What is a Brazilian Wax?
Some salons are quite specific regarding how much hair is removed for the service to qualify as a Brazilian service. I support everyone’s take on the service, what to charge and how much hair is removed, there’s not really a wrong answer. Personally, a Brazilian just means all hair removed front to back. If someone wants a landing strip left, I have no problem with that and don’t charge a different price.
Today I’ll be talking about using sugar wax not traditional wax. At the same time, many of the positioning tips and process tips are useful for both wax and sugar. One of my favorite things to do is convert waxers to sugaring for this particular area. I realize there are pictures and videos all over the internet regarding Brazilian waxes, I personally don’t post pictures of this area so I won’t have pictures on this blog post either. The descriptions will be sufficient. This is not a beginner area so if you are learning how to mold and flick your sugar, do not do a Brazilian until you are proficient at handling your sugar.
How to Do a Professional Brazilian Wax
Getting started in learning how to do a Brazilian is intimidating for most so don’t get down on yourself for being nervous. Guess what, your client is nervous too, even the ones who have been doing Brazilians for years. My best advice is to have a routine that is used on every body that comes through the door. Start at the same spot and end at the same spot every time with every client regardless if it’s a first timer or maintenance. This will always result in consistency. I always start with the client lying flat on their back with one leg straight and the other leg next to me bent making the shape of a 4. My starting point every time is at the top corner of the bikini area towards the hip bone. Working my way diagonally to the top of the pubic bone. With Sugar Wax remember always to start and stop outside of any hair. What do I mean? I mean, do not put the ball of sugar in the center of a spot with hair and then mold. This only exaggerates the hair being pulled while molding the sugar paste causing extra pain/discomfort but no benefit of hair removal. Place your sugar ball above the hair line where no hair exists, pull/mold the sugar through the hair until you’ve reached another non-hairy area. The sugar should be molded 2-3 times before flicking the sugar off removing the hair. If you follow this rule it will lessen the pain experienced by your client. So we have started at the top corner of the bikini area and worked our way all the way to the top of the pubic bone. By doing this first, it creates a very clear path to do the labia or scrotum without getting the hairs at the top of the pubic bone stuck in the wax/sugar. This also creates an easy transition to the other side. Rinse and repeat the sequence of starting at the top corner working down diagonally. The second side is easier because you’ve already cleared the mid line.
Positioning of your client is another key element to a successful Brazilian. The 4 shaped position of their legs is ideal for most of the Brazilian service male or female. In order to get a good angle on the center of the body at the bottom of the butt cheek where it meets the bottom of the labia is to have the client hold their knee towards their chest. This pulls the skin in that area up so it’s easily accessible. There are several positions to do the back between the cheeks. My go to is to have the client lay flat on their belly, reach their arms around to pull apart their beautiful buns while I get extra thorough in there.
How to Position Yourself to Perform a Brazilian Wax
Positioning yourself is also important to develop healthy habits. It is easy to ignore our own body position because we are so focused on the task at hand. However, it’s not sustainable for your body and injury is almost inevitable with repetition. Do not be afraid to move around. With sugar wax the application is to mold the sugar against the hair growth direction and flick/pull the sugar off in the direction the hair is growing. This is exact opposite of how traditional wax is used. Hair is forgiving but best results and the best root removal is to follow this rule as best you can. Because hair can grow in different directions, don’t be afraid to reposition your own body so you are always pulling the sugar towards your body and flicking away from your body. If you find yourself molding sideways and not directly towards your body, move your body. Another important tip in this area is weather you prefer to stand or sit. I personally prefer to stand so I can easily move around. I’m not super tall, but I do have my table high so I am not hunched over. I provide a little step stool for my shorter clients to get on the table. A common joke in my salon is for clients to do a running start scissor kick onto the table. Do lighten the client's anxiety any chance you get when appropriate.
Key Time Saving Tips and Tricks While Doing a Brazilian Wax
Last but not least, how in the world do I accomplish a full and thorough Brazilian sugar under ten minutes? My average time is 5-7 mins for the actual Brazilian but the prep work is an area where time is saved as well. The key elements to time saving are as follows:
- While the client is undressing, I am putting on my gloves. Many salons provide privacy during this time by stepping out of the room. The client is there to have you rip every strand of hair from their private area….so I don’t see the logic in providing privacy because I’m going to see every nook and cranny anyways. It’s not as if I’m standing there watching them. Usually my back is towards them while putting on my gloves. I have also been very glad to be there the one or two times a client almost fell while getting on the table. Being there to avoid an insurance claim was a relief.
- For sugaring, an extremely tight well-fitting nitrile glove is ideal. If the glove on your sugaring hand is loose it will pull right off of your hand as you mold the sugar. One needs a dry hand to successfully get into this tight glove. Nitrile is also a more expensive glove so you really don’t want to keep ripping gloves and not get use out of them. My time saving solution is to put on ONE nitrile glove onto my sugaring hand, one less expensive less fitted vinyl glove on my non sugaring hand and one less expensive vinyl glove over the fancy nitrile glove. What a waste you might say and why!? After you’ve ripped a bunch of nitrile gloves and literally throwing money in the trash can you might see the value. The other reason for the double glove on my sugaring hand is because you have to wear gloves to prepare your clients skin. This is done by cleansing the skin and a dusting of powder. When I have a glove covering my nitrile glove I can freely do this step and then take off the vinyl glove revealing a clean nitrile glove to put into the jar of sugar wax. Lastly my hands get hot so fast in a glove, there is no way I could cleanse, powder and then get into the super tight glove.
- I’ve already talked in detail about this element, but a consistent routine really does provide faster and consistent results. Pretty soon you can practically do it with your eyes closed. Kidding. Start and stop at the same point on every single client that comes through the door. Find your preferred body positions for yourself and your client and stick with it. Clients love it when they don’t have to think about where to put their legs because you are telling them and helping them along the way.
- The amount of sugar used. I use slightly more than I need to. Not a huge amount, but a little bit more. This allows me to do larger patches at a time. I don’t know about you but I’ve seen people get trained to do small quarter size spots at a time….of course it takes 30 minutes to do a brazilian this way. I also use my sugar to get into those nooks and crannies not clumsy tools. For example, many people have trouble getting those hairs inside the labia. Using the ring finger side of sugar ball, stick the sugar to the labia gently opening it and then mold the main ball of sugar inside the labia. There’s no need to “finger” the client or use tools to open the labia. Using your sugar is continuing the service without the delay of switching tools or hands. This same technique is used for any hard to reach folds on men and women.
- My final tip is don’t pussy foot around it, it’s going to hurt, just get it done. I don’t do time outs or breaks because it just makes the entire experience last longer unnecessarily. I also don’t put my hand over the spot I just pulled the hair off of to “lessen the pain”. By doing that it literally doubles the time it takes to finish the service and the actual lessening of pain is not significant enough to make it worthwhile. Many times the client will ask for a break, I politely say no, at the end of it all they thank me profusely for not doing breaks and just getting it done.
Want to get really good really fast? Practice on yourself. That’s right, practice on yourself. You can’t tell things like the amount of pressure you’re applying or how certain movements hurt more than others when you do it to someone else. I started doing myself in beauty school as a strategy to not have hair down there for my fellow classmates to practice on. We were all bad because we were all learning. However, by doing myself I learned a lot in a very short amount of time. Passing those lessons onto my clients and my five star reviews speak for themselves.