Waxing instead of shaving?

uoficowboy · Post by **uoficowboy** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:26 pm

So... this is a strange idea...

I hadn't shaved in a couple days and my girlfriend grabbed me and went to town on my mustache with tweezers. It was less painful than expected, and I suddenly had a really smooth upper lip.

And now it's gotten me thinking - could there be something to this? I'm thinking about waxing, more than individually tweezing every hair. My understanding of waxing is that it makes hair not grow back for a number of weeks, and when it does grow back, it grows back thinner.

So - would it make sense to get my face waxed a couple times, then maybe switch back to shaving? (or maybe just stick with waxing for good)

Seems like it'd make shaving easier. Or if you kept doing it - you wouldn't have to shave ever. Honestly - if I could save those 10 minutes every morning I'd be very happy.

I know this seems like a pretty bizarre idea - but I think my logic is sound.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:39 pm

I agree, bizarre idea.

stagger · Post by **stagger** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:52 pm

Yup, bizarre idea.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:00 pm

I agree with Squire and Mark. Furthermore, since this is a shaving hobbyist's forum you're not likely to get much support for declining to shave ( chuckle ). The members here LIKE to shave, so would not be interested in ways and means to avoid it I don't think.
Regards,
Gordon

KAV · Post by **KAV** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:12 pm

Skin waxing can lead to loss of skin elasticity later in life with increased wrinkling. Immediate problems may include redness, rashes, ingrown hairs and subcutaneous bleeding. Improperly applied wax can cause darkening of the skin or spots which may take up to a year to fade.
I dated a cosmetologist. To bad her eyes were so close together in spite of plucking

( aka dumb except for cosmetology)

M6Classic · Post by **M6Classic** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:57 pm

There must be a list for masochists...perhaps even a specialist forum for shaving and masochism.

Buzz

Ecosse · Post by **Ecosse** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:09 pm

Its your body, do what you want. But for me, wax is for women.

uoficowboy · Post by **uoficowboy** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:10 pm

KAV wrote:Skin waxing can lead to loss of skin elasticity later in life with increased wrinkling. Immediate problems may include redness, rashes, ingrown hairs and subcutaneous bleeding. Improperly applied wax can cause darkening of the skin or spots which may take up to a year to fade.
I dated a cosmetologist. To bad her eyes were so close together in spite of plucking ( aka dumb except for cosmetology)

Thanks for being the only person to offer a useful response.

The rest of you ought to be embarrassed for being so closed minded. Good god. Just because something is unfamiliar does not mean it's bad.

TRBeck · Post by **TRBeck** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:31 pm

Most of the posts simply agreed with you that it is a strange idea.

And, as Gordon pointed out, Shave My Face is perhaps not the ideal site to get support for the notion of not shaving.

That said, talk to a few women who wax sensitive areas. I suspect most will tell you that the waxing should be done 24 hours or more in advance of whenever they want a particular person to, er, see the area in question. Then consider how long you can go without someone seeing your upper lip.

Regards,

M6Classic · Post by **M6Classic** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:44 pm

uoficowboy wrote:Thanks for being the only person to offer a useful response.

The rest of you ought to be embarrassed for being so closed minded. Good god. Just because something is unfamiliar does not mean it's bad.

Burning beard hairs off one by one with a soldering iron is also unfamiliar.

Embarrassed for thinking that face waxing would be painful to the point of masochism, damaging to the skin, and unfamiliar? No, no I'm not.

Buzz

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:59 pm

Embarrassed, no. Amused, yes.

Ecosse · Post by **Ecosse** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:59 pm

uoficowboy wrote:
KAV wrote:Skin waxing can lead to loss of skin elasticity later in life with increased wrinkling. Immediate problems may include redness, rashes, ingrown hairs and subcutaneous bleeding. Improperly applied wax can cause darkening of the skin or spots which may take up to a year to fade.
I dated a cosmetologist. To bad her eyes were so close together in spite of plucking ( aka dumb except for cosmetology)
Thanks for being the only person to offer a useful response.

The rest of you ought to be embarrassed for being so closed minded. Good god. Just because something is unfamiliar does not mean it's bad.

Child please!

uoficowboy · Post by **uoficowboy** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:06 pm

TBoner wrote:Most of the posts simply agreed with you that it is a strange idea.

And, as Gordon pointed out, Shave My Face is perhaps not the ideal site to get support for the notion of not shaving.

That said, talk to a few women who wax sensitive areas. I suspect most will tell you that the waxing should be done 24 hours or more in advance of whenever they want a particular person to, er, see the area in question. Then consider how long you can go without someone seeing your upper lip.

Regards,

I would suggest that a lot of the people at SMF are here because we are interested in finding better ways to get rid of facial hair. Be that switching from cartridge to safety razors, or something else. I'm just suggesting the latter. I think this is the ideal place for it.

I wouldn't mind looking funny over a weekend. I'm typically so wrapped up in personal projects on the weekend that I hardly see anybody besides my roommates. I will try asking around.

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:12 pm

Actually, it’s an interesting topic, as it touches upon not only how, but why men shave.

We could all just grow beards and cut them when they become cumbersome, and some men do grow beards. But shaving has been around a long time, and the majority of men in Western cultures shave. There have been various products such as depilatories/waxes for men to reduce facial here, but they have never really caught on. Three possibilities:

1. The products are not well developed, i.e., they are not as overall effective as shaving.
2. The razor companies are a vast and coordinated conspiracy suppressing these alternatives in order to maintain their monopolies on facial hair removal, thus ensuring their profits from obscenely priced multi-blade cartridges (i.e., basically what we all know to be true here at SMF).
3. Given the opportunity to remove facial hair for either extended periods of time or permanently, men prefer to shave instead.

I’m going to go with #3 above. I think there are deep cultural and gender identity reasons why men shave. It is an obvious secondary sex characteristic: it is an outward sign of masculinity. Shaving is deeply ingrained as a right of passage in our culture, and signals a transition to manhood (we could I suppose circumcise male children at age thirteen, or have them hunt and kill a lion, but I suspect there would be few volunteers today).

The members of this forum are perhaps not the best group to explore this, since we actually enjoy and obsess over the tradition and ritual. Perhaps one of our members who have a background in socio-cultural anthropology could chime in (surely someone’s an expert; we have just about every other field covered here).

Steve

nteeman · Post by **nteeman** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:18 pm

I find the idea of waxing my face instead of shaving with blade and cream absolutely repulsive!

I only wax my legs!

KAV · Post by **KAV** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:24 pm

We may think our generation is especially clever, but the basic premise of the wheel has withstood lots of competition that didn't roll very far. Men have been removing facial hair as far back as the painted paleolithic caves of France and Spain ( Etchings on the cave floor nearly obliterated to improve access at Lascaux reveal portaits of clean shaven men with upturned noses still seen in Van Gogh paitings and sewn caps.)
Beeswax is an equally ancient resource. I figure somebody probably tried slapping a molten quantity on his face while the elders silently giggled while knapping out a fresh razor or saving a clamshell from the evening clambake.

M.A. Archaeology UCB - I knew my eddikashoun would pay off someday.

kronos9 · Post by **kronos9** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:24 pm

I wax my car. I shave my face. In both cases, I use quality products and proper technique.

stagger · Post by **stagger** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:42 pm

Embarrassed? LMAO Far from it. This is getting funnier by the minute. Waxing is for women..................................and sissies.

marsos52 · Post by **marsos52** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:42 pm

o the pain !!! i shiver and twitch just thinking about it ...

but think of the side effects...tweezing and waxing removes the hair below
the skin line... way below

as the hair begins to grow out there are strong possiblites for ingrowns like you have never seen

and maybe some other ill effects as well

man up, and enjoy the daily feeling of cold steel and the art of using something that is a sharper than sharp on one of the more tender parts of your body

cutting hair is good, yanking hair,,,,not so good

i_shaved_something · Post by **i_shaved_something** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:53 pm

I think alot of it also depends on your particular hair. You mention your GF was able to tweeze your hair and you were able to tolerate it. How long did that take? If someone tried to tweeze mine they'd be there a week and would be unbearable.
Women do wax their lips, but they also tend to have a lighter and less dense mustache. If you have a light mustache then who knows maybe waxing may work for you. I know there's no way it'd work for me with my thick hair. Heck, give it a try, let us know how it works out....