Should You Still Wax in the Winter?
For many women, winter is a solid excuse to ditch your razor for five straight months—and there’s no shame in that. Hell, I haven’t shaved my legs since 2013 (full transparency: My hair is so thin you can’t tell unless you’re a foot away).
MORE: Sugaring: Your Naturally Sweet Alternative to Waxing
But waxing is another story: Some of my friends keep up with it throughout the summer, and then stop the second 60-degree weather rolls in. Others prefer to keep it au naturel year-round, and a select few—bless their hearts and wallets—get waxed like clockwork no matter the temps. One of them even tried to convince me that it’s not just better to keep up with it all the time—which has its merits—but that it’s imperative for keeping your skin down there looking young. Yea, okay.
So does waxing year-round have any actual benefits? As it turns out, sort of: The pros are twofold: first, you’re probably less sensitive to the pain, which is true for anything you do often (read: working out). In fact, I recently got a pre-vacation Brazilian, and though I’m solidly okay with the pain level when I go regularly in the summer, this time hurt. Like, really hurt. “It’ll be like your first wax all over again,” confirmed Nandi Wagner, lead esthetician at Bliss Soho. “More time between waxes means more time for hair to return, leading to more pain and discomfort for you.” Truth.
And second, it’s easier to keep the skin down there hydrated and exfoliated, says dermatologist Jeannette Graf—even if you’re just waxing near the bikini line. Still, there’s no real evidence that skin will look younger, per se. (Sorry, Nicole.) Oh, and if you opt to allow slivers of your leg to show during the winter, as demonstrated above, you don’t have to worry about razor burn. You probably will have to worry about hypothermia, but that’s a problem for another time.
Still, there’s one major difference between taking care of your wax in the summer and in the winter: Summer means full-on humidity, so the possibility of bacteria growth without any hair protecting your vagina is a little higher. In the winter, however, “The dry air outside—and sometimes, the even drier air inside— can dehydrate the skin,” Wagner says. “So it helps to switch to richer creams and oils to keep the skin protected.” We like Fur’s Oil, which will run you about $40, but Avene’s Cold Cream is super thick and emollient, too. It’s made for hands, but as long as you use it externally, it should soothe any rough patches of skin down there, too.
While ultimately, the choice is yours (and there’s really no wrong choice to make), should you decide to keep your pubic hair as-is, make sure you’re exfoliating with AHA or BHA pads (like Bliss’s Ingrown Eliminating Pads) to prevent ingrown hair and dead skin buildup. Fun times, folks.
