Ouch ouch baby

Waxing versus threading

As of today, I am a minor professional in the face waxing versus threading scenario. Kidding. Mostly just a willing victim, paying to be tortured.

I will start by saying I undergo this painful activity because I am both vain and self conscious. It is a hard life to live, but someone has to do it. I love the way my face feels and looks after, and I am always paranoid about someone noticing my blondie face hairs. I don’t know if someone made a joke about it when I was a kid (kids are such assholes) or if I made up the worry in my head (not unlikely). Regardless, I like it, I’ve tried it, and here is my analysis.

Reasons to wax/thread:

• Soft, clear face
• Makeup goes on smoother
• More confidence (we all have hair on our face so we should be okay with it, but I’m also a girl and understand, sometimes things just bother us!)

Prior to:

I was nervous about this entire thing, so I opted to go with an esthetician that I go to for, um, other things… I encourage you to go to someone you are comfortable with and trust. That goes for anything beauty, really. I also usually schedule these appointments for when I know I will have a couple days to let my face rest and be makeup-free. I make sure my face is clean from any makeup before I go in for my appointment, because when you have your face waxed or threaded you open up your pores and don’t want to subject them to a bunch of gunk. You are also paying to have your hair ripped out (sorry, that’s a terrible verb, but completely accurate), so you want your hair to be as easy as possible for the thread or wax to attach to.

Threading

Pros:

• Great if you love to be in excruciating pain.
• But on a serious note, my esthetician recommended this instead of waxing initially because she thought my skin was sensitive and this would irritate it less.
• Threading gives a slightly more natural look. It doesn’t pull all the hair out, leaving some of the shorter hair. Less of a “clear cut” look. Oh lord, that is another bad analogy. But you get the visual!
• It is less harsh on your skin. One of my Mary Kay mentors mentioned that waxing also pulls the skin, opening yourself to wrinkles.
• No leftover wax on skin.

Waxing

Pros:

• Hurts far less! Aka less stress. I would give this like a 3-4 out of 10 on the pain scale.
• Quicker
• Removes all hair giving you a completely smooth, clear look.
• My skin didn’t seem to be particularly effected by the waxing, and I didn’t notice any additional irritation. Talk to your esthetician prior to either procedure if you are worried or have very sensitive skin.

After:

Depending on how sensitive your skin is, you will likely have some redness/splotchy-ness after you get your face waxed or threaded. I usually don’t care and will run errands, but if that bothers you, don’t plan on being out and about after your appointment. My esthetician recommended applying rubbing alcohol to my face every couple hours. Again, with all the pores opened up, you want to keep them clean. I think instead of rubbing alcohol I will use my Mary Kay Charcoal Mask, and give my face a good scrubbin’ with my Skinvigorate brush and Timewise Repair Volufirm Cleanser. The brush is amazing at getting your face completely clean (bye bye gunk), plus it feels good. I will go easy on the moisturizer (will probably reach for my ClearProof moisturizer, it is a little lighter), and steer clear of makeup for a few days.

Additional notes:

I threaded a few times, but it hurt so bad I couldn’t bring myself to keep going. I loved it afterwards, but the 15-20 minutes getting it done were brutal. I think that is a clear sign to look at other options. Today was my first time using wax, and so far I love it. All the benefits of threading with out the pain. When I initially had the hair from my face removed, I asked my esthetician: A) if overtime the hair on my face would seize to grow back, B) grow in faster/darker/thicker. Unfortunately, she said that the hair on our face is dictated by hormones. Unlike hair on other parts of our body, waxing and threading your facial hair will not cause it to grow back thinner or completely stop. To my point about the darkness and thickness, she said no need to worry about a five o’clock shadow, or being the Bearded Lady. Waxing and threading will not cause the hair to grow back faster, darker, or thicker. Let’s all say pheeeeww together.

After today’s experience I think I will continue getting my face waxed. The short duration of pain is worth all of the benefits. Since my hair is blonde I can go a little longer than the recommended six weeks, but plan on keepin’ my confidence up with some waxin’!