It’s come to my attention via my male clients who are avid riders that all sorts of issues are created from riding. Saddle rash or saddle sores are the most common terminology and are caused by the friction from the seat to the inside of the thigh and groin area. The hair follicle gets infected usually from the sweat and bacteria and causes a very uncomfortable cyst or boil. Even using barrier creams doesn’t alleviate the problem all together.

By removing hair in certain areas, you are removing the bacteria that surrounds the hair and hair holds bacteria. If you shave the hair from the testicles, perineum and butt/crack area you can cause more issues by irritating the skin with the razor, nicking yourself as well as the issue of the hair growing back right away. By removing this hair from the follicle via a trained esthetician, it will take longer for the new follicle to grow out and will allow you more time to ride in between waxings. Typically, you should return to get waxed between 4-6 weeks depending on how fast your hair grows back. During peak riding season 3-4 weeks is probably ideal.

It’s best to wax 24 hours before any friction induced exercising and then follow that with the usual protocol by using barrier creams, showering as quickly after a ride as you can. If you can’t then cleanse the area with tea tree oil diluted with water, applying an ointment like A&D ointment not cream or even Aquaphor and put on clean, dry garments will help tremendously. If you’re prone to the saddle-sore problem then I would always keep a pack with the dry clothes, diluted tea tree in a spray bottle and the ointment in case you’re not able to shower.

Tea tree oil is found over the counter at most drugstores or health stores. It works best when diluted with water, do not put tea tree directly on the skin as a pure oil can burn the skin. Ointments following help keep the skin moisturized which is important to avoid any further irritation. After you are able to shower, you should follow the same steps to keep the skin clean and free of bacteria and sweat.

Back in the early 90’s when I was in school for esthetics the instructors trained us to wax the brows sitting up just like you would if you were applying makeup to someone’s face. As the years went by and I worked in a large spa/salon I witnessed the newer estheticians waxing clients brows while they were lying down. Myself and a few other co-workers looked at each other perplexed and said what the heck are they doing and why!?

I really was in awe that someone would take the risk of sitting behind the head of a client and literally waxing their eyebrows upside down! Think about it, you don’t walk around with your chin where your forehead is and your brows where your mouth is so why would you have someone wax you as if this was going to turn out good for you?

My co-workers and I that didn’t believe this method was a good idea started calling these works of non-art, gravity brows. 8 out of 10 times the brows came out uneven and crooked. Our faces are typically not symmetrical so by not looking at the face straight on causes this shift to happen. Some estheticians will wax standing next to the bed and lean over the client while they are lying down, then the problem becomes a big fat backache for said esthetician.

Later I realized that the newer generation of estheticians that came out of school were taught to make more money by “adding” a waxing service to a facial, namely a lip, brow or chin. I get the making more money concept but not at the expense of messed up brows. A lip or chin is easy as your goal is to remove all the hair not “shape” anything that includes an arch. The newer estheticians goal was to not disrupt the client who was already lying down to have to sit up to have their added service.

Now that I’ve been an esthetician for over 20 years I can usually spot right away what client has laid down for their brows, because of course the brow line is off. When I ask if they laid down for their last brow wax the answer is yes 99% of the times. I may just still be set in my ways of how I learned but as I type this out it really is the most logical choice and if you received a brow laying down and it turned out well, then I’d say you got lucky. For now, I stand by my word and observation and I say definitely sit if you can!

The topic of grooming prior to being in a relationship has come up over the years. I find it interesting that people who were into waxing before marriage and kids tend to fall off after they get into that comfortable relationship. My other friends in the business have confirmed the same insight.

I was told by a female client that she waxed until she got the man hooked and then once she hooked him said he wasn’t going anywhere. This comment makes it sound like waxing means your partner won’t cheat on you and this isn’t even remotely what I want to emphasize. I do on the other hand want to emphasize that more than likely the point of waxing was to make you feel good about yourself and promoting self-confidence and sexiness from within which is what your partner was attracted to.

Anyone that’s been in a relationship knows that over the year’s people tend to “let themselves go” which does frustrate and disappoint the other partner. In my mind, beauty services such as hair removal, mani/pedi’s and haircuts/color are equal to going to the gym. Self-care is important for ourselves and our intimate relationships, not just the shallowness that seems to be associated with doing this.

Whatever you did before you got the guy/girl you should still keep doing. Women still need to keep the sparkle and men still need to appreciate that you do this. Men are not exempt from this either, if he was grooming before he should still be at it after he’s gotten the girl. I even have husbands and wives that come in together, I think this is so awesome. Partners that wax together stay together!

Cons: Ingrown hairs can still be a problem. The hair is trying to grow up and out of the follicle but our skin sometimes can grow over and the hair gets stuck. Exfoliating with mits in a circular motion, up towards the heart or using a body scrub made from sea salt or sugar can help remove the dead skin so the hair doesn’t get trapped.

2) Waxing can be uncomfortable, each body part has a different sensation and each person has a different pain threshold (no caffeine within 2 hours prior and taking Tylenol or ibuprofen can help.

3) Redness and even sometimes bleeding can occur. Redness happens mainly on the face and bleeding primarily on very coarse hair and the main areas are back and chest for men, sometimes pubic hair and brows. It’s very miniscule but can freak people out if they aren’t warned. Redness on face can last up to 24 hours in very unusual cases, 1-3 hours is more common.

4) Bruising the only time this can happen is for women when they are near their cycle or pregnant, it’s very rare for this to occur. Also if you have an inexperienced waxer and they pull up towards the ceiling this can cause bruising.

Pros: You only need to wax every 4-6 weeks on average to allow all three stages of hair growth to come back, some people will come in every three because they hate the hair growth and want it gone. Shaving is something people do 1-2 times a day to 3-4 times a week depending on how much hair they have and how fast it grows back. Waxing pulls the hair out at the root (think about it like a weed in a garden) the hair will grow back but it takes a while for the root to grow and then become long enough to be pulled out again.

2) The more you pull it out the less likely it will be to grow back over time, waxing weakens the hair follicle unlike shaving which cuts it at the thickest part of the hair shaft therefore growing back thick and prickly.

3) The hair will grow back thinner and less coarse. Everyone is different and it can depend on your ethnic background on how long it takes for your hair to thin out and soften up. People of Irish, French and German decent as well as Mediterranean blooded people tend to have coarser, darker, thicker hair so blame your genetics for that one.

4) If all the stages of your hair have grown out properly and you have been patient and waited then you will love the feeling of freshly waxed skin. It’s smooth and you feel clean with no razor rash or burns.

So there you have it in a nutshell, waxing is awesome and worth the discomfort that goes away quickly. My suggestion if you are hesitant is to ease into slowly. Starting out with one major body part at a time or a few small ones.