Green Means Go See A Doctor, Not Your Waxer

Ever wondered what a waxer actually sees—and what makes us stop a service on the spot? We pull back the curtain on safety, consent, and skin health, sharing the exact red flags that mean “reschedule and call your doctor,” plus the compassionate scripts we use to protect your dignity while keeping the studio safe.

We unpack the most common confusion in the treatment room: ingrown hairs versus herpes. You’ll learn how heat from wax and steam can spread viral outbreaks, why a lip wax with a cold sore is a bad idea, and the simple cues that tell you when to skip an appointment. We also talk about odor and discharge as clinical signals, including why a green tint points to gonorrhea and requires medical care, not a Brazilian. Along the way, we explain why estheticians avoid diagnosing, the legal risks of guessing, and how we still give clear, kind guidance that sends you to the right place fast.

Medication matters too. Antibiotics and other sensitizing drugs can thin skin, and hot wax can lift it—leaving a burn-like patch that heals slowly. We share candid stories about turning away unsafe services, navigating an HIV disclosure with professionalism and extra precautions, and supporting clients of every age and body type without judgment. The takeaway is simple: your health comes first. If something looks, smells, or feels off, press pause, see a clinician, and come back when it’s safe.

Hit play to get smarter about waxing, avoid painful setbacks, and feel confident at your next appointment. If this helped, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show.

Transcript

Waxing And STDs: Where Risks Begin

Herpes, Heat, And Outbreak Spread

Cold Sores, Brazilians, And Myths

Odor, Infections, And Legal Boundaries

Antibiotics, Skin Thinning, And Burns

Recognizing Discharge And When To Cancel

The Persistent Client And Clearer Scripts

HIV Disclosure And Safe Practice

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Hello everyone, what's going on? It's Nicole. I am solo today because Sam has been a busy little beaver trying to get ready for a vacation next week. And for people that are self-employed, you know, you got to cram in all those appointments before you go away because other people are going away for February break. So life gets chaotic. And then when you return, all those people that didn't come in before you left are coming in. So she's a busy little beaver. So we're just gonna have a little conversation by ourselves, and you know, hopefully she'll be on the next one. I'm sure she will. But yeah, speaking of beavers, today we're gonna talk about STDs, sexually transmitted diseases. When it comes to waxing, this is actually a good thing to cover without Sam because I feel like her reactions would be a lot of pausing because she's not gonna know what to say. And I think this will thoroughly gross her out. So I'm sure she'll listen to the podcast and then she'll have plenty to talk about next week when we record. So waxing with STDs. Okay. So first of all, gross, obviously, but that's my life, right? So this is why we're we're on here talking. So obviously, you shouldn't be waxing when you have an STD, but unfortunately, people don't realize when they have one, which I don't really understand how that's kind of possible. Because if I can notice, I don't know how you don't notice, something's off, something's wrong, something smells weird, there's a weird color coming out down there. You know, it's or there's bumps everywhere, you know, herpes. It's real. So it happens, unfortunately, to me. So yeah. So obviously, herpes is more visible of an issue, and it's hard to kind of tell, you know, what the difference between ingrown hairs and a herpes outbreak is. I mean, I can tell because obviously there's a hair in an ingrown hair, but it's hard for the person. So a lot of times when people start waxing, they'll get a couple ingrowns, freak out, go to the doctor, think that they have herpes, and obviously they don't. So, you know, people that are regularly waxing do figure out pretty quickly, you know, how to tell the difference between that. So that's you know, something that you know, if I put heat on, if you put heat on herpes, so whether it be a cold sore or you know, genital herpes, both things, heat can spread the outbreak. So if you have a cold sore and you are getting a facial with steam, it's gonna spread. If you have a cold sore and you're waxing your lip, it's just gonna spread. You're gonna get a whole crop of them. So, you know, that's something to avoid, obviously. I had somebody send me an email last in the last couple weeks saying that she has a cold sore and she has to cancel her appointment today because she read that waxing with a cold sore, you know, isn't good, which I totally agree. However, she was waxing her vagina, so I don't really know, you know, how that kind of correlates. So I I responded and said, you know, that's that's fine if you want to reschedule, you know, but if you're just waxing your Brazilian, your cold sir on your face is irrelevant, you know, but whatever. So she decided to reschedule to be safer than sorry, you know, which is just kind of an lol on my behalf, but you know, whatever. People don't know. So herpes is kind of, you know, more noticeable. I think that people that know that they have herpes, they can obviously tell when there's an outbreak because they are covered in a rash. Things that are not maybe quite as obvious. I guess anything, any kind of like actual infection, obviously a scent is an issue. So, you know, I know we've talked about some pretty disgusting things on here. None of them, you know, it's a bad smell, but it's not really an infection kind of smell. I have unfortunately had to tell people, you know, unfortunately, there's an odor. You know, when you're working for a corporate America or really anywhere, like you have to be careful what you say. So when I worked for the corporate company that I worked for, they did have a script, just kept it very vague. You should go see a doctor. You know, even though we did learn these things in aesthetic school, if we tell you that, oh, you have chlamydia, I don't know, or you have something going on based on the smell, it's doesn't, this isn't right, they can sue you because you just told them that there's something wrong with them. You embarrass them, maybe they don't even have, who knows? So you just basically have to say, you know, you know, unfortunately, I can't perform the service today. I think that there's something going on. I really think that you should go see a doctor and just make sure everything's okay. Um, you know, I'd take to make it worse with waxing because heat can cause problems, whether it be spreading something or irritating something else. Sometimes if you do have an infection and you have already started medication, certain medications. They do change your skin. And pretty much anything that causes sun sensitivity also causes issues with waxing. So it thins out your skin, and then I put wax on it and it takes a layer or two off. And it kind of looks like when you burn yourself with like a curling iron, it heals that way. It's like a weird dark patch over it. So that can happen with antibiotics. So if you have an SCD and you just started antibiotics, and you know, I notice there's a different there's an issue, and I say something to you, and you go, Oh, it's okay, I already started antibiotics. You could still have an issue and you could still take off skin. And then not only do you now have, you know, you already have an issue to deal with, now you have no skin down there, which is not good, I'd imagine. I have never personally had to deal with that, but I would imagine losing a couple layers of skin on your vagina is not fun. I have had to turn people away for what I would expect would be gonorrhea. Gonorrhea causes a green discharge. You know, listen, for all the ladies listening, we all know vaginas are weird. You know, there's like weird things that come out of there sometimes. And, you know, you know what's normal for your body and what's not. If something is green, it's not normal. You know what I mean? It's just not normal. So, yeah. So maybe, you know, skip your wax appointment and go to the doctor. Because it's really, you know, you think it's embarrassing to go to a doctor and say, something's going on, I don't know. Can you take a look down there? I mean, that's less embarrassing than coming to me and having me go, okay, so listen, there's something going on. You need to go to the doctor. I think there's an infection. That's embarrassing. A doctor, that's their job, and they see it all the time, I'm sure. And they can prescribe you antibiotics, and you know, then you just have to go to CVS and hope that, you know, the person behind the counter isn't assuming that you're nasty. But yeah, I guess it depends on the prescription. When I was working for Corporate America, or whatever you want to call it, we had this girl that came in a couple times in a matter of two, uh like a week and a half. She came in three times. So she came the all three times. She had different waxers, and you know, they had all said the same thing, same script, like we can't wax you today, go to the doctor, basically, you know, in a longer, you know, nicer way. So she made an appointment. My boss pulled me aside and said, Hey, listen, this girl has come in already three times in the past week and a half, and she's not getting it. I don't, you know, I don't really care what you say, but maybe you could be a little bit more firm and give her a little more information because she obviously doesn't realize what we're talking about, or else I would think that she would go and take care of it. So she comes in the room. She's got to be like 20 years old, like young, she's in college. You know, she I really don't think she had any idea what the hell was going on. So I didn't even get to the I didn't even embarrass her with getting undressed. She came in the room and I just said, Listen, I know you've been here a couple of times in the past week and a half, and you've gotten, you know, rejected and people want wax to you. Like, do you understand like what they were telling you? And she was like, No, I don't get it. Like, they just told me that I couldn't get wax today. I'm gonna go to the doctor, but I don't understand what the problem is. They wouldn't really answer any questions. And I said, the only reason that we would, you know, tell someone something like that is because they suspected that there was some kind of infection. Now, I'm not saying because, you know, I literally can't see anything, so I'm not saying that I know what that was, but I'm not a doctor. But usually that means that they think that there's an SCD present or some kind of infection that, you know, can spread, make it worse for you. And, you know, we don't want to take that kind of jeopardy ourselves because we have to touch you, gloves or not, it's still gross. And then she, you know, you I just literally watched it click, and she went from having kind of like an irritated expression to being horrified. You know, and I'm not, I really don't want to make anyone feel embarrassed, especially with the fact that I see naked people all day long. My, you know, that's not my goal to make everyone feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. So I just said, hey, listen, we all have been young and doing whatever, and you know, we've all had our moments, and it's okay. It's I'm sure it's not a big deal. Just go to the doctor, go to the campus doc, whatever. I'm sure they can get you on something and it'll be gone soon enough. You won't have to worry about it. Don't feel embarrassed. I mean, I'm sure it's more common than she thought, especially on a college campus. And also, you're spreading it around campus. That's just gross. Like, come on. So hopefully, her entire campus wasn't just running around with gonorrhea, but you know, who knows? I did also have this other situation where someone in the room before it was a it was a guy and I was waxing his back, and he said, Oh, I just want to let you know I'm HIV positive. So, I mean, I guess this is important to know. I do have like a questionnaire, and you know, that's one of the things. That's one of the questions on there. So at first I kind of just like stood there. I kind of would have appreciated more of a heads up so that I could kind of think about it. I don't like being put on the spot. Just because I I, you know, like my face says it all a lot of the time. So I uh I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, and I just kind of had to figure out, you know, the best response for this. And, you know, if if I was uncomfortable, like obviously I'm wearing gloves, so nothing's gonna happen necessarily, but you know, that sometimes blood is does come to the surface, and uh you have to be concerned about it. So I took a minute, I put on an extra pair of gloves, and I just, you know, I just did the job. Like, who cares? Like, that's not something that I think I really have to worry about because I have gloves on, and you know, you'd only get it if I had a you know cut on my finger or something. I would think that's you know how that would happen. But yeah, you know, it's it's weird, it makes you uncomfortable, but at least that's not something that's gross. So lucky for me, I kind of got out of it easy with that. Yeah, so basically the the long and the short of it, if you if something's going on down there and you're you know not feeling your most confident and you know there's an odor or there's weird discharge or just something's not right, cancel your appointment and go to the doctor so that we both don't have to be uncomfortable and I don't have to tell you, hey, this is weird. You know, I I try not to make people feel bad about themselves. You know, I see people just assume I see, you know, 21-year-old models in here all day long. It's not the case. It's a lot of, you know, regular people. So I mean, I do wax a patriot steerleaner, so there are some, you know, there are some beautiful people that do come in here, but there are a lot of, you know, I have a lot of older clients, all shapes and sizes, and you know, we just we just go on with our lives. I mean, honestly, that makes me feel more comfortable because I'm just your average woman. So yeah. We will be hopefully coming back next week with a full episode, but I just wanted to give you guys uh something just because this time is really busy. Valentine's Day is next week, so for me, that's crazy. And also after the week after Valentine's Day is February vacation. So anyone that doesn't actually care about getting max for Valentine's Day might be going away with their family and they'll be in next week as well. This week has been pretty crazy, but I I had some time just to get on here and, you know, share a little bit and give you guys kind of an update. I have started a new game that is fun for me because I personally could care less about Valentine's Day. You know, I don't need a date to show my husband that I love him. And I also don't want, I don't want flowers that are gonna die. I'd rather just like go to the go to the nursery, pick out a houseplant or something for my greenhouse, get a coffee, eat a sandwich together, spend some time. I don't need to do that on a day that you know the world tells me to. But my fun game to make Valentine's Day kind of go past is counting how many people say Valentine's Day. Valentine's with an M. It's my favorite thing to do now. I've done it for the past couple years. I already started counting. The first time I heard one was, or somebody talk about say Valentine's Day was a week and a half ago. And I'm already up to seven. Seven people have said this to me. So I would imagine that that number will at least double by next week or the end of next week because people are gonna be talking more about Valentine's Day. So that'll be a fun thing to share when it's over. Uh, let'll make sure I give you guys the count just because it just it just makes me laugh. I don't understand how people don't see how it's spelled and notice that there is not an M in there. I mean, I feel like happy Valentine's Day. You see it everywhere. So I don't really understand why people don't notice, but it makes it fun for me to just look and listen. And I I, you know, I try not to react when people say it to me, but I just I got I'm not gonna lie, I I give a smirk because it makes me laugh because I just don't get it. And I've had one person that one client that I love her and I almost said something to her, but I just I love it and I don't want it to end. So I feel like if I correct her next year, what do I even have to look forward to? You know, she's a guarantee of saying Valentine's Day, and it just it brightens my day, you know, and sometimes you just need a little light. So yeah, so I hope everyone's having a good week. We'll continue to struggle through this winter, and we will get back to you next week with both of us to make you laugh. And hopefully we'll be going over Sam's dating life with her age increase on her online dating apps to 70 something. So hopefully, we got some geezers in there that are disgustingly hitting on her, and I can't wait to hear about it. So I hope everyone has a great weekend, and we will talk later. Bye.