If you come into any UW, you will likely end up having a conversation with one of us about the wonders of exfoliation. WE LOVE TO EXFOLIATE!

Anyone who has waxed will know that there is nothing like the feeling of a fresh Brazilian or a freshly waxed pair of legs. It’s so…liberating!  However, there is one magical step that is required in order to get a really smooth wax: that’s right…exfoliation!

Waxing is a way to exfoliate the skin.  When you come in for your service, we remove your hair, but we also remove a layer of dead, dull skin.  That’s why sometimes your skin may feel more sensitive after your treatment.  But…what about in between your waxes?  How do you say smooth?  What happens when the hairs start to grow back in and there are ingrown hairs?  What about red bumps?

So many yuck aftereffects can be avoided by regular exfoliation.  Exfoliating the skin can help to remove dead skin cells that can build up and cause irritation, redness and ingrown hairs.

Our advice: Use a 2 pronged approach to exfoliation perfection:

1. Use a chemical exfoliant.  Chemical exfoliants remove dead skin cells with the use of chemicals (you could probably have deduced that from the name).  Think AHAs, BHAs, peels…all chemical.  Our favorite?  Serious Serum OF COURSE!  Not only did we develop it, so we know it is 100% fabulous,  but it has both AHAs and BHA.  Because of that, your dead, dull skin doesn’t stand a chance.  The AHAs dissolve the glue that hold those dead cells together.  The BHAs work deeper in the skin and have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, and helps with break outs and blemishes.  BOOM!  Both are in Serious Serum along with so many other skin soothing properties.  Start using Serious Serum on waxed skin the day of your wax (we put it on everyone in the salon before they go), and use it every night on clean, dry skin.  www.seriousserum.com
2. Use a physical exfoliant.  This covers any kind of scrub type product.  Sugar scrubs, salt scrubs, coffee scrubs, dry brushes, scrubby gloves…you get the idea.  Anything that manually sloughs away dead dry skin is a winner.  However, try to avoid the scrubs that have the larger granules…like crushed up pits or ground up nut shells.  Those can be a little aggressive and also cause micro tears in the skin.  We sell quite a few scrubs, brushes and polishes at Urban Waxx.  My personal favorite right now is the Sugar Scrubs from Beaute Nouveau. They smell amazing and are incredibly moisturizing.

Chemical exfoliation is more effective than physical exfoliation, because it can worker than the surface of the skin to really loosen those dead cell bonds.  However, we recommend BOTH!  Chemical every night and physical a few times  a week.

Getting on a good routine will really help to not only allow those new hairs to come to the surface without becoming ingrown, but will also help irritation and dryness.  Just be sure to stop a day or two before your next wax.  Excessive exfoliation can irritate your skin.

Happy exfoliating, everyone! xx