Is there such thing as a pain-free wax?

Summer is over, which means the waxing peak season is coming to a close. However, the pulling on of tights and winter coats doesn’t put women off. The salons will still be full of appointments for waxes well into the new year. But for a realtively painful procedure, why is it so popular?

Possibly because there are some little known tricks to reducing the pain factor on this type of hair removal – but you’ll know this if you’re a seasoned pro.

Here are some hacks to get you through your next session (thanks to the good folk of Popsugar):

1. Plan to wax after your period. Your pain threshold is higher in the week after your period than beforehand. Think of it like this: if sappy commercials make you cry when you’re premenstrual, having wax applied to your delicate bits certainly will.
2. Lose your self-consciousness. Yes, a stranger is going to see you wearing, at most, a paper thong. Don’t worry about offending her or feeling embarrassed. It’s nothing she hasn’t seen before. The less anxious you are, the less you’ll worry about pain.
3. Start off slowly. Your first bikini wax is not the time to try a Brazilian. If you’re new to waxing, go with a basic bikini wax. If you want to remove more, there’s always next time.
4. The day before you decide to wax, exfoliate in the shower. This will remove dead skin, allowing the wax to grip shorter hairs.
5. Speak up. A good esthetician will work with you to make sure you’re as comfortable as you can be. Don’t be too shy to say something if you have a low pain tolerance — it’s better to speak up than to suffer in silence.
6. Use hard wax. Hard wax is gentler than soft wax, so visit a spa that uses it.
7. Take an over-the-counter pain reliever. About an hour before your appointment, take a nurofen or other pain reliever. Ibuprofen is also an anti-inflammatory, so it will help with any temporary swelling following the apppointment.
8. It can be tempting to hold your breath, but breathing in and out helps reduce the pain. Take a deep breath in when the wax goes on, then breathe out when your esthetician gives it a yank.
9. Know which parts are most sensitive. You wouldn’t expect it, but having hair pulled from the lower abdomen area is more painful than it is around the labia.
10. Turn your head and cough. An esthetician at Bliss taught us this trick: when the wax is about to be ripped off, cough. Sounds weird, but it distracts from the pain.

And if your bits need a bit of TLC, we recommend the wonderful powers of Guinot Epil Fresh – After Hair Removal Soothing Treatment 200ml

Its soothing, purifying active ingredients make it the perfect post-hair removal product for estheticians.

Benefits:

– Cools and calms the skin.

– Eases irritations.

– Removes wax residue.

– Leaves skin softer and silkier.

Contains:

• Alpha Bisabolol, a powerful active extracted from Chamomile, soothes and reduces redness and irritation.
• The combination of different esters easily dissolves wax residue for instantly soft, fresh skin.
• The anti-microbial properties cleanse, purify, and refresh the area where Epil Fresh is applied.
• Use along with Serum Epil Confort for its anti-hair regrowth properties.