Removing hair for a comp

I'm hoping to do a comp next year, and wanted to ask a few questions about hair removal first...

1) Previous attempts at waxing kept me relatively hairless for a decent period of time (about 6 weeks from memory), particularly when I used a "hair regrowth inhibitor".

The problem was that I got some really nasty ingrown hairs - at least, I think that's what they were - lumps like zits about 1/2 an inch across, looked pretty bad, and took ages to go away... Not the kind of thing you want for a comp! Would this have been my technique at fault, and if I got it done professionally would it have been any bettter? Or is this just a part of waxing to be expected?

2) My trial run at shaving hasn't been a lot better.

I just did a trial patch at the top of each leg (inner thigh, where I figured the skin was most tender, and it was an easy area to hide, if things went wrong! :p) Thank god I did, because it's come up in some pretty severe razor burn... The follicle of each hair is really irritated - to the point of being like little zits that, when squeezed, ooze and pop (apologies to those with weak stomachs... :))
Now I know that skin can take a while to become accustomed to shaving, but irritation like that's ridiculous! Besides, it gets prickly after 12 hours, and I think you can still see the hairs, which are dark and coarse, under the skin (at least, when the irritation goes down)...

Basically, neither method seems to give the results needed for a comp... so how do other people do it?

Also - there are a couple of threads mentioning shaver-like gadgets with rotating tweezers to pluck the hairs out...

Has anyone used these? They sound like they would leave behind an awful lot of hairs, so how effective are they?

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Originally Posted by aitaronz

I'm hoping to do a comp next year, and wanted to ask a few questions about hair removal first...

1) Previous attempts at waxing kept me relatively hairless for a decent period of time (about 6 weeks from memory), particularly when I used a "hair regrowth inhibitor".

The problem was that I got some really nasty ingrown hairs - at least, I think that's what they were - lumps like zits about 1/2 an inch across, looked pretty bad, and took ages to go away... Not the kind of thing you want for a comp! Would this have been my technique at fault, and if I got it done professionally would it have been any bettter? Or is this just a part of waxing to be expected?

2) My trial run at shaving hasn't been a lot better.

I just did a trial patch at the top of each leg (inner thigh, where I figured the skin was most tender, and it was an easy area to hide, if things went wrong! :p) Thank god I did, because it's come up in some pretty severe razor burn... The follicle of each hair is really irritated - to the point of being like little zits that, when squeezed, ooze and pop (apologies to those with weak stomachs... :))
Now I know that skin can take a while to become accustomed to shaving, but irritation like that's ridiculous! Besides, it gets prickly after 12 hours, and I think you can still see the hairs, which are dark and coarse, under the skin (at least, when the irritation goes down)...

Basically, neither method seems to give the results needed for a comp... so how do other people do it?

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Who did the waxing? Did you have it done professionally, or did you do it yourself? Many spas offer a slection of different types of wax, and maybe changing to a pain free wax may be more effective for your skin type.

Not sure, but I should think it worth discussing with someone at a good spa that you trust.

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Originally Posted by beenie

Who did the waxing? Did you have it done professionally, or did you do it yourself? Many spas offer a slection of different types of wax, and maybe changing to a pain free wax may be more effective for your skin type.

Not sure, but I should think it worth discussing with someone at a good spa that you trust.

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I did it myself, but I've used a couple of different types of wax (ie - hot and cold) and I don't think it made much difference.

I think I prefer waxing to shaving - apart from the razor rash, shaving only seems to last a few hours before I get stubble again... :(

I'm actually toying with the idea of getting laser... It's ridiculously espensive, but if I just get a session done for every comp, somehow it feels a bit cheaper! It's not, of course, so if I can find a way to get waxing to work, I'd probably go with that.

What is a "pain free wax" (it sounds like a contradiciton!), and do you know which types of wax are best for which type of skin?

I don't really know the differences, I just know that many of the spas around here offer several alternatives. And, from what I hear the pain free wax, is what it says.

The other alternative is Nair. There is actually a compteing brand that is a little better made specifically for men. The problem with shaving is that it grows back in a dAy. With nair its aboujt 3 or 4 days. Waxing is usually a couple weeks or more. If you use Nair make really certain that you avoid your nips, cause if it hits em, it will burn like hell.

If you wanna try Nair or a Nair type product, let me know and I can give you some further tips, because the directions on the bottle are not exaxtly right, at least not for me.

Yeah - I had sort of considered Nair.. trouble is, I've never seen it around here. It's just a chemical that dissolves the hair, isn't it?

I've tried something like that, but I don't think it was made specifically for men. That might be why I wasn't too impressed by it.

But, yeah, if you've got time, tell me more! The more info I have to choose from, the better... :)

Waxing is the ticket. Hair grows in cycles and what happens when you wax is that the hair that grows back is not the hair that was plucked. Personally, the waxing leaves my skin red for about 12 hours, should be the same for you but I would guess the initial problem you had was attributed to the growth inhibitor. After waxing every 4-6wks you will see that much less hair is growing back. Laser will take 4-6 treatments and isn't gauranteed to get all the hairs. If you are just doing chest or back your looking at $200 per and say 5 treatments. $1000 just for chest, $1000 for back, Legs? etc. That's a lot of Mach 3's or Wax jobs.

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Originally Posted by Duct Tape

I would guess the initial problem you had was attributed to the growth inhibitor.

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Really? That hadn't occurred to me... It's possible, I suppose, but as I understand it, the growth inhibitor doesn't affect the amount of hair that grows back, just the rate at which it does. The problem I was having was more like removing the wax had just snapped some of the hairs of below the surface of the skin, where they continued to grow but just curled up on themselves under the surface... I imagined that indicated the problem was in the removing of the hair, not what happened afterwards...

This is the inhibitor I used though - do you know anything about it?: http://www.depilatory.com/prodinfo_inhibitor.html

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Originally Posted by Duct Tape

If you are just doing chest or back your looking at $200 per and say 5 treatments. $1000 just for chest, $1000 for back, Legs? etc. That's a lot of Mach 3's or Wax jobs.

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:p It's all a matter of perpective! If you look at it in terms of steroid cycles, it's probably not so bad... Or instead of getting a tattoo?!
I was hoping that after 3-4 comps, the remaining hair would be thin enough that I could shave/wax what's left easily, and irregularly. That would be over several years, and I price that at around NZ$1000 per full-body session. So I guess that's looking at about US$2500-3000 total... Still not cheap, but certainly tempting... :(

The place I'm looking at, btw, is http://www.laseratgreenbay.co.nz
It's got some good info on laser treatment, if anyone's interested...