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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.

 

  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.
       
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.
 Approximately three days. 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.
       
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.
       
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.
       
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.