redness or discomfort.
When Does Waxing Hurt the Most?
Waxing in areas where there is denser, more coarse hair can be more painful than where the follicles are more spread out. For example, waxing your bikini line may be more intense than waxing your eyebrows. If this is your first time you are waxing an area, it can be more painful because you are also dealing with removing the root of the hair. Everyone’s pain threshold is different though, and if you find you are more sensitive to waxing, you have options! Make sure to speak with your aesthetician about how you are feeling so that they can adjust accordingly. If you need to, try taking an ibuprofen at least 30 minutes before your appointment to help reduce any swelling or pain (just make sure it's not aspirin).
What About Numbing Cream? Numbing Cream Sounds Like It Would Be the Best Thing to Help With Pain?
Numbing cream can help to take away the pain. However, we do not advise or provide numbing cream since it only affects the top layers of skin, and would not affect the hair follicles themselves. You also need to be careful about using numbing cream in larger areas, because this can cause the body to absorb toxic levels of the numbing agent. With this in mind, Bellini's does not use any numbing creams for our services.
Post-Waxing Care
After your wax you maybe be a little red, swollen, or bumpy. This is totally normal! Your aesthetician would have applied some post-wax serum like mentioned above, but you can continue to treat any discomfort at home. Having some cool compresses, loose clothing, and some aloe vera or Finipil can really help. Skip putting moisturizers in the area (especially fragranced!), as these can clog the follicles leading to irritation. As mentioned before, Finipil is noncomedogenic and has some antiseptic to keep everything clean. You will also want to avoid any friction in the area, so take a day or two off from the gym or physical exercise.
Remember that waxing is like a form of exfoliation, so your hair follicles will be open and exposed. As such, you don't want to risk getting any sweat or bacteria in there. If you have an allergic reaction, such as a break out, it means that your skin in that area is too sensitive to be waxed. For example, sometimes people can breakout after an eyebrow wax. This means that your aesthetician will only use tweezers for any brow waxing appointments you schedule.
Overall, the benefits of getting waxed far outweigh any trepidation you may have. Consistent waxing appointments will lead to a weakening of your hair follicles, thus making the hair thinner and weaker each time. The result is weeks of smooth skin - free from any razor burns. Whereas you may have to shave every other day to keep your skin smooth, you can still end up with razor bumps, burns, and thicker textured hair. Regular waxing will make your hair grow back thinner and smoother, which will free up hours of tedious shaving!
Why Go to a Professional Instead of Doing It Myself?
It may be tempting to wax or tweeze at home with all the popular kits. Aestheticians go through months of training on the proper removal of hair and proper sanitation, and have years of experience properly shaping hair (like eyebrows!) to each person. Waxing at home, you may not be thinking of cross contamination and or have all the proper gear. When you get a professional wax, they can remove the hair at the proper angles to avoid breakage and irritation. They have a clean prepared area for you to come into, and will set you up with right care for between waxes. Proper application of wax is also a big part of having a successful removal, and, when we are waxing ourselves or not trained on it, you can have a much more painful experience. It can also take longer when doing it ourselves, and who wants to draw out that pain? Leave the waxing to your aestheticians so they can get you in and out with as little fuss as possible.
Now you have the tools to get waxed! Book an appointment online, or call us directly at (503) 226-1526. See you soon!
This post was written by Jillian Conover, Aesthetician
