Pros and Cons of Egypt's Four Most Popular Hair Removal Techniques

Hello, summer. While we welcome you with open (potentially sweaty) arms, your arrival means our skin is visible 24/7 and we need to be on top of our hair removal game. After all, we wouldn’t want to miss out on the Eid trip to Sahel or a chill day by the pool because of razor scars or because we missed a few spots while waxing. All hair removal approaches, whether it’s sugaring, waxing, shaving, or using a Silk-Épil, are likely to show marks, bumps, or ingrown hairs. There's no easy way to do this, ladies; it's just a matter of choosing which technique suits you best. We’ve pulled and shaved and plucked and experimented, rounding up the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular hair removal techniques in Egypt. What works for you?

Shaving

Advantages 

We love that shaving is simple, quick and easy. Forgot you have a wedding or that you’re travelling tomorrow? Whenever you’re in a hurry and need to have clean legs or arms, you can instantly shave. The major advantage is that it’s painless – probably our favourite factor about shaving. Also, as opposed to sugaring or waxing, there’s no stickiness or fear of having it melt in your hands. You can easily shave your legs while showering; it's clean, efficient, and it isn’t time consuming.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage of shaving is that it only gives you temporary results. The blade cuts off the hair from the surface, so you’ll need to shave again a couple of days after to maintain a soft feel. Plus, the hair grows back thicker with stubbly ends, making it more noticeable and dense. Frequent shaving can lead to a rough feel, skin irritations, pimples, or red spots – and, oh man, if you use a cheap blade, you can hurt yourself and leave scars all over your body, which isn’t very attractive. Another major disadvantage is that shaving leads to ingrown hairs. It is a common problem that we all face when we decide to go for the stickier options – waxing or sugaring (our aesthetician always yells at us and gives us a look).

Silk-Épil

Advantages

This small device removes hairs from the roots, it’s not sticky or messy, the hair removal last up to four weeks, and if the hair grows back it’s barely visible. Because of its advanced technology, you don’t have to wait for the hair to grow to remove it­ – you can instantly eliminate it on the spot. Also, Braun’s Wet & Dry Silk-Épil can be used while showering, so it’s basically like shaving (but without all the drawbacks, of course), making it less painful. We know things can get slippery when soap is involved, so they’ve designed a rubber grip so you don’t have to play cat and mouse in the tub. Plus, they have several attachments to see what suits you best, especially with their Braun face – quick and easy for eyebrows and sensitive areas.

Disadvantages

It makes a loud and slightly terrifying noise, but it’s not as painful as it might sound; it'll just pinch a little at first. Of course shaving is a breeze compared to this, but it's nothing compared to the pain of waxing and sugaring. The biggest disadvantage here would be that you have to go after all the hairs yourself - no aesthetician. 

Sugaring

Advantages

Any Egyptian girl is familiar with this technique. With sugaring, we instantly feel like our skin is vibrant and shimmering after all the dead skin is removed along with the hair. It's perfect for sensitive skin and leaves you feeling silky smooth without bumps or rashes, and you can also stay up to four weeks without having to remove any hair. The stickiness can easily be washed off with a warm shower and a little bit of lotion to seal in the smooth. And, you can totally eat this stuff! Just don't eat it after the de-hairing process. Yuck.

Disadvantages

Sugaring is a time consuming process, especially if you make the product from scratch. If the technique is performed inadequately, hair breakage might occur and you get stubbly hairs that the sugaring can't remove. Plus, it's not always the best option if you’re travelling because there’s always the fear of having it melt. It can also be very messy and painful. We hate it when the aesthetician sugars the same spot over and over and over again­ – we feel like we’re being skinned alive, especially in those sensitive areas. One of the major downsides is that the hair has to be at a certain length for sugaring to be effective­, which can be quite inconvenient at times. 

Waxing

Advantages

Instantly removing the hair, waxing is quick and, unlike sugaring, you don’t have to re-wax the same spot several times until you go numb. Plus, it takes more time for the hair to grow back, so you don’t have to endure its pain every few days.

Disadvantages 

Waxing entails some regrowth in order to be efficient, and it can be relatively painful since the hair is plucked out from its root. Another disadvantage is that the stickiness is not easy to remove; you have to cover yourself in oil to make it easier to remove. Also, if your skin is sensitive, it might leave red spots for an hour or so.

Consensus: Everybody's tendencies and preferences are different, but we're going to go right ahead and admit this much: we're pansies. We don't like pain. Hair removal is a pain where the sun don't shine as it is, we don't need to make it an even more painful and gruelling process. Ya feel? So, while they smooth the skin and all, we're going to eliminate sugaring and waxing and just bulk up on the moisturiser. Now, deciding between shaving and using an epilator is a tough one – do we go for the quick and easy solution and let our legs bare the battle scars? Do we take a little more time out of our days and use an epilator so we don't have to do this again in about... 24 hours? Let's be honest; if we're taking the time to sit there and remove our hair, it's likely because we want to flaunt our sexy smooth skin along the beach in the summer. What's the point of flaunting battle scars? Looks like the epilator wins for now... but don't tell our aestheticians.