Why Hard Body Waxes Help Prevent Post-Waxing Acne

August 09, 2017

Acne breakouts after a waxing treatment are more common than one would think. Uncomfortable pimples and unappealing red bumps can appear anywhere from a few hours after a session to a couple of weeks later when hair starts to grow back. Pulling the hair out of the skin generally causes irritation and sometimes inflammation—these are common side effects that fade 24 to 48 hours after the procedure if the right techniques and the proper waxing products are used. However, acne breakouts that occur later on can be concerning. As a professional esthetician, you'll eventually treat clients who suffer from severe breakouts; it's in your best interest, for you and your business, to do what you can to prevent such an outcome by providing the best advice and using gentle products like hard body waxes and post-depilatory tonics or balms.
What is acne?Acne can be categorized as a disease that generally affects the face, chest, and back. Several pathological or external factors can cause breakouts such as hormonal changes, the use of cosmetics, diets, puberty, the environment, stress, or harsh procedures on the skin. Acne-type lesions can also occur in the pubic area; they are called folliculitis.

As you know, waxing provokes irritation, which should not be taken lightly by the esthetician nor the client. When the skin gets irritated, the hair follicles become blocked, oil (sebum) will get trapped inside the pore, and bacteria will start to grow. Consequently, the sebum and bacteria stay below the skin surface causing whiteheads, or above the surface causing blackheads; the follicular wall of the pore might break, causing white blood cells to rush in to repair the damage and prevent infections, which are called papule or pustules (often referred to as pimples.)
Why does acne show up after a wax?Acne may appear after having the upper-lip, eyebrows, the back, or the chest waxed due to a mistake by the esthetician (the use of contaminated tools or a poorly sterilized environment), bad at-home care by the client (lack of exfoliation, harmful beauty products, or improper cleaning habits), or the multiple pathological and external factors already mentioned above.

At some point, clients may reach out to you before the appointment inquiring about a sudden outburst of pimples in the area they wanted to treat; they probably will ask whether is it safe to go with the procedure or not. We cannot stress this enough—never wax unhealthy skin. Applying hair removal products to unclean skin or skin with acne can lead to an increase of acne or more severe skin injuries that may require medical attention. The best option is to cancel the appointment or to push it back until the client's skin regains its health.
How do hard body waxes help prevent acne?Hard body waxes have gained a lot of respect in the beauty industry, so much so that many estheticians only use this type of product to treat their clients. They are also called non-strip wax because they do not require the use of a muslin strip to be pulled off. This allows the waxing specialist to work more freely and reach areas where soft wax can't.

You'll find hard wax very useful for the bikini area, the eyebrows, the upper-lip, and the nose. They melt at lower temperature, making the sensation of heat on the skin less intense. This is extremely convenient to prevent irritated skin and ideal for facial waxing and other small areas of the body. Less irritation equals less chances of pimples, redness, and soreness appearing within hours after the procedure.

Furthermore, these kinds of waxes are gentler because they don't stick to the skin when applied, only the hair. As a result, they minimize the painful effect of the pull. On the contrary, soft waxes or strip wax grab the skin, raising the chances of irritation after the treatment. The best preventive measure to keep acne from appearing due to waxing relies on avoiding as much skin contact as possible, which is why hard body waxes are convenient—they grab the hair without removing layers of dead skin cells. In other words, they don't distress the skin as much as other types of waxes do.

Among the hard body waxes Beauty Image offers, we have our Glamour Beads from our Glamour line, Ayurveda Beads from our Ayurveda line, and our paraben-free Champagne Fraises beads from our Gourmet Line—which combines strawberries and the acidity of champagne. All our hard body waxes come with nourishing properties to reduce the stress that the skin suffers from the procedure. The last two lines we mentioned above also have their own post-depilatory tonics to moisturize the skin and reduce irritation.

Pimples, red bumps, and other representations of acne cannot be predicted, and there will be times when clients will feel frustrated to push back a bikini wax just because an acne breakout appears out of nowhere. It's your job as an esthetician to carefully explain to them why being fuzz-free won't do much good if the skin becomes more irritated or inflamed; recommend the best calming oils and tonics you have. You can also share a few at-home secrets to reduce redness like the ones we posted a few blog posts ago. Do not hesitate to advise medical treatment if you think is necessary.

If you want more information about our hard body waxes, call us at TOLL FREE 888-513-8815 or fill out the contact form on this website. At Beauty Image, we also have waxing accessories to use at your salon or beauty business; we invite you to visit our online store and discover our options. On our YouTube channel, you'll find useful video tutorials to learn how to purchase our products. For more beauty tips and recommendations to improve your skills as an esthetician, find us on Facebook at Beauty Image USA, follow us on Twitter @BeautyImageUSA and Instagram @beautyimageusa.