Try Surgi Wax for At-Home Facial Waxing

I'm a do-it-yourself kind of person. The way I see it, why pay someone to do something for you if you can do it yourself for half the cost, sometimes much less. (That is, if it is doable. I wouldn't attempt to re-wire my house or anything else that truly should be left to professionals.) This is why I decided to start waxing my own eyebrows with store-bought, microwaveable body wax.

Years ago, I plucked my eyebrows. I used regular tweezers, but often I would let it go long past the point that I should have because this was uncomfortable and time consuming. I winced, grimaced, and cried my way through the procedure every time. It was once when I was getting my hair done that my hairdresser noticed my long-overdue-for-plucking brows. She suggested I let her wax them after she finished my hair. I agreed, but, knowing how painful plucking was, I was worried that it would be even more painful. Plucking them one at a time was one thing, but ripping a whole strip of facial hair out at once seemed barbaric. When it was time, I laid back and she put the warm, gooey wax on my brows. That part felt great, almost relaxing, if I wasn't so tense about the "ripping" part. She put some strips of cloth over the wax and pressed down, almost massaging the area. Again, this was a nice feeling, but I was still gripping the armrests of the chair. I told her not to count or otherwise tell me when she was going to pull the wax strips off, so she ripped away. To my surprise it wasn't that bad. She again massaged the area a bit with some sort of oil.

I paid about $10 for this procedure, and found myself going often, about every two weeks, to maintain my manicured eyebrows. I learned to relax more and more each time, reminding myself how nice the warm wax felt when it was applied. Ten dollars every couple of weeks isn't exactly expensive, and it certainly didn't break the bank. Occasionally, though, I would have to put it off a few days or an extra week, until I got paid and didn't feel that I needed to scold myself for dipping into my bank account's safety net.

It was during one of these times that I saw a product in the store called "Surgi Wax." I had tried some sort of home sugar-wax solution several years before, but it didn't work, and I ended up red, swollen and in much more pain than if I had just plucked. So, I was skeptical. Knowing Wal-Mart's liberal return policy, I decided to give it a try, feeling secure in knowledge that I could bring it back with the explanation that it "didn't work right" and receive a full refund.

I brought the product home and, following the directions, placed it in the microwave (it comes in a microwaveable container) for the recommended time. You have to be careful; the package explains how to melt the wax in short increments so it isn't too hot when you use it. When the wax was fully melted and at the proper temperature, I used the wooden spatula and spread it on the hairs that I wanted to remove. I only do a small section at a time so I don't overdo it and wax an unintended area. You don't have to use fabric strips, just wait for the wax to dry and it becomes hard. Then, you can easily lift one corner and tear it off, against the direction of hair growth. I have occasionally gotten a bit of wax on hairs that I didn't want removed, and I found that scraping the excess off with my fingernail removes the wax from the area without pulling out the hairs.

Surgi Wax comes in different sizes, small for facial hair and a larger container for all other areas of the body. It can be used for the bikini area, legs and other areas of the body in addition to eyebrows and other facial hair, though I haven't been brave enough to try it anywhere but my eyebrows. Who knows, maybe if I get a professional bikini wax, I may talk myself into trying that at home too!