I know it can sound daunting waxing your legs at home DIY style but the most crucial factor to focus on is, how long your leg hair should be before waxing. This will help achieve the best results.
Your leg hair needs to be at least ¼” long, this is about the size of a grain of rice. If you go too long, the follicles become weak and break, making them not as strong and easy to wax.
If you wax your leg hair before it is a ¼ of an inch, then you will find the wax won’t be able to grip these shorter hairs and will not achieve a smooth finish.
I know it can be tempting to trim your leg hair in between appointments. But unless your hairs are growing past the quarter of an inch mark, you will not see the benefits of not having to wax your legs every 4-6 weeks.
It simply won’t remove the hairs as it should. That’s the reason we want to wax your legs, right? Not having to shave your legs weekly in the shower has got to be a bonus.
So let’s take a look at all the necessary steps to follow when making sure your leg hair is the right length before either having them waxed or waxing them at home yourself (DIY style).
Why Does Length Matter So Much?
Wax needs to adhere to the hairs on the legs to remove them from the roots.
If length is not correct, it may break the hair in half rather than pull the whole hair from the roots.
It can even irritate skin where the hair has not been removed correctly.
What Happens When Waxing Leg Hair That is Too Short?
Waxing your leg hair when it is too short is risky, it really can cause problems for your skin. If the hairs are shorter than ¼ of an inch on your legs, you could simply miss patches of hair on your legs or even cause irritation and ingrown hairs.
Professionals may even ask you to reschedule your waxing appointment if your hair is too short.
They would only want to wax your hair when it’s the correct length to achieve the smoothest results.
What Hair Length Is Too Long for Leg Waxing?
If your leg hair reaches past ½ an inch, this is too long. Although it’s not physically too long to wax as it will still wax the hairs, it will be messy and painful.
It won’t remove them in one strip of wax; it will need more than one strip in the same area on the legs, which then causes irritation and uneven waxed legs, not a good look.
Waxing At Home VS Professional Waxing
When looking at waxing from home compared to professional waxing, it is less painful when a professional does it.
When it is performed by a professional, it lasts longer as it is waxed correctly.
One of the benefits doing it yourself at home is the money, it is cheaper buying wax strips and doing it yourself, so if you are on a budget, this could be the better option.
How Often Should You Be Waxed?
It is generally recommended to get waxed every 2-4 weeks after your first appointment depending on your hair type and how quickly your hair grows back.
When you then become a regular customer to getting waxed, you will get into a routine of how often your legs will need waxing depending on your individual needs.
The Importance of Knowing Your Skin Type
There are many different types of hair removal waxes to choose from and which you decide to buy all depends on your skin type.
Several factors determine your skin type, one being genetics which unfortunately is out of your hands to change.
Although there are internal and external factors that do determine your skin type such as;
Internal Factors
- Water Content – Skin’s elasticity depends on how much water your skin can hold
- Lipid Content – Sebum Production depends on how soft your skin is
- Level of sensitivity – Skin tolerance to substances
External Factors
- Medication – Many medications can affect the sebum production in your skin
- Diet – Poor diets can cause outbreaks of oily and greasy skin
- Hormones – Hormones, unfortunately, affect all women but will change the balances in your skin
- Stress – Cortisol is a hormone that occurs when stress which can affect the skin
- Skincare Routine – Using the wrong products for your skin can make then either dry or the opposite greasy
- Climate – hot weather can produce more sebum resulting in oily skin, and cold weather can dry skin even more dehydrated.
Skin Types –
- Normal Skin – Balanced skin type, which results in minimal risk of any reactions to waxing products and should be easy to wax.
- Dry Skin – Dry skin is lacking in sebum and cannot retain hydration like other skin types. Therefore it can be a little more painful to be waxed. It would be essential to hydrate and moisturise before putting any wax on your legs.
- Oily Skin – Oily skin retains lots of water which is excellent. The problem is an overload of sebum for oily skin. It may just be necessary to remove the extra oil from your legs before waxing.
- Sensitive Skin – sensitive skin can be for many different reasons. Still, it’s vital to reduce the risk of any allergic reactions by removing odours. Try using all-natural products on the safe side.
Read Here : How to get hair removal wax out of clothing
Frequently Asked Questions
How many times do you have to wax before hair stops growing?
The hair on your legs will always grow back every 4-6 weeks when using waxing as your hair removal method.
But every time you wax, your hair will grow back weaker, more refined and thinner, which means every time you wax, it will get easier and better results each time you repeat the waxing.
Is waxing more painful with longer hair?
This could be the case that longer hair may be more painful as the longer you leave between waxing appointments.
The thicker and healthier your hairs will get more painful to remove with wax than to remove more regularly with finer and thinner strands.
What to do after waxing legs?
Follow these steps to make sure you finish your leg waxing correctly –
- Wear loose-fitting clothing to avoid irritation and friction
- Avoid scented lotions, creams and products to prevent irritation on sensitive skin
- Apply an over the counter cream to reduce inflammation
- Avoid excessive exercise for 24 hours after
Final View
It is evident that it’s beneficial to make sure your leg hair is at the correct length ( ¼ of an inch). No matter if you choose to wax your legs yourself at home or attend an appointment at a salon.
The correct length is essential to avoid any damage to your skin. It will help remove all the hairs evenly on your legs, not having to wax your legs more than 4-6 weeks at a time. We all want to get the best results possible everytime.
If you have any questions we have not covered on our guide we would love to hear from you.