“How do you get a non-irritated bikini line?!”

This deserves its own post Nicole. You may or may not know that I spent one of my formative years employed for an upscale Aveda salon in Wheaton, both as a receptionist and makeup artist. I learned how to wax, because I was good friends with the estheticians and was too young to know not to fuck around at work.

A straightforward answer, is to get it waxed by a professional. They will apply a numbing agent, use a quality wax with soothing ingredients in it, and get the job done as painlessly as possilbe (do NOT be fooled, IT HURTS!). Afterwards, you will be red and puffy for a bit… but the end result is a smooth and non-irritated bikini line.

THAT being said… It’s not something I would ever suggest trying at home, and it can be damn right expensive. So, the most obvious and common way to get the job done is with a razor.

Don’t fall for the women’s razor. What a fucking joke those things are. Get yourself a good ol’ reliable Mach 3 or Mach 4: a man’s razor has better grip and control in my opinion.

As for the lubricant of choice (no, not that kinda lubricant!) this is where mistakes are most commonly made. When I was eighteen and stupid, I read online to use baby oil to shave the bikini line. I was about to get married and go away for a weekend, so I gave it a shot. They don’t tell you that baby oil will clog the little pores that get shaved open and cause ingrown city! So it will be soft for a few days, then painful and hurty til it grows out. Not a good idea… ouch!

Shaving creams and gels are loaded with nice lubricants, but also heavy fragrance and stuff that will, again, clog pores. Obviously the bikini area is not exposed to enough air to prohibit the growth of bacteria, so if you’re wondering why you get irritated after using this, it’s because first of all, such a close shave invariably causes tiny cuts in your skin. Second, the irritating fragrance ingredients get into the cuts (would you spray perfume on a cut?). Then, the heavy moisturizing/lubricating ingredients seal the fragrance ingredients and any mischievous bacteria into said cuts, and that’s why it fucking hurts later and you might get a rash or ingrowns.

So, what they hell should you use? Why, the main ingredient in most anti-bump aftershaves of course: salicylic acid! I know you’re thinking, “Acid?! I said NON-IRRITATED!” But what it does is unclog the pores before and after shaving, leaving the skin open to fresh air so that it can heal properly. I wholly recommend Burt’s Bees Natural Acne Solutions Purifying Gel Cleanser, both for your face and your bikini line. (It supports both bees and your sexiness, yay!)

Another big contributor to irritation is razor burn. The best thing you can do is keep your razor head fresh and dry between uses, and change it regularly. Also, in case nobody ever taught you, shave with the grain of the hair as much as possible, then only go extra close and against the grain for special occasions (girl you know what I’m talking about). If you go against the grain, hold your skin taut with one hand so that there is as little drag as possible, and try to only go over each patch of skin once. Razor burn is usually from pushing too hard with a dull razor and going over the same spot a bunch of times.

Also, this might be common sense, but give irritated skin a rest!! Keep it clean and don’t shave again til it heals!!

One last tip/free product plug:

The best most miraculous product I’ve ever seen for after-shaving relief is called “Tend Skin”. Once at the salon an African American woman came in with the worst razor burn and five o’clock shadow on her face I ever saw on a woman. I guess she started shaving her face and it got out of control, and she was too proud to go to a professional. My boss at the time gave her some Tend Skin for free, told her to use it regularly until it grew back a quarter inch, and then she could come back and get it waxed. She came back with no bumps, her skin was healed and the hair wasn’t even that bad. After a wax she was like a new woman.

I bought some last December for my fiance, because he had bad razor burn on his face… when you grow it out for too long and then shave it again, it takes time to break the skin in again and get it used to being shaved. It stings a little, smells not so great, but it offers complete eradication of bumps and in-growns if used regularly!

You can pick some up at Sephora or at most salons that offer waxing. Good luck! Hope that helped, I will answer more questions later!