Professional chest wax - big problems!

Hair Removal Methods Waxing and Sugaring
#1

Hi everyone,

I’m male and 25, and three weeks ago I got my chest waxed for the first time. I went to a very reputable wax bar in London, took massive amounts of courage as I was dreading it! So it didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, and I was pretty relieved and happy. My chest went all red straight away and the girl that did the wax told me it would go away in a day or so and gave me a spray thing to calm it down and prevent ingrown hairs. By that evening my chest had broke out into a ton of red bumps and spots all over it, these lasted for TEN DAYS, even still there are a couple at the very top of my chest/base of my neck that I can still see, even if they are now very faint. To top it all off, I could see several tiny fine hairs growing back on my chest within about four days of getting it done! What the hell is going on?!

Overall it was a disaster - I initially felt great that it didn’t hurt too bad, but then I ended up having to wear shirts buttoned right up etc. for the next two weeks because of all the bumps. I have no idea what to do now - do you think it was a fault of the girl that did the wax, or is my skin just not suitable for waxing? It’s utterly depressing because although I don’t have much hair on my chest, I’m really conscious of it and I’d love to be comfortable wearing deep neck tshirts or just shirts with the top couple of buttons undone. Help…

#2

Hi Jason,

The hairs that are coming through are probably from the next growth cycle that were just below the skin when you had your wax.
This is assuming it was done properly and the hairs weren’t broken instead of being pulled out.

Some people do have sensitive skin and will always get this kind of reaction. But for many people, it’s just something that happens after the first wax or two.

You need good aftercare. Aloe Vera Gel can be used immediately to help calm the skin down and protect it. Tea tree oil can be used when the skin has calmed down to prevent whiteheads etc. My favourite is Witch Hazel, it’s cooling and protecting.

#3

Assuming nothing was done wrong, then stoppit is right. Some people are just sensitive to it. But after a few times, it won’t keep reacting this badly. There are tons of products out there to prevent this too. So if you really want to keep waxing, then you don’t have to throw in the towel just yet. :slight_smile:

#4

I did a full chest and abs waxing last year and I had horrible ingrown hairs, bumps and what looked like acne all over my abs and some on the chest. I first thought it would all go away in a week, but it lasted almost a YEAR! I still have some ingrown hairs on my abs that don’t go away. I used a lot of tea tree oil, Tend Skin, Aloe Vera for many months. I will never wax anything ever again. My summer was ruined last year because of it.

#5

Exfoliate! I’ve never heard of anyone have a post-wax reaction that lasted for a year even with sensitive skin. Maybe you should just avoid waxing since your skin can’t handle it?

Alternatively, look into Middle Eastern places where they use sugaring. It’s literally sugar, lemon juice and water that they use and it’s much more milder than wax in terms of it’s effect on the skin. It doesn’t take the upper skin cells off, just the hair.

#6

My waxing was done with sugaring exactly to avoid problems from traditional wax. It looked like hot honey when she applied it. Most of the problems was with stuck ingrown hairs that became infected and caused acne like problems. That was my first time and only time did I ever try waxing before. Then I started reading a lot of guys complaining of similar problems. Hair bulbs get ripped out and distort the follicles which create complications.

#7

Well I am going to get it done again to see if it still reacts as badly - probably getting it done tomorrow or Friday so I will post here and let people know how it goes. Fingers crossed it’s better!

#8

Well I’ve had my chest wax twice more since I posted in this thread last. Second time there wasn’t much improvement, third time there was a small improvement, but my skin still broke out in red spots and by the time it was better, the hair had started to grow back (really not much longer than a week). However I noticed with the third time I got my stomach waxed as well and this turned out great - it was much more painful than my upper chest, but I got virtually no spots and had a really smooth stomach for a few weeks which was great.

Am going to try getting my upper chest sugared this week… I will post here and let people know how it goes.

#9

May try hard wax as well. It sticks just to the hair and not the skin. My skin was awful after traditional wax. J

#10

Are you going to different waxers? You may want to try a few people out. Technique and aftercare matter.