We hate to use the pun, but lets not "beat around the bush." A Brazilian wax removes all the hair, from your belly button right the way round to your coccyx. The outer labia are usually waxed too. The amount of public hair that remains above the vagina depends on the style you desire, there are many variations ranging from a petite "landing strip" to the proverbial "full monty."

A Bikini Wax can vary greatly as well, but generally speaking, if a woman was to put on a bikini bottom, all areas left exposed should be hair-free at the end of that procedure.

So, where did the Brazilian come from? Um, Brazil. (No guessing game there.) Brazilian women are obsessed with depilation. This obsession begins on the beach with their 'dental floss' thong bikinis, and apparently ends somewhere atop a float at the Rio Carnival, where spraying your naked body gold and wearing a thin string of sequins is considered "conservative dress." Those crazy Brazilians.

Brazilian waxing was introduced to the United States in 1987 when seven Brazilian sisters (Jocely, Jonice, Joyce, Janea, Jussara, Juracy, and Judseia Padilha) opened J. Sisters International Salon in midtown Manhattan (NYC), and women's bikini lines were changed forever!