Forget “toe-besity” surgery, bird poop facials or $13,213 face creams, the most shocking beauty news I’ve heard this year came from a waxing specialist—you won’t believe what her customers do!

Yasmin Ibrahim, a waxer at Eve Salon in New York City, told me that 60% of the women who come to see her for a bikini wax are—wait for it—on their periods. “Over the last couple of years, I’ve been telling clients to come in on the fourth or fifth day of their period. Unless you’re really sensitive, your body is just better able to deal with the waxing then—it’s less painful. I’ve tested it myself,” says Yasmin, who has worked at Eve for ten years.

This blew me away. I’ve always heard that a bikini wax hurts like hell the week before Aunt Flow comes to visit, and that the week after your cycle is the ideal time for a wax down below. It never occurred to me to book an appointment during my cycle because…ew.

Clearly many women in NYC aren’t squeamish about this, but I don’t think I would feel comfortable letting a waxer get up close and personal with my lady parts when it’s that time of the month. Uh uh, no way! I would rather just pop a couple of ibuprofens and grit my teeth through the torture like I usually do. Unless I happen to find a scientific study that proves waxing on the rag makes the service considerably less uncomfortable (by at least 50%). Then maybe it would be worth the extreme awkwardness that I imagine I would feel while laying on the table, legs spread, with a tampon string hanging out of me.

But to Yasmin, working around a Tampax is no big deal. “I just move the string out of the way. And most customers are considerate and put in a fresh tampon right before their service,” she said.

I never would have known about this surprising hair removal behavior if it weren’t for my friend Amber. She went to Eve right before a recent vacation and her waxer, Maya, told her she could have—and should have—come in while on her period for a more pleasant experience. “The 11-year-old girl in me began blushing immediately,” Amber said.

I don’t blame her for being mortified, but now that I know waxing during menstruation is commonplace at one popular salon, I’m wondering if it’s going on everywhere. Is this practice more normal than I think? BTW, Yasmin said if you want to try it, call your salon or spa ahead of time to make sure that they’re comfortable doing it. And, um, I would suggest tipping a little extra.

So, have you gotten a bikini wax while on your period? If not, would you dare?