Why do I have discoloration from years of waxing, tweezing, and threading?

Answered by Eva Taub

I hear this question almost every day. Women will point to their chin, neck, upper lip, bikini line, or underarms and say, “The hair bothers me, but what bothers me even more are these dark marks that never seem to go away.”

The first thing I tell them is this: you didn’t damage your skin because you weren’t taking care of it. You developed discoloration because your skin was responding exactly the way melanin-rich skin naturally responds to repeated irritation.

Every time you wax, tweeze, or thread, you’re pulling the hair completely out of the follicle. That creates a small amount of inflammation, even if you don’t see it. Your body immediately begins repairing the area, and one of the ways melanin-rich skin protects itself is by producing extra pigment. One treatment doesn’t usually leave a visible mark, but when the same follicles are traumatized month after month, year after year, the pigment gradually accumulates until the skin begins looking darker than the surrounding area.

I often tell women that the discoloration isn’t from one waxing appointment. It’s the result of hundreds of them.

The same thing happens with repeated tweezing. Many women spend years standing in front of a mirror every morning pulling out the same chin hairs one by one. Unfortunately, every time the hair is removed, another cycle of inflammation begins. Over time, that repeated trauma can lead to persistent dark marks, ingrown hairs, and even scarring.

Threading can create the same problem. Although many people believe it’s the gentlest method of hair removal, it still removes the hair from the root. For women who naturally produce pigment easily, especially those with Black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Indian, or other melanin-rich skin tones, repeated threading often contributes to long-term discoloration just as waxing and tweezing can.

Another misconception I hear constantly is: “If I stop waxing, the dark marks will disappear.” Unfortunately, that’s usually not enough. Stopping the irritation prevents new pigment from forming, but it doesn’t automatically remove the pigment that’s already there. Existing discoloration often needs its own treatment while you also eliminate the source of ongoing irritation.

That’s why I always approach this as two separate problems.

First, we have to stop creating new pigmentation. For most women, that means stopping waxing, tweezing, and threading and switching to a method that creates far less ongoing irritation. For dark hair, laser hair removal is usually my first recommendation because it gradually reduces the amount of hair growing from the follicle instead of repeatedly pulling it out. Fewer hairs mean fewer opportunities for inflammation, ingrown hairs, and new pigmentation to develop. If the hair has already turned white, gray, blonde, or red, electrolysis becomes the appropriate permanent option instead.

Second, we treat the discoloration that’s already present. Rather than using harsh bleaching products that frequently irritate melanin-rich skin even more, I prefer a gradual approach using mandelic acid together with my Mini Eva Skin Lightening Kit and Activated O3 Oxygen Serum. The goal isn’t to bleach the skin. The goal is to encourage a healthier, more even skin tone while minimizing additional irritation.

Improvement takes patience. Pigment that developed over ten or twenty years isn’t going to disappear in a few weeks. But once new irritation stops and the skin is treated consistently, most women begin noticing gradual, meaningful improvement over time.

I’ve treated women who spent years believing they simply had “bad skin,” when in reality they were seeing the effects of decades of perfectly understandable hair removal habits. Once they understand what’s actually causing the discoloration, they stop blaming themselves and start treating the real problem instead of fighting the same cycle over and over again.

Getting rid of dark marks from years of waxing, tweezing and threading

Every wax, every pluck, every pass of a thread tears the hair out of the follicle. On black skin that injury is answered with melanin, and the dark spot lands exactly where the hair was. Do it weekly for a decade and the pigment layers, which is why the discoloration on a chin or an upper lip that has been threaded for years is so much harder to shift than a single mark.

Threading is not gentler than waxing. It is faster and cleaner-looking, and it does the same thing to the follicle.

What actually gets rid of it

Stop the trauma. Hair removed by a method that does not re-injure the follicle every few weeks. Long-pulse Nd:YAG for dark hair on dark skin; electrolysis for white and grey hair, which no laser can see.

Then the marks. Mandelic acid, slowly. No bleaching cream, no hydroquinone, nothing aggressive — aggressive treatment inflames melanin-rich skin, and inflammation is what produces the pigment.

In that order. Fading marks while you are still threading is bailing out a boat without plugging the hole.