Shaving, Waxing, Electrolysis & Hair Removal Methods

Shaving is the most common form of hair removal and something that both men and women do. Men shave their face and sometimes their chest, whilst women shave their underarms and their legs.

One of the major benefits that come from shaving (apart from hair removal) is skin exfoliation. This is because as you shave you naturally remove dead skin cells from the skin’s surface, thereby improving the overall health and appearance of the skin underneath.

However, getting a good shave can sometimes prove to be difficult, especially when you have a lot of hair to remove but don’t have the right equipment or the right technique.

Choosing The Right Shaving Equipment

In order to be able to shave smoothly and easily, you need to have the right shaving equipment. So your first step to getting a good shave, is to choose a razor that uses disposable blades with a moisturizing strip above the blades.

You can opt to use the cheaper plastic disposal razors instead, but be aware that these won’t give you the best results. Disposal razors are also more likely to result in razor burns and cuts because they don’t have a flexible head which can be angled to follow the contours of your skin.

A good razor is one that you can keep for several years and will only need to change its blade about once a week or once a fortnight. Ideally, you should be looking for a razor that uses a high quality blade which has two or three blades.

The more blades your razor has, the smoother and closer your shave will be. When your blade becomes dull, you should replace it immediately because shaving with a dull blade will increase your chance of developing ingrown hairs.

It is also important to choose a razor which doesn’t use very expensive blades, as otherwise it could cost you a small fortune to shave. Finally, pick a razor that has a comfortable handle and can be held onto even if your hands are wet.

For men who shave their head, it is generally recommended to use a separate razor for your face and your head. By using separate razors, you will avoid transferring any skin conditions (e.g., acne) from your face to your head and vice versa.

Moist Heat

One of the secrets to getting a great shave, is to apply moist heat. Moist heat makes hairs more flexible so that they are easier to cut, and it also reduces the risk of developing ingrown hairs.

If you are a man, you can apply moist heat by wrapping a wet hot towel around your face for a few minutes until your skin softens. Alternatively, try shaving immediately after you come out of the shower or after a bath.

If you are in a rush and don’t have a shower or towel nearby, you can apply moist heat to your face by filling a sink with hot water and then splashing your face until your skin feels moist and your facial hair feels smooth.

Once your skin is moist, you can then apply your shaving cream or gel and start to shave.

Shaving Cream Or Shaving Gel?

Shaving cream or shaving gel are both designed to make it easier for the razor blade to slide across the surface of the skin.

But despite what you might see in the adverts, the secret to a good shave is not found in the cream or gel, it’s in the razor. So choose a gel or cream that you are comfortable with and doesn’t cost you too much.

If you are looking for something to give a really smooth surface to your skin as you shave, try using a shaving cream or gel with silicone.

How To Shave Properly

If you don’t have the right shaving technique then you not only won’t get a good shave, but you also increase the risk of cutting yourself and developing ingrown hairs.

So let’s have a look at some shaving tips on how to really get a good shave.

Assess The Area

To begin shaving, start by looking at the area that you wish to shave. If you are dealing with long or very thick hair, it is best to cut that hair down with scissors before you start to shave.

This usually applies to men who are going to shave off their beard or moustache, and to women who want to shave their bikini area.

Look At The Direction Of Hair Growth

You will achieve the closest shave possible if you shave against the grain of your hair. So before you shave, look at the direction that your hair is growing in and use your blade to cut in the opposite direction.

If you want an even closer shave, try first shaving with the grain and then again against the grain. This can be helpful for men who experience rapid facial hair regrowth.

The following video shows how to shave your legs and bikini area for women.

Neck Region (Men)

One common mistake that men make when shaving, is to tilt their head all the way back when shaving their neck.

By doing this, the hairs of the neck are pulled slightly into the skin, thereby preventing a close shave. To avoid this happening, try to keep your neck in its usual position as you shave.

If you find that you are developing lots of ingrown hairs when shaving against the grain, switch to shaving with the grain instead and the occurrence of ingrown hairs should reduce.

The following video shows show to shave your face for men.

Aftershave (Men)

Once you have finished your shave, all that you need to do is to rinse your face and remove any left over shaving foam or gel and then clean your razor.

Whether or not you choose to use aftershave is entirely up to you, as it’s not necessary to complete your shave. If you do use aftershave, be aware that alcohol based aftershaves will dry out your skin which can then cause it to age faster.

To protect your skin from the drying effects of aftershave, be sure to moisturize your face afterwards. An alternative to aftershave is to use a post shaving balm. These are designed to minimize any irritation that occurs after shaving, and also to act as an aftershave.

Women may also find it necessary to moisturize after shaving, especially if they have been shaving large areas, such as their legs, as this help to reduce skin irritation later on.

Electric Shavers

Electric shavers have become an increasingly popular alternative to razors. Although the initial cost is higher, buying an electric shaver means that you will save yourself a lot of money down the road as you won’t have to buy replacement blades or shaving foam.

Electric razors can give a reasonably good shave depending on the quality of your shaver, although most people will not be able to get as close of a shave as they do with a traditional metal blade. But this shouldn’t be a problem unless you have rapid hair growth and need to shave very regularly.

If you decide to opt for an electric shaver, make sure that you get one which allows you to trim your hair. This will usually come in the form of an extendable clipper cutting blade that can be used to trim your sideburns or smarten up your bikini area.

Finally, young teenagers who are learning to shave would be wise to use an electric shaver, as this will prevent them from scarring their face as a result of razor cuts.

Waxing Hair

Although waxing can sometimes be painful, there’s no denying that it’s an effective means of hair removal. For that brief moment of discomfort, you can enjoy a smooth and hair free body without having to worry about shaving every few days.

The reason why waxing is such a good means of hair removal, is because unlike shaving with a razor, it removes hairs directly from follicles. This process also damages the follicles, which then slows down the rate at which hair grows back.

The end result is that you have to remove hair less often, and if you wax for one or two years, you should also notice less hair growing back and that it becomes thinner and finer over time.

How Often Should You Wax?

When you first start waxing your legs, or any other part of your body, start by waxing every two or three weeks. Then, as hair regrowth slows down, you can wax less frequently when you require it. After one or two years, you should only need to wax around once every eight weeks.

However, it is important to remember that unlike shaving where you can shave any length of hair, in order to wax, you need to wait until your hair is at least ¼-inch long. Otherwise, you won’t be able to remove the hair properly.

Unfortunately, this may mean looking a bit hairy for a few days until you are ready to be waxed! This, along with the pain of waxing, are the two biggest drawbacks of this method of hair removal.

What Parts Of Your Body Can You Wax?

Although you can wax any part of your body, the most common areas for women to wax are leg hair, underarm hair and the bikini area. Some women may also wax their facial hair, such as their chin, upper lip (e.g., women with hirsutism) and even their eyebrows.

Men who wax tend to do it mainly on their chest and back. Some men however, also choose to wax their arms and legs.

Precautions

You should avoid waxing anywhere where you have applied Retin-A, and never wax if you have recently been on antibiotics or used Accutane in the last six months.

If you exfoliate your skin, you should stop exfoliating at least three days prior to waxing. If you have recently had a chemical peel or undergone laser skin resurfacing, you should wait at least six to eight weeks before waxing the areas in which you have been treated.

It is important that you adhere to these precautions, because otherwise you risk damaging your skin which could then make you more susceptible to developing fine lines, wrinkles and even permanent scarring.

Types Of Wax

One of the good things about waxing, is that it’s relatively cheap and something which you can do at home by yourself or with a friend.

Alternatively, you can go to a salon and get your hair professionally waxed as part of a beauty treatment. Doing this at least once is recommended, because once you see how a professional waxes hair you will then be much better prepared to do it yourself.

If you do go to a salon however, make sure that you pick one which has a variety of waxes to choose from. This is because how well a wax works is largely dependent on your skin type and the type of hair that you are having removed.

There are three main types of wax that can be used for waxing. These are:

Hard Wax - Main type of wax used for bikini waxing and for people with coarse hair.

Soft Wax – Has a liquid like consistency which makes it ideal for covering large areas of the body. Best suited for fine hairs.

Cold Wax – Wax is already applied to pulling strips which makes it very convenient to use. But may require multiple waxings of the same area to remove all hairs.

Although there are a wide variety of waxes to choose from, most waxes will be made up of a paraffin or beeswax wax base, resin and a lubricator. Additional ingredients, such as honey or fragrance, may be found in more expensive waxing products such as those you would find in a salon.

How To Wax Your Legs

Before you begin waxing your legs or body, you need to properly prepare your skin first. To do this, simply cleanse your skin to remove any dirt, oil and residues left over from moisturizers or sunscreens.

Once your skin is dry, apply a protective barrier to your skin. An effective barrier to use is refined cornstarch. If you lightly dust your skin with the cornstarch it will push each hair up and away from the skin, thereby making it much easier for you to see, and later, remove the hairs.

Begin by heating your wax so that it turns to liquid, but is still at a temperature which is safe to put on your skin. The easiest way to do this is to touch the wax with your fingertip and put it on your wrist. If it burns you, then it’s too hot!

Next, apply an even layer of wax to your skin going against the direction of hair growth. Next, place your waxing strip over the wax and smooth it over with your hand. Remember to give yourself a bit of space at the end of the strip to grab onto later.

When the wax has cooled and hardened, it’s time to pull the wax off! It doesn’t matter which direction you pull, so just take a deep breath and rip!

When using soft wax (either hot or cold), put it on your skin in the direction of hair growth. Then put fabric strips over the wax, and when you a ready, pull the strips off quickly against the direction of hair growth.

The following video shows you how to wax your bikini area.

Post Treatment Skin Care

When you have finished waxing, you may notice that your skin appears slightly reddened. This redness occurs because waxing removes the top layer of your skin, which is why you shouldn’t exfoliate at least three days prior to waxing.

To reduce the redness, apply a cooling lotion or moisturizer to the waxed areas. This will help to reduce any stinging which you may be experiencing, and will also decrease the risk of you developing ingrown hairs.

Ideally, look for products that contain aloe vera or tea tree oil. Aloe vera is very soothing to irritated skin, and tea tree oil acts as a natural antiseptic to protect against infection. If you are looking for something that is highly moisturizing, try using emu oil.

For the next three days, you should avoid overheating or overstimulating your skin. So stay out of the sun, sunbeds, hot baths and don’t exfoliate. Doing any of these can cause your skin to develop a red rash which will look very unpleasant.

Electrolysis & Laser Hair Removal

If you don’t like the idea of shaving or waxing your hair, then you may prefer electrolysis or laser hair removal instead.

Both of these methods work by destroying the hair follicle and can result in permanent removal of hair, although it should be noted that this is not guaranteed in every case.

How effective these treatments will be, largely depends on how your hair grows and how your skin reacts to this kind of stimulation.

Some people for example, may only require a few treatments to get good results, whilst others may need many treatments and will still have rapid hair regrowth. This is why it is impossible to say how well these treatments will work for you, as you won’t know for sure until you try them.

Laser Hair Removal

The people who respond best to laser hair removal are those with light skin and dark hair because the laser technology works only on dark colors. If you have light skin and light hair (e.g., blond, white or grey) then pulsed light laser treatment may be effective for you.

Laser treatment on darker skin tones can sometimes be problematic because it may cause discoloration of the skin and pigmentation problems. So even if the treatment did work well for you, the damage done to your skin would detract from the hair removal benefits.

But although darker skinned individuals are more susceptible to having skin problems after laser treatment, people with light skin can also suffer problems. For example, after being treated with a laser your skin could swell, become inflamed and your follicles could get infected.

Laser treated skin is also much more sensitive to the sun, and so you will be required to protect treated skin for the rest of your life with sunscreen or sunblock to avoid an elevated risk of skin cancer.

In general, you can expect to have four to six laser hair removal sessions, spaced four weeks apart, to see around an 80% reduction in hair regrowth.

Electrolysis Hair Removal

If you find that you have the wrong skin type for laser hair removal, or that it didn’t work for you, then you may want to consider electrolysis hair removal instead.

Electrolysis tends to work well for all types of hair and skin. The only exception to this is skin that scars easily, and so it is not recommended to use electrolysis on such skin.

This is because the electrolysis hair removal process involves inserting a needle into each hair, and so if your skin scars easily, then you may be left with lots of small pitted scars.

This video shows electrolysis being done on the chin.

Before you begin any electrolysis treatment, always make sure that you have a test patch done first. Doing so will allow you to get a rough idea of how effective the treatment will be and determine how your skin will react.

It is also worth talking to people who have had electrolysis treatment before and asking them about their experience of it, such as how well it worked and whether or not they would do it again.

Usually, you can expect to have anywhere between 15 to 30 treatment sessions, but this can vary depending on how much hair you are treating. If you want to treat large areas however, then you may be better off getting your hairs removed by laser.

Hair Removal At Home

One of the main advantages of electrolysis hair removal, is that it is possible to do it at home providing you have the right equipment and experience.

Although it is true that the home use electrolysis machines use a weaker electric current than what you would find at a salon, they basically do the same thing by destroying the hair follicle so that hair grows back at a slower rate.

But in order to destroy the follicle, you need to locate the follicle for each individual hair and then zap it with the needle. As you can imagine, this is a long and tedious process, especially if you are treating large areas of hair such as your legs or bikini area.

So whilst home electrolysis treatments can work out cheaper in the long run, if you want to treat anything larger than your upper lip, you would probably be better off going to a salon and being treated by a professional.

Other Hair Removal Methods

Whilst shaving and waxing are two of the most popular forms of hair removal, there are other alternatives available as shown below.

Epilator

An epilator is a mechanical hair removal device that looks like a regular shaver, but rather than cutting your hair, they gasp them and pull them out at the roots.

Although epilators are very quick and efficient at what they do, they have gained somewhat of a bad reputation as the process does involve a certain amount of pain.

However, when you consider the pain involved with waxing, it’s not really that much more uncomfortable once you get used to it. And like waxing, it will over time reduce the rate at which hair regrows and the amount of hair that regrows.

Depilatories

Depilatories are lotions that contain strong chemicals which dissolve hair on the surface of your skin. Depilatories should only be used on leg or body hair, and never on sensitive skin areas such as your face.

Treated hair will grow back in a few days, so depilatories will need to be used about two to three times a week.

Tweezers

Tweezers are an invaluable tool for managing small areas of hair growth such as on the eyebrows, the chin and upper lip.

When tweezing/plucking your hair, only pull one or two hairs at a time. Any more than that, and it will hurt. You should also try to get the best quality tweezers that you can afford, as this will pay off in the long run by giving you better accuracy and speed.

Stringing

Stringing is perhaps the strangest hair removal method that you will ever come across, and is one that also takes a considerable amount of practice to master.

Originating from the middle east, stringing involves tying a sewing thread around several hairs and then quickly pulling them out by their roots.

So if you don’t have any tweezers and want to remove a few unsightly hairs, then stringing may be just what you need.

Bleaching

Bleaching is not a means of hair removal, it is however, a means of hiding facial hair that you don’t want others to see.

Bleaching is inexpensive and quick to do, but it doesn’t last very long so you can expect to re-bleach your hair every one to two weeks.

Hair Growth Inhibitors

Over the past few years there have been several over the counter products which claim to slow down the rate at which hair grows. Whether or not these will work for you is a bit hit and miss because everyone reacts slightly differently to drugs.

There is also a safety concern as to what long-term effect interfering with your metabolism will have on your health. So hair growth inhibitors are generally only recommended as a last resort option.

A popular hair growth inhibitor that has been clinically proven to work, is Vaniqa.

Vaniqa

Vaniqa is a prescription drug that is designed to slow down facial hair growth in women. As with any drug, there are side effects, some of which include redness, stinging and/or burning sensations on the skin.

Ingrown Hair Removal

An ingrown hair is one that has not broken through the surface of the skin. As a result, it continues to grow, but remains trapped under the skin’s surface. Sometimes, this may result in a raised inflamed bump if bacteria and dead skin cells were trapped with the hair.

Almost all hair removal methods will at some stage lead to ingrown hairs, the only real exception to this are depilatories because they only dissolve the hairs on the surface of the skin.

Whenever you notice an ingrown hair, never try to pick at it no matter how tempting it may be. Picking at an ingrown hair is likely to make it worse, and could also lead to an infection or scarring of the skin.

The best way to remove ingrown hairs is by applying a salicylic acid product to it using a Q-tip.

If you find that you are getting a lot of ingrown hairs, try waiting a few days after your hair removal treatment and then exfoliate your skin to remove dead skin cells. This will make it a lot easier for new regrowing hair to find its way to the surface, thereby reducing the risk of it becoming trapped underneath the skin.