Waxing can often be a welcome alternative to the daily task of shaving your legs. Waxing hurts, but considering the fact that you're ripping off mass quantities of hair, it's no surprise there's pain involved. But one of the benefits of waxing is that it can last for weeks -- much longer than many other hair removal techniques.
Shaving removes hair at the surface of the skin, and hair removal creams remove hair just below the skin's surface. Waxing, on the other hand, removes hair completely from the hair follicle, which is why it takes hair a while to grow back. In fact, many people can wait weeks before heading back to the salon to get their legs waxed [source: Roberts-Grey]. Most salons offer half-leg waxes -- for hair above or below the knee -- and full-leg waxes. A half-leg wax takes about 30 minutes, and a full-leg wax takes about 45 minutes [source: Bickmore].
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How often you should wax depends on how fast your hair grows. Some people can wait more than a month between waxes, but most people wait about two weeks [source: Roberts-Grey]. There's speculation that repeated waxing can eventually reduce hair growth by weakening or killing hair follicles, but this hasn't been proved [source: Barba]. Whether you get a half-leg wax or a full-leg wax will also determine how often you need to visit the salon. And if you're feeling brave, you can always wax your own legs with a do-it-yourself kit. But how often you should wax really just comes down to personal preference. Take a look at the next page for more information on leg waxing.
