Blending hair lines when waxing male clients
August 17 marks National Men's Grooming Day. To celebrate, Wax Daddy Andy Rouillard shares his top tips to creating a natural-looking transition between waxed skin and the remaining body hair on male clients.
Q: How can I create a natural fade between smooth skin and hair when waxing men?
When finishing a waxing service in areas like the lower back, upper arms, buttocks and speedo line, some struggle to create a natural-looking transition between freshly waxed skin and the remaining body hair.
Blending is a great way to soften an obvious line, and to create the look you can use wax or electric clippers, or a combination of both.
With strip wax, use a freshly removed paper or cloth strip, and then press the wax side lightly on to the area you want to blend, before removing it against the direction of growth as normal. This will lift some but not all hair, thinning the strands out for a softer line. Repeat with varying pressure until you get the desired effect.
When using clippers, start with a grade three (9mm) and trim about an inch worth of hair at the edge of the area you want to blend. Then, reduce the grade as you get closer to the waxed areas, resulting in a gradual shortening of the remaining hair that fades discreetly into smooth skin.
Trimming against the direction of growth will shave more hair off than going with it and you can use this knowledge to your advantage to get a fine fade in areas of especially dense growth. The downside with trimming? All those annoying hair clippings that insist on sticking to your client.
However, there’s an easy way to pick up these strays. Apply a small section of strip wax to hair-free skin, remove as normal and then pat the wax side of your strip gently over the trimmed area. The strip will grab any stray clippings for a clean finish.
Andy Rouillard (aka the Wax Daddy) is a male-waxing expert, trainer and speaker. He owns the Axiom Men’s Grooming Salon and The Wax Academy, both in Basingstoke.