Unwanted Hair Removal: My Personal Story with Personal Wax Kits

Like most 20 something females I too have fallen victim to societal influences of attempting to remain hairless. I have never been one to shave on a regular basis, because it annoys me that simply by having two X chromosomes I'm required to spend 30 extra minutes shaving my armpits, legs, and/or bikini area. So I just shave what makes me comfortable, and on special occasions I'll go all out and spend an extra 20 minutes on my legs. However, the results of shaving never satisfied my desire to remain hairless with minimal effort for a maximum amount of time. I browsed the hair removal isle for a more favorable solution, and remembered how awful depilatory creams smelled, and how they made my skin feel tight and itchy afterwards. I decided that option was out, so I was left with the home wax removal kits. This seemed to be a fair option since I knew it promised the longest hair free period, and wasn't too concerned with cost, but a little worried about the pain.

The first wax kit I purchased was Sally Hansen Extra Strength All-Over Body Wax Hair Removal Kit. It retails for around $10.00, and has more than enough wax for repeated underarm and bikini line applications, but more wax strips will be needed. I laid all the materials out on the bathroom counter, and read the directions carefully. Then I opened up the wax container and placed it on a paper plate for easier handling when hot, and heated it up for 45 seconds, testing the thickness of the wax every 15 seconds. After about a minute it was ready to apply, and I did a spot test on my arm for 30 seconds and didn't notice any skin reactions. So I carefully applied the wax to the area of the hair growth I wanted removed and placed the strip carefully on top and rubbed on top of the strip in direction of hair growth. Then the moment had come to rip the strip off, I carefully took in a giant breath, and just yanked with all my might like you would a band aid. I don't really remember if a scream escaped my mouth, but when I looked down at the strip I was enthralled at all the hair it had ripped off. An entire patch of hair was all gone from my skin, and though some of the tiny follicles were bleeding slightly, it was completely worth the smooth feeling. I gritted my teeth and got all the hair removed that I needed in about 40 minutes.

Cleaning up wasn't too much fun. In the process of dipping the spatula in the wax and bringing it to my body, I had drizzled a little of the wax on the bathroom counter. The only thing that seemed to get the wax up was a towel covered in the Soothing Azulene Finishing Oil. As long as the wax was on clean hairless skin, I could pick it off without a problem. However if it was on skin that had hair, I had to use the finishing oil to remove it, and it got pretty sticky so lots of finishing oil was needed. Also one of the problems I ran into was hair growth and wax temperature. If the hair was too long it would be much harder and more painful to remove, and if the wax cooled too fast it would be nearly impossible to remove from my skin. I would have to heat up the wax more, and put more on top of the cold wax to rip it all the way off. Hair should be about the length of a pinky fingernail, and wax should be hot to the touch but not scalding, and steam should never be coming off the container.

Overall this was a very worthwhile product, and it removed the most amount of hair for the longest amount of time with minimal effort. I know 40 minutes seems like a lot of time, but 20 minutes ever 4 days (average time hair grows back) really adds up in the end. The only problem I had was clean up, and running out of strips for the 4th time I wanted to use the product.

The next wax removal kit I tried was the Surgi-Wax Brazilian Waxing Kit. This kit retails for about $5.00-$7.00 and does not come with strips, but instead says to leave extra wax at the end of your wax strip. This strip that you place on your skin with the spatula should have a little extra so you can use the extra wax at the bottom to flick it up with your finger, and use as a handle to remove the entire patch. Sounds tricky? It is. Especially if your hair has grown a little. The process of applying this wax was the same as the one I had used before, except I was kind of puzzled as to how I was supposed to flick wax up at the tip that was still in an area that had hair on it. That was painful. So I apply the wax, and leave an extra dollop on the end. Upon attempts to remove the wax strip, I fell into a panic. Not only would the strip not come up, but I had no way to get the tip of the wax exposed enough for a handle to rip the entire thing off with just my thumb and pointer finger without ripping the hair where the tip was supposed to be. So needless to say it was very painful to rip the tip off enough to get leverage for the rest of the strip, but I got through it. Tears in my eye, I finally got the piece off and swore I'd be more careful and trim the hair much shorter in the future.

Cleaning up was much easier than the Sally Hansen kit because this wax dried in a flaky bacon-like sheet, and didn't have to be removed with the oil. The only places that I had to use oil on, were the parts of my body that had hair and bits of wax where I didn't want it. It didn't stick to the counter, and if it dried it was easily removed. The smell was fine, and the clean up was pretty easy all around less waste as well because there were no wax strips.

Overall I'd only recommend this product for small patches of hair removal. I didn't use it on my legs, but since that hair is finer than armpit or bikini hair, it would probably work better there. I'm pretty sure the flicking of the tip wouldn't grab excruciating single hairs ripping them out slowly like it did on other areas as it would on my legs. It was really painful to have those 2 or 3 stubborn hairs not letting go of the wax as I was attempting to rip it off. This product had very good hair removal, although not as good as the sally Hansen, it still got the job done. If you have a problem with longer curlier hair, and lower pain tolerance, I wouldn't recommend this product. However if you have short stubborn hairs, this product grips and rips them out excellently with very little mess and is also extremely affordable.

Next I wanted a product that had even less mess so I got the Sally Hansen No Heat Gel Hair Remover Wax Strip Kit. This product retails for about $6.00-$9.00 depending on where you purchase the product. The no heat pre-waxed strips are supposed to be even more efficient than the previous options considering there is no wax to dribble anywhere or to accidentally drip in places not designated for the wax strip. Its also easier to cut the strips into the length desired, and reach a more specific area for removing hair. So I pull out these strips, and heat them in my hands by rubbing on them for a couple seconds, and apply it to my underarm. I wait a second or two and attempt to rip the strip off. Disaster! Not only has the strip not removed any hair, it hasn't come off of my body at all! I had to painstakingly remove each hair by tugging on the strip a little. Since I couldn't remove it by ripping on it quickly, it left a little bit of the wax gel stuff behind. So then I used the oil and removed the rest of the goo. Still relentless in my pursuit I guessed it was just because the hair was either too short or not thick enough, I convinced a friend to try it on her bikini line. She had the same awful results that I did.

Overall I would not recommend this to anyone with serious hair removal on their minds. It did not remove any hair, and instead got sticky goo all on my under arms. Although it is appealing for the price and lack of mess left on the counter, it did not aid me in any hair removal.

So in my experience the wax products of Sally Hansen's usually end up with the best results, and the one that worked best for me was definitely the Extra Strength All-Over Body Wax Hair Removal Kit. It provided quick slightly painful hair removal, but won overall because it removed the intended hair for the longest amount of time, and is worth the mess. Just remember to keep the hair the right length, have the wax hot but not scalding, make sure you have enough strips (I used about 5 for the bikini area), and this time throw an old towel down on the ground and the counter to prevent drippings. It really is easy if you take time out to read the directions, make sure the hair is clean beforehand, and follow the instructions with the soothing oil after you rip the strip off. The quick painful rip was more painful than a band aid, and about the same of ripping off duct tape from a hairy arm, which is tolerable for the 5 or so weeks hair free. It also kept me from having ingrown hairs, and the soothing oil made my skin much smoother for lots longer than any other method I've tried. I'd recommend this product to anyone with a large personal bathroom, and lots of patience.