Getting a maximally smooth bikini line—with a minimum of
fuss
 We
won't beat around the bush. Getting rid of unwanted bikini
hair can be a tedious beauty chore.
But with our grooming guide, you can eliminate the yeesh!
the yikes! and most important, the hair down there.
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HOW IT
WORKS |
HOW LONG
IT LASTS |
GOOD
TO KNOW |
| Shaving |
A blade cuts the hair
off at skin-level—leaving the roots intact. |
One day, two, if you’re lucky,
before stubble shows. |
Can you imagine shaving
without ingrowns? It’s possible, says Danielle Malka,
owner of the shaving-goods company, Ê Shave, “if you prepare
the skin properly.” Apply shaving cream, using fingers
or a shaving brush to lift the hairs away from the skin.
Then, shave downward, sideways, then sideways the other
way, but never, ever up—that’s how ingrowns happen. |
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| Depilatory |
The lotion chemically
dissolves hair above and just below the skin’s surface.
Apply it with your fingers, leave it on for a
few minutes, then wipe it off with a washcloth.
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Approximately three days.
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No matter how short your
bikini hair is, a depilatory will work—even on those tiny
black dots that show up before the hair comes through.
The hardest part of depilatories is figuring out how long
to leave them on: three to four minutes as the box recommends
may not be enough if you have coarse hair; 10 minutes
can leave your skin red and itchy. It’s always better
to rinse too soon and reapply than to leave the cream
on too long. |
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| Waxing |
A woman you’ve never met
before asks you to remove your undies—or at least pull
them to the side—as she applies hot wax to your inner
thighs, covers the wax with a cloth strip, then rips off
the strip and wax, taking your unwanted pubic hair along
with them. |
Hair is removed from the root,
with regrowth showing up in as little as one week or up
to one month. You’ll want to show up with at least a week’s
growth so the wax has something to grab onto. |
Curious about the notorious
Brazilian bikini wax? You’ll be stripped of almost every
strand,
including the hair on your outer labia and between your
butt cheeks (yup, there’s hair there), leaving just a
tiny patch up top. Take an aspirin before you go to dull
the pain of waxing, which is considerable, but is usually
over quickly.
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| At-Home Kits |
A lot like salon waxing,
but now you’re the one wielding the wax. |
One to four weeks. |
Unless you’re employed
by Cirque du Soleil, you won’t be flexible— or brave—enough
to give yourself a Brazilian. But if you’re shy about
revealing your nether regions to a stranger, home waxing
is an inexpensive alternative. Another plus is that the
more you wax, the finer and sparser the regrowth.
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| Light-assisted hair
removal |
A cool gel is applied
to the area. The technician uses a laserlike light that
targets
the melanin in the hair, travels down the hair shaft and
damages the hair follicle, so hair grows back finer and
lighter—and, eventually, never. |
You’ll need a minimum of six
once-a-month sessions to get most of your hair to disappear.
After that, you’ll need to go about twice a year for touch-ups.
Be sure the technician asks you about your overall skin
sensitivity along with any sun exposure you may have had
prior to treatment. |
If you suffer from a bumpy
bikini line, you’ll love this technique, which leaves
you free from ingrowns forever, according to Cindy Barshop,
owner of New York’s Completely Bare salon. What does the
procedure feel like? Imagine a rubber band snapping against
your skin. And you’ll feel another little zing in your
wallet: A bikini-clearing package can cost about 450,
then about 100 for touch-ups. |
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