I Waxed My Bikini Area For the First Time — and Surprisingly, I Didn't Do a Terrible Job
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On the list of things I thought I'd have to learn to do all on my own during this time, waxing my nether region was nowhere near the top. But alas, there I was two weeks ago spread eagle in my bathroom, trying to rip the hair out of my bikini area despite not having a clue what I was doing. Desperate times really do call for desperate measures, I guess.
Hair removal is a personal choice, and I have a lot of respect for people who have the discipline to wax themselves on the regular. I've been getting Brazilian waxes since I was 17 years old, and even though I know exactly what to expect from my aesthetician every time I lie down under that painfully bright florescent light — sit in the butterfly position, take a series of deep breaths, put your knees to your chest so she can reach that area — I've never felt like I had the strength, the patience, or the attention to detail to do it on my own.
Still, a few weeks into social distancing, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge and, to my surprise, it didn't end in disaster.
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The Wax
I'd say one of the funniest parts of this experience was me thinking that giving myself a bikini wax would be as simple as buying some wax I could throw in the microwave. But I ended up going even further and buying the Femiro Hair Removal Home Waxing Kit ($40), which comes with a warmer and four packages of wax beads and two sets of application sticks.
The kit itself was very easy to use; the wax took no more than 20 minutes to melt completely. The warmer also reaches 240 degrees, allowing you to heat the wax just enough until it flows before you can adjust the temperature and allow it to cool off before applying it to your skin.
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The Experience
I started off by making sure my skin was clean and free of anything that would make it hard for the wax to stick, like lotions and creams. Then I applied baby powder to the area, an important step that — I learned the hard way once before — if you don't do, the wax will stick to your skin and make the removal process even more painful.
After that, I applied the wax and removed it in small sections, in the opposite direction of hair growth, to make it easier on myself. It wasn't as painful as I was expecting it to be, and for the most part, I was able to remove all of the hair in the area without having to give it a second pass. The hardest part was honestly trying to contort my body into all kinds of different positions so that I could apply the wax thoroughly without making a mess all over my bathroom.
I'll admit that, when I go see my aesthetician, the process usually takes fewer than 20 minutes, mostly because she works in much larger sections than I did, but this ended up taking me close to an hour altogether.
Once I decided that I was finished, I made sure my skin was wax-free and then followed up with some baby oil and an ingrown hair serum.
Happy as I am that this didn't end terribly, the jury's still out on whether or not I'll try waxing myself again. The thought of it still makes me a little nervous, so for now, I'll just admire how smooth my skin is and cross that bridge when I get to it.