Tom tries it

Beauty expert Thomas Swallow recently visited 193 Whitecross Street to get his bits waxed and report back on what it felt like.

The world of male grooming can be a daunting place. With a myriad of product types and treatments available, it’s hard to know what products you need to be using and what treatments are right for you. Carry on reading below, to hear about Tom’s experience trying intimate waxing for the first time. Yes, you heard right, he even put his manhood on the line this week!

'So as the intro suggests, this week I put my manhood on the line and leapt into the world of male intimate waxing. I really don’t do things by halves, could have started with a cheeky chest wax but no, not me. With 193 Whitecross Street clinic in London, we went all out and did the full Hollywood wax experience. Yes, I am now quite literally as smooth as a baby’s butt!

So if you’ve ever been curious about waxing your meat and two veg, then make sure to carry on reading, as we take you through the whole procedure from preparation to after-care.

What is intimate waxing?

I suppose the best place to start for those of you who don’t know, is to explain just exactly what intimate waxing is.

The basic premise of waxing is to use warm or hot wax, to physically remove hair from the body. In the case of warm wax, this is often done with the help of waxing strips that adhere to the wax and help the remove the product and hair from the skin. When dealing with hot wax, however, the use of a waxing strip is often not needed. The wax is left to cool on the skin and then removed directly.

Intimate waxing as the name suggests is the same premise but centred around the removal of hair from the genital area. There are two main types of intimate waxing offered to men:

1. The Hollywood Wax: The complete removal of all hair from the pubic triangle, balls, penis, scrotum, buttocks and crack.
2. The Brazilian Wax:The complete removal of all hair from the balls, penis, scrotum, buttocks and crack. While only trimming down the pubic triangle.

So, of course, we went for the Hollywood option! It was the week of my birthday, we had to go all out!

How to prepare for intimate waxing?

Now, this is something that I definitely thought was more daunting than it actually was. Personally, I thought there would be a multitude of steps in getting your skin/hair ready for waxing, but it can all be outlined in 3 simple steps:

1. Don’t moisturise the area on the day of waxing, otherwise, it will be harder for the wax to adhere to the hairs.

1. Don’t do any sports or gym work for at least 3 hours prior to your appointment. We need to be clean and avoid sweat here guys!
2. Finally, simply don’t shave or trim the area being waxed. I was personally conscious of this, may have let the bush grow out a bit to make sure it was long enough. If the hair is too short or too long, the wax can’t adhere.

Simple right?

During the treatment:

Now, this is the bit that I know you’re all the most curious about. We’ve all heard the stories of how much waxing hurts and I’m not going to lie to you and say it’s painless. When being waxed you are physically ripping the hair from your skin and so, of course, it is going to painful. Especially in sensitive areas. <

What I will say though, is that it is in no way as painful as you think it is going to be. The best way I can describe it is a burning sensation that goes away just as quickly as it comes. Of course, there are certain areas that are more sensitive and naturally feel more painful than others but with a light bit of pressure on the skin afterwards, the burning sensation quickly disappeared.

This is why it’s important to have an expert clinician doing a procedure like this though. The pain you experience is directly relational to how good your clinician is. If they can get the wax on and off in a quick and effective motion, the pain will be minimal. If they don’t know what they’re doing and are tugging at the wax, it’s gonna hurt like hell!

So now the pain rumours have been dispelled, let’s get on to going through the procedure:

1. The practitioner had me get on my elbows and knees to wax my buttocks and crack. This position although a little embarrassing is the best position you can be in for getting waxed in this area. The skin is made taught in the position and ensure the wax can be removed easily and effectively.
2. He started proceedings by checking the temperature of the hot wax against my skin and then dripping some down my crack. By doing this step first, he was allowing the hot wax to cool and adhere to the hair between my cheeks as long as possible.
3. While cooling he then went on to use warm wax along with waxing strips to remove the exterior hair on my buttocks and lower back. By doing warm waxing in these less sensitive areas, he was able to remove the hair in the most effective and speedy manner.
4. It was time to wax my crack and honestly, I thought this part was going to be the most painful out of the entire treatment. You know, nerve endings and all that! Surprisingly though, it was the least painful and after expressing my shock to the practitioner, he explained why. Basically, using hot wax is a much more painless method of hair removal than using warm wax and therefore he only ever uses hot wax on sensitive areas.
5. The practitioner then went on to moisturise the entire area and by the time he was done, I was pain-free and smooth as a baby!
6. After I had my smooth baby butt, I was asked to lay on my back and think of England. It was time to wax little Tom! Now similarly to waxing my crack, the practitioner used hot wax to remove the hair from my frontal area. This was by no means as pain-free as having my crack waxed but it wasn’t unbearable. Surprisingly though, it was my pubic triangle that actually caused the most pain but as I said earlier, with a light bit of pressure from the practitioner the pain was gone in seconds.
7. Finally, once all the hair had been removed, the practitioner went on to moisturise the area and once again by the time he was done, I was pain-free. Job’s a good’un, as my dad would say.

After-care:

Similarly to the preparation stage, I thought this would be a lot more complicated than it actually was. The basic premise for after-care, was as follows:

1. Just don’t shower for the first 24 hrs and when you do, make it a cool shower. You need to let your skin recover after hair removal and the best way is to let it rest for the first 24 hrs, while the skin barrier repairs.
2. Avoid any fragrance for the first 24 hrs and avoid any sporting activity for the next 48 hrs. As with the showering, this is to avoid any unnecessary irritation to the skin.
3. Following this initial period, the after-care is straightforward. Exfoliate once a week to avoid ingrown hairs and apply moisturiser regularly to avoid irritation.

How much does it cost?

Well obviously we can’t speak for every single salon in the UK but at 193 Whitecross Street the pricing is as follows:

Male Brazilian Waxing: £55.00

Male Hollywood Waxing: £60.00

Personally, for the level of service you get, I think the pricing is completely justified. Obviously, this is all subjective but for a treatment that lasts for around 6 weeks, I think the results by far justify the pricing.

Final thoughts:

You know I can safely say, that I’m glad I tried the whole Hollywood waxing experience at least once in my life. It’s a strange sensation at first being completely hairless down there but I think aesthetically everything just looks well-groomed and sharper.

So would I have it done again? You know, I probably would. I would definitely have my ass waxed again, as I don’t feel I could deal with a hairy crack again after this but I would possibly opt for a Brazilian wax next time. Basically, I’d go through it all again but maybe just trim the bush. You know to avoid the most painful part!'