How to wear your bathing suit ALL summer long

Would you like to be in your bathing suit every single day this summer (let's just ignore our everyday work realities here)? If yes, there are a few things you can do to ensure that putting your suit on every day is not going to cause bikini line irritation.

One of the biggest culprits of skin irritation and ingrown hairs is putting on tight clothing (underwear, bathing suit with elastic seams, jean shorts) right after you have nicely removed your hair along your bikini line. This is some of our most sensitive skin, and when you have taken it through the act of hair removal (whether that is shaving or waxing or whatever type of hair removal you do) the skin will naturally be a bit tender or inflamed. Like a sensitive best friend, it just needs a moment to relax before getting back into things. When we put tight fitting clothes on right away, they rub against the tender skin causing more inflammation and then leave us looking worse off than when we started.

I have been known to put my bathing suit on, realize I need to shave, pull the suit to the side, do a quick shave, and carry on with the day. By the end of the day, with my bathing suit rubbing on my freshly shaved skin, my bikini line is completely inflamed and then it looks awful for a week... So, how do we wear a bathing suit every day, all summer long and still have a fresh bikini line?

Here's what you need to do to ensure your bikini line stays smooth all summer long:

 
/  TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Avoid synthetic underwear, irritating seams, and tight clothing immediately after shaving (as well as any other time you're not in your bathing suit). If I were you, I would actually avoid all forms of clothing in that area—I’m a huge advocate for going commando post shave!

This might mean that you need to be a little more intentional with the timing of your shave so that you give your bikini line the time to breathe. Don’t have time? Then be clever in giving your skin time by shaving, and staying commando while you drive to the beach, and then putting your suit on. Even if it’s just 15 minutes, it will give your skin some time to rest post hair removal. But if you really don’t have time, then make sure you lube up with ingrown oil to create a protective barrier between your skin and the tight clothing.

If you shave your bikini every three days to once a week, give it a moment to breathe and use ingrown oil daily, you shouldn't have any irritation wearing a bathing suit.

/  USE A FRESH BLADE

Gone are the days of pushing harder and harder with a dull multi-blade cartridge razor as this only causing more irritation and ingrown hairs.

Always plan to shave with a fresh blade, when you use a dull blade, you apply more pressure and tug on the hairs, causing more irritation. Putting a fresh blade in will reduce this potential irritation. And the single SHARP blade employed by a safety razor cuts the hair in one pass. The weight of the razor allows you to gently glide over your skin without applying any pressure which helps you avoid unknowingly removing thin layers of skin.

Shaving in the direction of hair growth­–this is really important—as it’s tempting to pull hair taught and shave against the grain, but this encourages the hair to be cut below the skin making it far more likely to curl in on itself when growing back.

So, by shaving your bikini area with a fresh blade, and in the direction of hair growth, will keep your skin happy and ensure you can slip a bathing suit on more frequently this summer.

/  ENSURE SKIN IS WELL HYDRATED

Whether before or after shaving, always ensure your skin is staying well moisturized. During shaving, a shave oil will create a protective barrier to soothe and heal skin.

Slather on ingrown oil generously post shave, and every day, as it’s both preventative and curative. Massaging ingrown oil into your skin daily will softens your skin and open your pores, encouraging trapped hairs to release, while also protecting and soothing irritated skin. Similar to the shave oil, ingrown oil creates a protective barrier for the skin to irritants like tight fitting clothing.

And, if worse comes to worse, and you have a bit of stubble or a few random hairs, who cares! We all have hair and I’d rather have a bit of hair showing than irritated skin and ingrown hairs…!

Hopefully these recommendations can help you keep your bathing suit on every day this summer – If you are so fortunate to do so! And if you need additional tips on reducing ingrown hairs, we have more here.