The Brazilian Wax

A cult of pain has swept the Western World over the last few years. It's led by women in white coats waving hot spatulas of wax unsettlingly close to those bits your mother might not have told you about.

If you're wearing mascara, you might want to close this page down immediately as it may cause the eyes to water.

The Brazilian wax was introduced to New Yorkers in 1987 when seven Brazilian sisters, Jocely, Jonice, Joyce, Janea, Jussara, Juracy, and Judseia Padilha opened J. Sisters International Salon in midtown Manhattan. And women's bikini lines were changed forever!

The Brazilian bikini wax (also called the thong wax or Playbox wax) is a must-get-done for women who can endure excruciating fashion pain. Gwyneth's done it, so has Naomi. It is now so popular that BW salons have sprouted right around the world.

The Brazilian involves the spreading of hot wax on to the buttocks. A cloth is patted over the wax, then rrrrip. That's nothing compared to the next bit. Wax is smeared onto the mons, the cloth is pressed into place...then they turn the music up loud...rrripppp. It's quite normal for the waxer to throw your legs over their shoulder, or ask you to moon them so they can get the strays. The waxer then goes over your red bits with a pair of tweezers to pluck out recalcitrant strands.

Only a small exclamation mark of hair is left to curtain-off the labia.

The youngest J Sister Jonice Padilha told Salon.com: "It makes you sexy. Makes you fashion. When I don't have my bikini wax, I don't feel to have sex with my husband. I feel dirty. And even himself say, 'Try a bikini wax!' I feel free. I feel clean. I feel sensuous even when I take a shower. I feel like I've been taken care of."

And if you think the BBW is about as much pain as one could possibly bear, you ain't seen the Full Bikini Wax. Everything off. I said EVERYTHING.

Corporate Entertainment consultant Felicity Ridgeway decided to have the FBW. "I saw some pictures of naked women with no pubic hair and I thought they looked very sexy." She adds: "The three rips were very painful but not long lasting." They say that about childbirth.

But gay men have been getting full body waxes for a long time. Men's "body smoothing" salons like Melbourne's Heavenly Solutions do big business around Mardi Gras time. And I'm tipping men's tackle would require some very delicate spatula work!

Waxing lasts for around one to two months before stubble appears, unlike shaving which will have you scratching like a brown dog within 2 hours. You may get the itches and ingrown hairs, but generally it's a fairly safe procedure.

So would Felicity Ridgeway get ripped again? "Absolutely. It feels sexier and I will have it done again!"

But don't be tempted to do the FBW at home. Spend the money and get a professional waxer to do it.


- Kerryn Marlow