OVER the years, many of my friends and I have begun to slowly add on to our beauty regimes.

Ten years ago, all we ever used in the name of beauty was maybe a shaver for our underarms and legs, and facial wash. Okay, and maybe a little moisturiser.

Several years into university, we discovered tweezers which made plucking stray hairs off our eyebrows a weekly routine, eventually venturing into other hair-removal methods like shaving, DIY waxing and threading.

You can wax your eyebrows into shape

These days, we spend a substantial amount of time and cash on beauty-related activities, mainly facials, massages and body scrubs, manicures, pedicures, threading, hair treatment and of late, waxing.

Now, we are paying for hair-removal services. After all, who has the time to shave their legs, underarms, nether regions and eyebrows several times a week, sometimes carelessly.

Why not just get an expert to do it for you? Especially if it involves, er, intimate areas of your body? It’s not something you want to DIY and mess up.

Of course, not all ladies opt for this particular treatment, but many will swear by waxing as the most effective and long-lasting hair-removal procedure around.

Just to get an idea on the very basics of waxing, I approached Honeypot Wax Boutique founder and beauty therapist Ow Shin Yann, who has been in the business for five years.

Ow says that more women are beginning to open their minds to the idea of waxing as opposed to shaving.

”People wax different parts of their bodies for different reasons, of course for those times when you need to hit the beach and wear a bikini.

Some do it for hygiene reasons, while most ladies just like not having to shave every few days.”

Waxing involves different methods. For arms and legs, wax is applied on the skin, and taken off with strips of cloth – a process that takes no more than 15 minutes.

For more intimate areas, beauticians dip disposable spatulas into heated wax, which is taken off almost immediately after application.

Spatulas are used to apply the wax

This too, can be completed in 10 to 15 minutes. And don’t worry, none of these equipments are reused. Every piece of cloth and spatula is only used once.

”It’s definitely not painless, but beauticians will go to great lengths to make the process fast and there are many lotions you can use to ease the pain afterwards,” explained Ow.

”And after a few sessions, you’ll get used to the pain. After all, it only lasts a few minutes.”

There are many myths on waxing, which Ow hopes will be debunked as people grow more accustomed to the idea.

”Your hair doesn’t grow back thicker, like it does when you shave,” she explained. ”Because when you shave, you’re actually slicing off the hair at it’s thickest point, meaning the hair will grow back just that thick.

”When you pull the hair out, it will grow back finer,” she added.