Plus Size Brazilian Wax: Insanely Important Facts + My REAL Experience

For some reason, it’s the 21st century and plus-size women are still embarrassed to ask for the same pampering and grooming that their thinner counterparts have no problem signing up for.

A plus-size Brazilian wax shouldn’t be scary or embarrassing, and yet it seems to be for a lot of bigger women.

This just means we still have a lot of work to do in the body positivity movement!

So I’m here to give you the skinny on what a plus-size Brazilian wax is REALLY like.

I’m a size 24 and I’ve had a couple dozen Brazilian waxes done in my time, so I do believe I know what I’m talkin’ about here.

Be prepared for a little Brazilian wax humor, because it’s necessary when dealing with such a… sensitive subject!

Let’s get to the nitty gritty!

Are you too old or too fat for a Brazilian wax?

Honey, there is no such thing.

ALL bodies have the right to enjoy a silky smooth vulva, and your age and weight will not prevent you from achieving that.

You might have to engage in some maneuvers that a young, svelte woman might not, but this shouldn’t stop you from getting a Brazilian wax.

The main thing affected by being older or bigger is how tight your skin is, and getting it waxed is as simple as pulling it tight for the aesthetician while she does the rest of the work!

Embarrassed and self-conscious about getting a plus-size Brazilian wax?

If you want to get a Brazilian but you’re embarrassed because you’re plus-size, DON’T be. I know this is easier said than done, especially if you’re younger. You may not have reached that magical threshold of no longer giving a damn what anyone thinks of you. (Oh man, I recommend you actively work on getting there!)

But what everyone says is 100% the truth: your aesthetician has seen. it. ALL. The truth is YOU don’t know what all the other vulvas in the world look like (porn isn’t a great representation of the variety out there). Some people have great big FUPAs, some have constant boils in their groin area, others have wrinkly outer labia or even meaty, flappy inner labia.

The point is, YOUR vagina is not going to shock and awe. And even if you’ve got something just a little bit unique going on in your nether regions, any aesthetician worth her salt will NEVER say a word about it or show their thoughts about it on their face. You’re paying them for a service, and it’s their job to get it done. Period.

I went into my first plus-size Brazilian wax at nearly 28 years old and around 275 pounds, and it went far better than I could’ve hoped for. So much so that I kept going back every month for almost two years!

Benefits of Brazilian waxing

The question of how to shave your pubic hair when you’re overweight is a very common (but uncommonly expressed) one amongst plus-size women. Facts are facts: some of us are just too fat to shave our pubic hair. I’ve got enough extra padding that I literally cannot see my vagina without looking in a mirror, and since I don’t have a mirror in my shower, shaving near that area is hazardous at best.

For a plus-size woman, just not having to shave blind is by far the biggest benefit of getting waxed! But there are more benefits to be had as well, like:

• Time saved: Waxing takes about as much time, if not less, as trying to shave all those same spots in the shower – and you don’t have to do it nearly as often.
  
• Lasts longer: With shaving, you’ll have stubble the very next day (and nothing itches more than a stubbly vulva). With waxing, it could be weeks before you feel any hair growing back.
  
• Soft, subtle regrowth: Since waxing pulls hair out by the root, when it does finally grow back, it will not be all at the exact same time (so you won’t wake up one day and be covered in sandpaper) and the tip will be softer (since it wasn’t bluntly cut off).
  
• No more cuts: While waxing can cause some bleeding, particularly if it’s your first time and also if you have coarse, dark hair, it’s nothing compared to the bloodshed a tiny razor nick can cause.
  
• Nothing gets missed: No matter how thin or flexible you are, there’s no way you can see all the parts a Brazilian wax gets (like your butthole). And let me just say, I don’t ever recommend shaving your butthole – that itch lasts for DAYS and will have you shoving your hand down your pants just to run your finger up and down your buttcrack on top of your underwear. (Not that I’ve ever done that or anything.)

How long does a Brazilian wax last?

If the wax goes well (everything gets pulled out as it should be), you can be silky smooth for up to three whole weeks! To maintain a Brazilian wax, most women need to go every 4 weeks or so (and as a blonde with softer pubic hair, I stretched it to five weeks in between). You’ll have about a two-week period of regrowing hair so that it’s long enough to be pulled out again.

Remember that the regrowth is subtle and not at all like having stubble, so it’s not nearly as bad as shaving and then waiting a week for it to grow back out.

Also, the longer you maintain a Brazilian (get it done regularly over time), the slower your hair growth in that area will become. Women who get them done for years and years sometimes have very little hair growth that needs to be maintained and can add an extra week or two in between appointments.

Where to get a plus-size Brazilian wax

Ask your friends for recommendations.

It’s shocking to me how many women go their entire friendships without discussing pubic hair! If you’ve never talked to your friends about it, you might not even know you already know someone with a Brazilian waxing experience. Don’t be afraid to ask for their preferred aesthetician’s name; in my experience, a woman brave enough to get a Brazilian is not too shy to talk about where they get it done.

Check reviews on Google and Yelp.

Look up “Brazilian waxing near me” and Google should be able to give you a starting point. Read the reviews for local companies (actually read them, don’t just scroll past the star ratings). You’ll get a good feel for how professional and courteous the staff is. A reviewer might even mention being a plus-size customer themselves (jackpot!).

Call with specific questions.

Once you’ve found a location or two you think might be a good fit, give them a call! You aren’t required to book an appointment and wait anxiously to get there just to find out whether or not they can accommodate someone of your size.

While many business websites have contact forms, I don’t recommend trying to ask about this particular topic through a form. They might not even understand what exactly you’re asking, and too often the emails from those forms get lost or go unnoticed.

Actually call up a spa or wax center near you and clearly verbalize your concerns. This is the only way they can clearly alleviate them! Tell them you’re interested in your very first Brazilian wax and ask any and all questions you have about the process. Then get specific and let them know you’re plus-size using whatever terms you’re comfortable with (big, fat, heavy, overweight, etc). Hell, you could even tell them your actual weight; after all, once you’ve gotten a Brazilian wax, your number on the scale will not be the most intimate detail you’ve shared with them.

NO aesthetician should have a problem waxing a woman of any size, professionally speaking. There’s a tiny chance you’ll come across one with a personal objection to it, and that person just isn’t meant to do your wax. It’s okay, she just doesn’t want to make as much money as the real professionals. Move on!

If you’re concerned about whether their waxing table can handle your weight or is wide enough to be comfortable for your body, clearly ask that question. If you’re worried about how an apron belly might get in the way during a Brazilian wax, ask if they have any experience with it! You’ll be surprised at how eager most aestheticians are to make this experience possible for you.

Meet in person before booking an appointment.

If you’ve already called them up and think the location might be a good match, ask if you can have a little “tour” of where you’ll be getting waxed. This will give you an opportunity to see if the personality of your aesthetician meshes well with yours. You should also look around for the aesthetician’s credentials and certifications hanging on the wall (they should be clearly visible).

Don’t do it at a nail salon – go to a waxing center.

I’ve heard that the European Wax Center is plus-size friendly. I haven’t personally tried them because the nearest one is almost an hour away in Louisville and I like to support local businesses when possible. But there are countless reviews and stories online about how excellent their customer service is!

If you’re near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, I can’t recommend Ecuabella enough. Geovanna is a saint and never made me feel like I was less than for being a big woman!

RELATED: Authentic Plus-Size Southern Boutiques You’ll Love

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First Brazilian waxing tips: what I wish I’d known my first time

1. You can’t have shaved just a few days before or the wax won’t grab the hair well enough to remove it. If you do usually shave, you’ll need to let it grow for at least a week (preferably two) after shaving to get to an optimal length for waxing.
   
   
2. If you DON’T normally shave, that is not a problem at all. You can trim with scissors if things are crazy, but you don’t have to under any circumstance.
   
   My personal recommendation is if you can grab a wad of hair with your fingers and pull it away from your skin, you might want to trim a bit. I don’t want to spend any more time with my vagina on display in front of an aesthetician than I have to, so I do what I can to make the appointment quick.
   
   
3. Exfoliate! I didn’t actually know what exfoliating skin meant until I started getting Brazilian waxes. It’s the removal of dead skin cells, and this is important before a wax because it makes sure there’s not a bunch of invisible loose skin preventing the wax from getting a good grip on your pubic hair.
   
   There are different ways to exfoliate – using a body buff in a circular motion on your skin (over the hair and all), scrubbing a granular product like sugar scrubs over your skin, or using a chemical exfoliator. For your very first Brazilian, I would recommend applying a chemical exfoliant like Tend Skin to your groin area with a cotton ball the day before your appointment, then using a body buff on the area in the shower the morning of.
   
   
4. Take Tylenol, not aspirin. While taking a pain reliever 30 minutes before your appointment is a great idea to help reduce the pain, using a blood-thinning medication like aspirin can have the opposite effect by increasing blood flow to your groin! Ibuprofen can also make it harder for your blood to clot if you do start bleeding, so I recommend Tylenol.
   
   
5. Don’t wear lacy or tight underwear. While your favorite lace thong is going to feel AMAZING on your newly smooth booty in a couple of days, immediately after a Brazilian wax, it can irritate your skin. Just wear some comfy cotton undies to your appointment.
   
   
6. Consider wearing a dress. First of all, this isn’t a massage and you don’t have to get naked. Your aesthetician only needs access to your lower half. As a plus-size woman, I enjoyed wearing dresses to my appointments so I was as covered as possible during the process.
   
   If you have an apron belly, tucking your dress under it during the wax can help absorb any sweat and make it easier to pull your stomach up as needed. Just don’t wear your favorite designer dress, because accidents happen and you could end up with some wax on your clothes if they stay that close to your vulva.
   
   
7. Take feminine wipes with you. While I don’t think my vagina ever smells really bad (as long as I’ve showered that day), I still like to have peace of mind when it comes to someone getting real close to my private parts. I always kept some Always Fresh & Clean Wipes in my purse. When I got to the spa, I’d use the restroom then use a wipe on my vagina, thigh creases and buttcrack to make sure there would be zero odor coming from my bits during the waxing.
   
   
8. Clearly communicate that it’s your first time. Even if you’ve already spoken to the aesthetician about this fact before, remember that you’re not her only client and she may not remember. Reminding her this is your first-ever Brazilian wax will trigger her to be more vocal about what she’s doing and what she expects you to do during the process.
   
   
9. You shouldn’t be charged more for having more skin. A Brazilian wax on a FUPA should be included in your experience! As much as I loved my aesthetician, if I wanted the top inch-and-a-half or so of my pubic hair waxed, she charged an extra $20 (which was the fee for the “lower stomach” area). Umm… no, your FUPA is not part of your stomach, okay? Learn from my shyness and educate any aesthetician who tries to do this about your actual anatomy.
   
   
10. You might get sweaty. And that’s okay. No matter how air-conditioned the room was at the spa, I got sweaty at every. single. wax. You’re fat, nervous, and getting into yoga-like positions to get your buttcrack waxed. Trust me, your aesthetician will not think you’re gross – she knows you’re a human. If the sanitary paper covering the table sticks to your skin and starts to disintegrate, just casually pull the pieces off your butt when you roll over. No big deal.
    
    
11. If you don’t exfoliate properly, your skin may peel. So, this is something that happened to me after my first (and only the first) wax that I did NOT expect because I’d never heard or read anything about it before.
    
    Immediately after my first wax, all of the skin was a decent shade of red – but I am very fair-skinned and just had a bunch of wax ripped off, so that was decidedly normal. However, about two days after the wax, I noticed while using the restroom that almost all of the skin that had been waxed was now peeling like a sunburn. Totally threw me for a loop, but once I gently exfoliated all of the loose skin off, it never happened again – even after future waxes!
    
    I did NOT exfoliate prior to my first wax, and I know this did not happen because the wax was too hot or anything (because I had a future wax that was definitely much hotter and I did not peel after that one). The lesson here? EXFOLIATE!

The story of my first-ever plus-size Brazilian wax!

Here’s the fun part! This is my story of everything I remember from my very first plus-size Brazilian wax.

First of all, I didn’t think to use the restroom in order to use one of my good-smelling feminine wipes before the deed began. As luck would have it, my aesthetician led me to the waxing room and left the room after telling me to undress from the waist down and get on the table. So I just took off my shoes, pants, and underwear, wiped myself down with the feminine wipe, and tucked it into an empty pocket of my purse because I couldn’t find the damn trash can.

(If your aesthetician does NOT leave the room while you undress and you would like her to, don’t hesitate to ask for a private minute before she begins. It truly only takes you 30 seconds to take off your bottoms and hop on the table, so this shouldn’t be a big deal for her.)

When she came back in, she asked me to scoot my butt down toward the end of the table, reminding me horrifically of a gynecological exam. But I didn’t have to keep scooting until I felt like my entire butt was hanging off of the table because I had to leave some room to bring my feet up onto the table.

My first position was the butterfly – putting the bottoms of my feet together and letting my knees fall to the side, forming a diamond and opening up access to my vulva. (If you have big legs and can’t bring your feet in enough to rest on the table, just scoot back up the table a little bit until you’re able to lie in this position comfortably.)

This was the moment of truth. I was waiting for her to say something about how weirdly puffy yet wrinkly my outer labia were, or how it was going to be a pain in the ass to wax between my thighs and groin.

But she didn’t. No lingering stares at my vagina, no deeply frustrated sigh.

My aesthetician went right to work. She had gloves on her hands and started out by spraying a mist of what I assume was a disinfectant (or possibly a chemical exfoliant) all over the area and wiping it back off with a clean towel. Then she went to town with the wax!

Now, this was my first wax of anything ever. I couldn’t see what she was doing, and while she’d told me at the beginning she would be using a combination of hard wax and soft wax, I didn’t really know what that meant or how to tell the difference. To “warm me up” for the first time, she started out with soft wax and strips near my FUPA instead of going straight for the lips.

In order to get a smoother strip of wax and reduce the pain, she asked me to pull up on my stomach/FUPA to stretch the skin taut and smooth, and I obliged without being embarrassed in the least. Geovanna, my aesthetician, carried on a conversation with me during the waxing that truly did help take my mind off of the whole process. We both talked about our kids and the weather, and that alone helped my entire body relax.

But y’all, that upper part of your vulva is the most painful part of the wax. The thigh crease was a close second. And since she started with that, I wasn’t sure I could handle the pain of her getting down to the more sensitive parts. Still, it wasn’t bad enough that I felt the need to yell or groan audibly, and she commented on how high my tolerance for pain must’ve been.

When she finally got to the sensitive parts, she switched to hard wax. And this part absolutely TERRIFIED me. When she swiped over my clitoris with a blob of hard wax, I thought “Oh my god, this is it. My clit is about to be ripped off and ruined forever and this is her secret ploy to circumcise whorish women.”

And then she left it there. My anxiety peaked as she carried on using soft wax strips on my thighs and creases while she waited for the hard wax to become ready to pull off.

Then I felt her grab the top of the strip that began just above my fun button and ran down my right labia. I nearly blacked out trying to mentally prepare for the pain.

And then… It wasn’t that bad.

In fact, I dare say it was pleasurable.

Honestly, hard wax is mankind’s greatest invention. It only pulled on the hair and left the skin where it found it. It’s a blessed experience.

Once I was familiar with the hard wax, I was pretty calm and collected for the rest of the vagina waxing. But then, she asked me to roll over.

Oh, yeah. She’s supposed to wax my butthole now.

I was particularly concerned about this part, because I have a HUGE ass. Like, you can lose a whole finger in the cheeks before you even get to the hole, so I wasn’t sure how she was going to get in there. I’d read on a forum that some aestheticians require you to get on all fours with your whole butt on display for this part, and I was hoping and praying that was not the case.

And it wasn’t! She just wanted me to roll onto my side, hold my leg up, and pull my top buttcheek up with my hand. She said ALL of this like she’d said it a million times to every customer, so I didn’t feel like I was being humiliated or anything.

Unfortunately, I am not particularly strong and holding my leg up in the air for several minutes is a LOT of hard work for me. My leg occasionally shook, and I could feel sweat forming in my buttcrack. Still, Geovanna never said a word about any of it.

Despite having survived the wax-on-clitoris event, I was pretty nervous about wax going across my butthole. That’s a whole different type of skin, you know?

But once again, it was not as bad as I expected. In fact, that butt strip was and continues to be one of the least-painful parts of a Brazilian wax for me. And I never realized how hairy my butthole must’ve been until I felt what it was like to have a SMOOTH one!

(I have a lot of fine, soft hair that gets somewhat long over most of my butt. I thought maybe she would wax that too, but she didn’t – she stuck with the crack. You can probably pay extra to get your whole bottom done if you like, though.)

Once Geovanna was done with my butt, she had me roll onto my back and get back into the butterfly position. She took her tweezers to a couple of hairs that hadn’t come out with the wax, then spread some sort of lotion all over the waxed area to help calm the irritation and protect the skin (still with gloves on).

Once all was done, she left the room so I could get dressed. I hopped off the table and half of the paper strip came with me, thanks to the sweat acting like glue. I peeled the paper off my butt and wadded up all of the paper together in an effort to make cleanup easier on Geovanna. She’d been throwing all the strips and hard wax on a large piece of wax paper on the floor so that she could just pick it up and throw it all away. I put the paper ball amongst the used wax so she wouldn’t have to touch it either.

Then I walked over to the body mirror hanging on the door of the room to check out my new smooth cooter. While I thought it looked a little funny, I loved how smooth it felt. I broke the rule about not touching the skin excessively for the first couple of days right then and there because I could not get over how amazing it felt to be so smooth. Then I found some tiny bits of used wax on my butt and thighs that I’d managed to pick up from the table while rolling around, so I pulled those off and made sure I was as clean as possible.

I got dressed, walked to the front counter, paid Geovanna with a 20% tip, and scheduled my next appointment for four weeks later!

What to expect and what to do after a plus-size Brazilian wax

Post-Brazilian wax care is SUPER important. Don’t think you’re done just because your aesthetician is! You can expect to be tender and swollen immediately after your first plus-size Brazilian wax. This should go away in a couple of days, and it shouldn’t be as bad with successive waxes.

If the area becomes particularly inflamed, extremely painful, or has any other signs of infection, you should see a doctor immediately. But in nearly two years of waxing, I never developed an infection.

You’re not supposed to have sex for at least 24 hours after a Brazilian wax due to an increased risk of infection and skin irritation, but I broke this rule pretty much every time I got one. I just felt so freakin’ SEXY after getting that silky smooth vajayjay back!

You also shouldn’t use lotions, oils, perfumes, or anything else near that area for a couple of days. There’s no need to scrub it with your body wash – rinsing it with water will be fine. You also do NOT want to exfoliate with a body buff for a couple of days, because it will probably hurt and will irritate the skin.

Don’t get too sweaty (no exercising) and don’t get in a hot bath or hot tub for at least 24 hours after your wax. That’s just begging for an infection.

Don’t use a buff to exfoliate your skin for 2-3 days after a wax. The skin will be too sensitive for something that rough. But after that third day, you should carry on exfoliating the area during every shower.

What you SHOULD do after 24 hours post-wax is use a chemical exfoliant. While waxing is definitely a lot easier than shaving, it is not maintenance-free, and you should be applying a chemical exfoliant to your whole vulva and bikini line with a cotton ball after every shower. (You should not and do not need to apply it directly to your inner labia or anus – it will burn like a mother.)

I personally used Tend Skin and definitely noticed a difference between when I did use it daily and when I slacked off. It helps keep away red bumps and ingrown hairs really, really well. Yes, it does sting upon application, especially the first time or two after a wax, but it doesn’t last long and is much better than getting those red bumps.

Stop beating around the bush.

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Getting a plus-size Brazilian wax during pregnancy

While I don’t recommend getting your very first Brazilian wax while in the second or third trimester (that increased blood flow is going to amp up the pain factor), I definitely do recommend it during pregnancy in general!

My first baby was an unexpected c-section, and I very clearly remember one of the nurses taking a shaver to my cooch near the area where the incision would be made. As a result, I made sure to get a Brazilian wax about a week before my second (scheduled) c-section. When the nurse pulled my underwear down with the shaver in hand, she said “Now let’s just get rid of any hair that… OH! You’ve already taken care of that for us!” I have never felt more proud of my vulva.

Just don’t get a wax the day of or even before a c-section (if you can help it). You’ll want to give yourself a week or two in between to make sure you’re not increasing your risk of infection during surgery.

When going to get a Brazilian wax at nine months pregnant, you’ll need to be very careful about lying flat on your back for a long period of time. You could cut off a major artery (known as the vena cava) carrying blood between you and your baby. Feel free to ask for a break to sit up in the middle of your wax if something doesn’t feel right!

You might also have to try different positions than you’re used to in order to get your wax completed. That all-fours position may end up being the only way to get a proper butt strip done. For me, I was able to do everything during my wax at nine months pregnant as I normally did!

After childbirth, you should wait at least 6 weeks to get another wax (whether it was a vaginal or cesarean birth), and even longer if you need to ensure any incisions have healed.

I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible here when it comes to getting a plus-size Brazilian wax, especially if it’s your first time ever. Personally, I loved them and I only stopped because the $60/month price tag became more than I was willing to keep up with long-term. (Two kids can be expensive!)

Do you have any other questions before getting your first plus-size wax? Or have you had a Brazilian wax? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments!