Bikini Wax

Bored with spackling rhinestones all over your ladybits already? Never fear, there's a whole new kind of bikini wax extra to leave your lover slack-jawed: custom airbrush bikini tattoos. For $75, trained estheticians at Completely Bare in New York will airbrush on a flower, butterfly, sun, or calligraphic word in the color of your choosing. The faux ink is supposed to last for five days and is waterproof, though stuff like baby oil and alcohol will remove them — so you can forget that hot oil massage.

This is a pretty fancy fake tattoo, although given the Chanel and Kat Von D faux ink sets that have come out lately, spendy temporary tats are clearly having a moment. What do you think? Are bikini-line temporary tattoos gonna be so hot we'll need a fire extinguisher? Or are they another pubic enemy?

Ah, ingrowns. They're painful, they look unpleasant, and they have a nasty tendency to show up in your most sensitive spots. Especially since bikinis and short-shorts are only a few weeks away, there's no better time to find out how to prevent them from happening. Yani Cifuentes, a waxing professional from LA's Stark Waxing Studio, talked to me about what we can do to keep ingrowns from rearing their ugly heads. To get her advice, just keep reading.

Some people are taking the overshare to the next level. Ice-T's wife Coco decided to tweet her Brazilian (Twitpic removed the picture, but if you must, the NSFW nakedness is here). Last week, Kathy Griffin had a pap smear done live poolside—for a good cause, but still. And vajazzling videos galore are popping up on YouTube. (Thanks, Jennifer Love Hewitt.) It's not just celebrities who seem to be eager to make their ladybits subject to public scrutiny, though. There's a lot going on here, so to see more about it, just keep reading.

Yesterday, a friend told a tale of waxing gone uncomfortably bad. Instead of going to her usual bikini waxer across town, she decided to hit up a different salon closer to her home. But this service was completely different. The waxer wore no gloves, having no qualms about touching my friend's most intimate parts. It should go without saying, but my friend wasn't keen on the sanitary levels of the salon. She's vowed to never return.

In general, I'm a big fan of people snapping on the latex whenever they're going to be in my business — and yes, that includes estheticians and waxers. What would you have done in this situation? Would you have said something?

Do you really need a Brazilian wax these days? That's the question a woman posed to the Times of London, after a new beau was "shocked" by her presence of pubic hair. In her letter, she says, "I don’t think that a permanent tan and Brazilian wax should be dealbreakers in a relationship. Or am I just hopelessly outdated?"

Long story short, advice columnist Suzi Godson tells the woman to let 'er rip. "Grooming down there is now considered to be normal, on a par with manicures, blow-drying, and eyebrow waxing," she says. "There is something hugely irritating about being forced to conform to an aesthetic ideal instigated and perpetuated by the porn industry, but, like keeping one’s armpits and legs smooth, it is now expected."

Oh brother. You already know that I hate, hate, hate the whole "wax, or else you are gross and undesirable!" standpoint, but I wanted to get a professional opinion on the matter. So I turned to sex educator Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., MPH, author of Because It Feels Good. Her advice is about 10 times better than Godson's, so read more.

If I were carrying a baby Bella inside me, I'd like to think that I'd have some pressing issues on my mind: Lamaze classes, proper nutrition, getting the nursery ready, that sort of thing. Pubic grooming doesn't make the list. (It's not like I'd be able to see anything below my bump, anyway.) But if you want to test your pain threshold before the birth, you could always go in for a bikini wax. Completely Bare spas have introduced a prenatal wax for pregnant women.

Developed with the help of a physician and esthetician, the service aims to make hair removal more comfortable for the bun-in-the-oven set. Since pregnant women frequently have sensitive skin and reduced maneuverability, the treatment incorporates special pillows, different positions, and a nipple cream to soothe freshly waxed skin. For women who love to be bare, it's a smart idea. But I have a feeling that if I were incubating Bella Jr., I'd probably rather splurge on a nice foot massage than deforestation.

Source: Flickr User daquellamanera