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Warning: Waxing Can Be Dangerous (But Here's How To Avoid A 'Killer' Leg Or Brazilian Wax)

by — 2016-01-11 in Beauty Care
You may expect to leave the salon with long-lasting smoothness, but what if you end up with a nasty infection instead? Here are some tips to avoid complications from leg and Brazilian waxing.

Imagine going for a Brazilian wax — a procedure that involves removing all or most pubic hair  — only to encounter huge amounts of pain and bleeding, followed by gradually increasing inflammation and then a high fever, a rash covering the chest and neck, genitals so swollen doctors can barely examine you, and pain like no other you've ever experienced in your life. Imagine nearly dying from a Brazilian wax.

That's exactly what happened to a 20 year old woman from Melbourne, Australia, back in 2007. She was admitted to hospital two weeks after her Brazilian wax and tested positive for Streptococcus pyogenes, an infection that almost killed her. This was an extreme case. The woman turned out to have poorly controlled Type 1 diabetes, which — like all people with weakened immune systems — simply made her a poor candidate for a Brazilian wax. The case does highlight that what we have come to think of as a routine beauty treatment does not come without risks. 

What are the possible complications of waxing, and what can you do to minimize your risks of being affected? And who should never be waxed? Let's take a good hard look at the facts. 

Dermatitis

Contact dermatitis is a skin inflammation that causes redness, swelling, and sometimes the formation of blisters after contact with an allergen or because the outer, protective layer of the skin sustained damage — which happens when you are waxed. Non-allergic dermatitis is more likely to cause you some pain than to lead to itching. If your skin is itchy, swollen, red and you have blisters, you probably have allergic contact dermatitis. 
 
Allergic contact dermatitis after waxing is almost certainly caused by rosin, one of the main ingredients in many kinds of cosmetic waxes. An allergist can confirm that you are allergic to the substance after experiencing severe swelling, redness and itching following waxing.
 
Made from pine and spruce trees, rosin can be used as an ingredient in a lot of makeup, in plasters, and even in creams. It's called by a surprisingly large number of different names. If you have a rosin allergy, you need to stay away from anything called colophonium, colophony, abietyl alcohol, abietic alcohol, methyl abietate alchol, resin terebinthinae, and tall oil.

The good news? Not all wax contains rosin, and resin isn't the same thing as rosin. If you are allergic to rosin, you can still get waxed but need to make very sure that your wax is rosin-free.

Folliculitis

Folliculitis is an umbrella term to denote an inflammation of the hair follicles, something that can be superficial or deep. Red, inflamed spots that look quite a bit like zits and that often have a white, pus-filled center point to folliculitis. Caused by bacteria, fungi, or yeast, it is also sometimes called barber's rash. Cortisone cream will help reduce the bumps, but make sure you pay your family doctor a visit if you you are still dealing with red bumps three days after getting waxed. You may need a prescription cream to deal with the problem. 

Pseudofolliculitis

Pseudofolliculitis is something you've definitely heard of already — it's better known as ingrown hairs. Those can be caused by shaving and tweezing as well as waxing, and the only treatment is letting those pesky hairs grow. More likely to strike folks with particularly coarse hair, there are some preventative measures you might like to try. Exfoliate before and after your waxing session, make sure you wear loose clothes that allow your newly waxed skin to breathe, and perhaps use a special cream to prevent ingrown hairs before your session. 
 
If, by any chance, you're DIY-ing your waxing, please make very sure that you pull the strips off in the direction of your hair growth. Not doing so greatly increases your odds of ending up with ingrown hairs. 

Should You Avoid Being Waxed, Then?

Dermatitis, folliculitis, and pseudofolliculitis aren't the only risks of waxing. If the wax is too hot, you can potentially end up with severe burns. Pain is another unpleasant side effect that leads many women to decide to shave instead of wax. However, many women routinely get waxed without any problems whatsoever, and waxing can be a safe and effective way to rid yourself of unwanted bodily hairs — but not for everyone.

Who Shouldn't Be Waxed?

OK, back to the story about the woman who nearly died from her Brazilian wax. She suffered from poorly controlled type 1 diabetes, and her case led to a review that ended with the conclusion that waxing isn't without risks. It noted that "waxing can predispose to certain bacterial and vulval infections". Those can occur through "auto-infection" — when the area you are about to get waxed comes into contact with bodily fluids it shouldn't be in contact with, to put it politely — but also because creams, towels, wax, spatulas and other equipment used during the waxing process may be contaminated by nasties from other people's bodies. Good salon hygiene is key, then. 

Still, the review warned that the number of people with conditions that severely compromise their immune systems has grown over the last two decades. Immunosuppressed individuals — those who have diabetes, HIV, or had an organ transplant, for instance, are particularly at risk of severe complications from cosmetic waxing. Diabetes, the review noted, places people at risk of "common infections, including bacterial skin and mucous membrane infections" as well as invasive group A streptococcal disease. 

While the review didn't go as far as to suggest that immunosuppressed people shouldn't be waxed at all, it did conclude that they should be warned of the risks in advance, and placed an emphasis on only going to "hygienic and reputable establishments". Do you still feel comfortable getting waxed? I wouldn't.

If you do not have a weakened immune system but do have an open scrape or cut, or a skin infection, you should wait until your problem has cleared up before getting waxed. People who use Retin-A and Accutane shouldn't have any kind of facial waxing. Other medications, such as antihistamines, tetracycline, and blood-thinning drugs, make you more sensitive to side effects from waxing as well. If you are on any kind of medication, I'd advise you to ask your family doctor and your aesthetician before you subject yourself to this hair removal method.

READ Different ways of hair removal

Questions To Ask Your Beautician

Your health and safety will be the absolute priority of any reputable salon. Aestheticians should therefore wash and disinfect their hands and wear new disposable gloves that weren't used with anyone else before touching your body. The sheets or paper covering the bed on which you get your waxing done should be fresh, the creams used should come with pumps, and any long-term equipment that is used during the process (such as tweezers) should have been sterilized in an autoclave before it touches you. Very importantly, you should make very sure there's no "double dipping" going on at your salon. Douple dipping is when a wax stick is applied to your body and then returned to the wax pot for a second application. Needless to say, this contaminates the wax pot with stuff you don't want in there and that will make you ill. 

Asking about all these things while you are also taking a good old look around the salon to make sure everything generally looks clean will help you ensure that the salon you chooose is a place worthy of making your body beautiful. 

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