I used to preach against waxing... 'cause it hurt like a bitch!
Lately, I've been getting waxed again and it hasn't hurt that bad. Really.
The woman who does it asked me to take a hot shower prior to seeing her and then she covers the area to be waxed in corn starch. For the first visit she asked me to trim my hair with an electric razor with the smallest guard on it... I think it was about 1/4". She waxes a small area at a time and the powder protects my skin from getting irritated. Touch-ups aren't bad at all. I go see her about every three weeks.
I think my first waxing experience was so horrible because I wasn't trimmed up enough and had too large of an area done at a time.