Home waxing: everything you need to know

Removing unwanted hair from a woman’s body is often done with a razor. However, regular shaving is ineffective – hair begins to appear within a day, and irritation often remains on the skin. A great alternative to a razor is waxing. Hair removal with wax at home is quite simple, and the effect will last for several weeks if you pay attention to all the details of the procedure.

“What is waxing”

How to prepare yourself for waxing

Waxing is effective way for removing unwanted hair from the body. It’s not just cuts part of the hair, as razor does, but pulls out the hair with follicle. Because of this, smooth skin effect lasts up to 3-4 weeks.

Waxing at home is easy , you don’t have to take additional courses to learn how to do it.

Before waxing, you need to prepare your skin for it:

1. A day before waxing at home, use a scrub to remove dead skin cells. This will make hair follicles more accessible for removal, which will reduce pain during the session.
2. If you have a low pain threshold, think of numbing the treated area. To do this, apply an anesthetic gel / cream on it an hour prior to the procedure or take tablets of analgesics 15-20 minutes before waxing.
3. Take a hot bath or shower. Exposure to steam on the skin makes pores expand, which allows comfortable hair removal and reducing discomfort during the session.
4. Wipe your skin dry. It is recommended to use paper towels for this.
5. Powder the treatment area with talcum powder. This will increase the contact of the wax with the skin, which will prevent inaccurate ripping and tissue damage.

It is recommended to do a procedure after menstrual periods. During this period woman’s pain threshold rises up, which means the procedure will be more comfortable for her.

IMPORTANT! The minimum hair length for the procedure must be 4-5 mm. Therefore, before waxing at home, give up all hair removal methods for 2 weeks.

What type of waxing to choose

Before using wax for depilation, choose a method of hair removal. Depending on the technique of applying and removing the composition, there are three types of depilation: hot, warm, and cold.

With the correct performance of any type, you will in any case get smooth, delicate skin, but not all options are comfortable when performing them at home.

Hot wax hair removal

The classic version of waxing is used by cosmetologists. It implies preliminary heating of the composition to 50-60 degrees. This should be done in a special wax heater, which will maintain a comfortable wax temperature throughout the entire procedure.

The heated wax is applied in a thin layer to the skin, and then, when it hardens after 15-20 seconds, it is easily separated from the skin with a single tape, capturing the hairs.

Due to the heating of the skin, there is practically no discomfort during the procedure. However, keep in mind that the method promotes vasodilation, so it cannot be used by people who have venous diseases.

Hair removal with warm wax

Often, warm wax hair removal at home is performed by using a bandage method. Every girl can perform it, even if she is doing the procedure for the first time.

The finished wax is heated in a water bath or a microwave oven to a temperature of 45-50 degrees and then applied with a spatula towards the hair growth. Without waiting for the composition to harden, a special clean paper strip is applied to it, carefully smoothed, and after 5-7 seconds rips off in the opposite direction.

Depilation with cold wax

Girls often use this method at home, as it does not require the purchase of additional equipment, cartridges, or expensive compositions.

The finished wax strips are first warmed up by gentle rub between the palms and then opened. With the sticky side, the strips are attached to the girl’s skin, carefully smoothed out for 10-15 seconds, and abruptly torn off.

When performing cold wax depilation, it is important to tear off the strips quickly to avoid skin tearing, which can leave a bruise or hematoma.

This method is the most painful, therefore it is recommended to use a local anesthetic beforehand.

How to choose a wax heater for home use

Wax heater is a convenient device that greatly facilitates the procedure for hair removal with wax at home. It not only warms up the composition to the desired, comfortable temperature of 50-60 degrees but also maintains the temperature in the right state during the entire session.

Since the wax heater always has a thermostat, it will help to avoid overheating of the wax, which often turns into burns and bruises on the girl’s body.

There are three main types of wax melters:

• Canned. The device is a small deep container that connects to an outlet and allows you to immediately heat up to 800 ml of wax. The purchase of a canned wax heater will be justified if the procedure is carried out often and on large areas, otherwise, you will have to constantly wash the container from the remains of the previous wax and heat up too much of it;
• Cartridge. Often used at home because they heat a small amount of wax for the procedure. They work on wax cassettes. The device has several attachments that allow you to apply the composition to the skin in a thin layer;
• Combined. A device that can be used both for small local depilations and for large-scale procedures when you need to simultaneously heat a large amount of wax at once. It has a fairly high price, which is justified only when buying it for the salon.

When buying a cartridge wax gun, pay attention to brands and names with which it does not conflict.

How to wax on your own

Before applying hair removal wax, prepare your skin as described above. Do not neglect these tips to prevent pain during work and poor quality results.

It is recommended to do waxing at home in the evening. At this time, the body begins to prepare for sleep, which increases the pain threshold.

After preparing the skin for the procedure, start heating the wax. In a wax melt, it usually heats up for 20-30 minutes, when it melts in a water bath or a microwave oven it will take less time, but be sure to use a thermometer to make sure that the composition is not overheated.

After preparing the skin and wax, you can start the procedure:

1. Use a spatula to scoop up a small amount of wax.
2. Apply a thin layer of wax to the skin. Hot and warm wax is applied towards the hair growth, polymer and film wax – in any direction.
3. When performing the bandage technique, without waiting for the solution to harden, apply a special strip on it. Press it firmly against your skin.
4. After 10-15 seconds, stretch the area to be waxed and, with a sharp movement of your hand, rip the wax off the skin.
5. If there are any hairs left on the skin, repeat the manipulations again. But don’t wax the same area more than three times to avoid irritation.
6. Disinfect the skin with hydrogen peroxide or a special solution after depilation.
7. Apply a grooming lotion or gel.

When choosing a cold depilation method, you just need to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations indicated on the package. Usually, before the procedure, you need to warm up the strips between the palms, then apply them to the skin, smooth them carefully and tear them sharply in the direction of hair growth.

Waxing at home should be done not more than once every 3-4 weeks. Be sure to consider the minimum hair length for the procedure – 4-5 mm.

Skincare after waxing

Even after the correct depilation, it is important to pay attention to the aftercare of sensitive skin. It will not only prevent irritation of the epidermis but also prolong the period of maintaining the effect of manipulations and the smoothness of the waxed area.

After the session itself, you need to apply a moisturizing lotion, gel, or cream dedicated to skincare after hair removal to the waxed area.

Also, pay attention to the recommendations after depilation:

• It is not recommended to sunbathe for two days after waxing to prevent inflammation and tissue pigmentation;
• 3 days after the session, treat the skin twice a day with Chlorhexidine;
• If microcracks or minor burns occur, apply Bepanten or Panthenol to affected areas;
• After 3 days, treat the skin with a natural scrub;
• If ingrown hair occurs, continue scrubbing the epidermis every three days.

Depilation with wax alone does not always provide absolute removal of hair growth from the body. Sometimes after the wax, single hairs remain on it, which are carefully pulled out with tweezers.

Conclusions

it is quite simple to do wax hair removal at home since now there are a large number of devices and compositions invented for this. A competently performed procedure will provide you with absolute smoothness and silkiness of the skin within 2-3 weeks.