I agree with the guys who said you should have your bikini waxed for the first time by a professional.
I have been using waxing as a method of hair removal for many years, and it is really good because with the pass of time, makes your hair thinner and consequently easier to remove. But I can't deny the pain is always there! Even more in the bikini area which is quite sensitive. It IS worthy, though, because it's some minutes of pain, for many days of having everything clean there!
Try not to wax yourself 1 week before you have the menstruation, not also 1 week after, as for my own experience, it seemed to hurt more. If you REALLY want to give a try at home, be careful to clean your skin very well before doing it, don't pass any cream because you could have an allergical reaction to the wax touching the cream... and put some powder on the skin before the wax, the powder helps the skin pores to get dry and lose a little of our natural oils, so the wax sticks better and removes the hair without sacrifice.
Well, hope I helped!