Swimming video courtesy of Swimming Australia:
Whether to wax or shave down for a swimming competition is a great question, one Swimming Australia helped to answer with the aid of Australian Paralympian Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal. Clearly the process is painful for the bearish types, but waxing does remove all hair, and it grows back more slowly than after shaving it.
What do you think? Is waxing or shaving better for a swimming competition?
See Coach Matt get his chest waxed after losing a bet to his swimmers:
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This debate is just one of the great many reasons why Will Farrell needs to do a swimming parody movie.
I do both. Waxing however forces me to relax in order to feel no pain and really for me after so many waxes, I don’t feel pain when I need to get waxed. I prefer shaving, but some places work better for waxing and some work better for shaving.
Book into a beautician for chest & back.. Done deftly it is a lot less painful.
Ps – the hair length looks to be too long & makes for extra drag./ ouch factor.
After a while you get to know the cycle & can time it for meets.
After watching these videos…clearly waxing is not an option for me :D.
But if you truly are one of the bearish types (as I am) then wax will take you much much more time (and thus energy). Having tried both, I prefer the shave. Feeling, comfort and effort to get to the goal.
Wax your chest/abdomen/back. Shave your arms and legs to improve feel for the water.
…thought the whole idea was to remove a layer of skin, which you can’t do with waxing???
Patsy, I never waxed, and I missed the whole tech suit revolution… I was told the idea was to remove the upper layers of skin to increase the feel for the water…but waxing removes everything, and your hair grows back slowly. When I shaved at night, I had stubble by the following morning. I had to reshave and reshave until my body was a razor-burned mess over a 4-5 day competition… I’d like to know if waxing is a better option…
I’m not a swimmer, but I can certainly attest to the fact that waxing does remove a layer of skin. I would think that hot wax removes more than warm wax though. Just speaking from personal experience.
If I were a swimmer and had a big meet, I’d probably opt to wax rather than shave.
No, I’m NOT in the waxing business.