If you’ve ever waxed an area of your body before, you know that pain is beauty.
Just because waxing can be slightly painful, though, doesn’t mean that you have to put up with the pimples and skin infections that sometimes rear their ugly heads.
So how can you stay acne free after your next wax? While there is no way to guarantee you won’t get a pimple or two, there are steps you can take to minimize the risk. Continue reading to discover eight handy tips you can use to stave off that acne.
1. Clean The Area Before Waxing
Yes, we did promise that we’d give you tips for keeping acne at bay after you wax. Sometimes, however, the best way to avoid acne is to take precautions before you wax.
Your first order of business should be to exfoliate a couple of days before you wax. Doing so will help you remove any bacteria and dirt from the area. If left alone, that bacteria could cause an infection after your waxing session.
Cleansing the area before you wax will also help make the process run more smoothly. Buildup can make waxing less effective, which means that you’ll have to wax again in the near future.
2. Avoid Oils
If you’re looking to join the post-wax acne free club, you might want to avoid oils on acne-prone areas for a while after you wax. Though oils can have great benefits for your skin, if you are acne prone, it can also clog your pores after waxing.
And clogged pores can lead to pimples.
As a result, you’ll want to invest in some oil-free moisturizers. Some people opt to use aloe vera or witch hazel to tend to their skin. These moisturizers are also great because they help relieve irritation after you’ve waxed.
3. Don’t Touch The Area
After a good wax, running your hands across your smooth skin can be tempting. You just want to take a moment and appreciate the results just like all of the models you see in those commercials.
But, realistically speaking, that’s a bad idea.
As it turns out, getting too touchy feely with your skin after a wax can cause some acne. This is because you’re transferring bacteria from your hands to the newly waxed area.
Not only that, but you could be transferring oils to the waxed area as well. Transferring sebum from your scalp to other body parts, for instance, isn’t uncommon.
4. Don’t Exercise Too Soon Afterwards
Waxing is a part of many of beauty routines. For some of us, exercise is as well. If we want to stay acne free, however, we have to be careful about how we mix the two elements of our routines.
Generally speaking, exercising too soon after you wax isn’t a great idea. The sweat which pours down our skin after our workouts can cause unsightly breakouts.
Because of this, you should plan to get your intense workout out of the way before you wax your skin. If you do exercise soon after waxing, make the session light. This will minimize the amount of sweat you produce.
5. Clean The Area Again
Not too long ago, we suggested that you clean your skin before waxing the intended area. Now we’re suggesting that you clean it again after you wax.
But isn’t this redundant?
Absolutely not. But why?
After you wax your skin, the area becomes more vulnerable. You have, after all, just removed the hairs from the follicles. The skin needs time to recover.
Consequently, you need to doctor your skin up immediately. Witch hazel or any other antiseptic substance should help prevent infection, thereby preventing pimples.
6. Stay Away From Tight Clothing
This one might come as a surprise to anyone who doesn’t know that tight clothing has anything to do with acne. As it turns out, wearing tight clothing negatively affects your skin in multiple ways.
First and foremost, tight clothing doesn’t allow your skin to breathe. This essentially means that all of the sweat and dirt that accumulate under tight clothing has nowhere to go.
Except, of course, into your skin.
That buildup might ultimately lead to acne. That’s especially true right after you’ve removed the hair from that skin.
Tight clothes could also cause another problem. They have the potential to dry your skin out more than looser clothing. Dry skin can lead to clogged pores, and clogged pores, as we’ve established, can lead to acne.
So much for that acne free wax.
7. Wax on a Schedule
If you’re going to wax your skin, it helps to do so consistently. Doing so will ensure that your skin adjusts to the process.
Some people recommend that you wax once a month. Others suggest that you can go as long as a month and a half without waxing. If you’re planning on sticking to that upper limit,
If you’re planning on sticking to that upper limit, you have to be careful not to go over it by too much. Missing an appointment can mean that your skin will “reset,” which means that your skin will have to go through the adjustment period again.
And, yes, that adjustment period might come with skin irritations and rashes. This is why it’s so important to get your skin on a schedule.
8. Don’t Pop Those Pimples
Alright. We’re trying to keep you acne free. Even so, acne happens, and when it does, you don’t want it to spread.
And how do you nip acne in the bud before it gets out of control?
Don’t. Pop. Those. Pimples.
Popping a pimple every now and then might be tempting, but it only spreads bacteria. Popping one might just lead to another nearby. Or, depending on the areas you touched afterward, it could lead to another in a completely different area.
Instead of squeezing your pimples, just apply some sort of pimple-fighting substance to them. They’ll be gone in no time.
Enjoy Being Acne Free After Your Wax
So what’s our final piece of advice for you? Well, just enjoy being acne free. Feel free to strut your stuff and flaunt your newly waxed legs or arms or whatever it is you love to wax.
Got any tips for fending off acne after a wax that you think we missed? Leave a comment below and give us the details.