I just wax it all. Taught myself to do body sugaring and I cook my own sugaring goop, so it is dirt cheap. Quite painful at first but not nearly as bad after that. I went to a salon the very first time and I think that letting someone else do it made it easier to take the plunge.

I've been doing my legs for 14 years now and I've collected about a billion tricks to minimize pain - usually I don't bother over the winter, so the first waxing in the spring is pretty bad.

Things that help with the pain:
  • Don't wax when you are pre-menstrual, because you will be more sensitive to pain then.
  • Take some ibuprofin about an hour beforehand.
  • Or, have a nice big glass of wine.
  • Watch TV if you can. The distraction helps.
  • Shower beforehand to get your natural body oils/sebum off the hair, and don't use any lotions before waxing. Oils and lotions make the hair slippery, so it won't pull out, but it will yank hard enough to really hurt.
  • Experiment with dusting the area with cornstarch just before waxing it. With some methods it helps, but with others it is counterproductive.
  • Wax as frequently as you can manage. Once a week is far less painful and messy than once a month.
  • Rip the wax strips off quickly, parallel to the skin, against the direction of hair growth. If you pull at right angles to the skin, it yanks on the hair (ouch!) but won't pull it out. For traditional body sugaring (no strips) pull *in* the direction of growth.
  • Never ever go back over an area with wax, even if you missed some hair. (OK to do traditional sugaring that doesn't use strips.)
  • The faster you pull off the strips or sugaring goop, the less it hurts. Really.
  • If you chicken out, use baby oil to get real wax off your skin, and warm water for sugaring goop.
  • If it's your first time, take an antihistamine beforehand to help prevent the area from puffing up.
  • Tucks pads (for hemmoids) take down all kinds of inflammation. They really, really work.