WAXING
Now this isn't just one for the ladies, men wax these days too and there's nothing wrong in keeping yourself tidy. You can wax at home these days, there are many products available, from cold wax strips to hot wax, warm wax kits and sugaring kits that you can warm in the microwave some are easier than others for the novice to use at home. If you are going to try waxing I recommend you have one or two treatments by a professional therapist to watch how it is done. Word to the wise avoid therapists who double dip their spatulas, think about this there's the wax all nice and warm a perfect breeding ground for micro-organisms, ok the therapist may use a new spatula for you but every time she puts that spatula in the wax pot she takes the odd hair, skin flakes, traces of blood from hair follicles and micro-organisms off your skin (and anyone else she's treated before you) so imagine what's breeding in her wax pot!
Technique is the key to efficient and painless waxing, with warm, sugaring and cold wax strips, the wax is applied in the direction of growth. The skin is stretched brace with your hand and ripped off quickly in the opposite direction to growth. Remember to cleanse the skin and make sure it is dry before waxing and to apply a soothing lotion one that is slightly antiseptic (your hair follicles are open) a tea tree one is ideal. It's normal to have a 'Histamine Reaction' that plucked chicken appearance and slight redness after all you have activated the 'Mast cells' in the skin (see skin care) to produce histamine, this in turn causes blood to rush to the surface to repair damage. This will disappear within 24 hours and may be itchy don't scratch it you will make it worse and damage the skin with your finger nails and render it to infection, just apply a cool soothing lotion.
Hot wax has a different technique and should not be applied by the inexperienced and there is risk of burning. If you are using a product you heat up yourself always patch test a little area first to check the temperature.
For those that have been waxed before the good therapist will always explain the growth cycle as first timers may be disappointed to find that you have hairs popping up the next day or two when you thought it would last 4 to 6 weeks. Well waxing can last this time but in order for this to happen to have to educate and train your hairs. Your hair both head and body hair goes through a cycle of growth, transition and resting, now can you imagine if all your hair on your body and or head went through that cycle at the same time! You would be bald. So nature being very clever devised the hair growth cycle so no one is bald, but we can outwit nature, if you remove all the hairs at once and initially wax areas say every 2 to 3 weeks eventually you will catch all the hairs and train them to be at the same stage in the growth cycle. This will take several treatments to achieve this but eventually you wont have to do your waxing every 2 to 3 weeks but more like every 6 weeks and the hair will grow in tapered and finer as a result. So if you are planing on being fuzz free for the beach in the summer start several months earlier and you will find the benefits of carrying on all year as the hair follicles will be weaker and shallower over time and it will become pain free. if you give up waxing and want to return to the hirsute look all you need do is discontinue and the hair follicles will strengthen and become their old selves.
Remember Waxing is a long lasting temporary solution to unwanted hair and always patch test and follow manufacturers guidelines when using products.
Maggie Brown (Author)
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