At home waxing

This $5 coupon came to my apartment a few weeks ago and I decided to put it to use. I’m trying to save myself a bit of money by doing underarm self-waxing at home*. Let me just start this whole blog post by saying that some things should really be left up to the professionals. You’d think I would’ve learned my lesson the first time.

I also decided to pick up the Nair at home waxing roll-on kit. Days after I picked it up, I received a generic e-mail from Nair mentioning that the “Brazilian Spa Clay” hair removal was a new product. Huh! Look at me. Picking up newly launched items.

First up, I tried Nair’s Spa Clay roll-on wax.

What you get:

• The Nair self roll-on wax device with a base  (basically the packaging it came in)
• 10 Washable strips

How to use:

• Heat the device in the microwave for 20 seconds
• Apply the roll-on wax directly onto your desired area
• Use supplied strips to pull the hair in the direction of growth

Sounds promising, right? Wrong. I wasted a full 45 minutes one Saturday afternoon trying to get each individual strand of hair off my underarms. You’re not supposed to go over the same section twice. I broke the rules. What was I even expecting? For it all to be so easy, quick, painless and have silky smooth pits for the rest of my entire life without hardship? Nuh uh friends.

My left underarm hair grows in all sorts of annoying directions. I don’t know why I even started with that side, I felt like wimping out half way through. I went over each patch of skin so often that I decided to stop otherwise I’d be taking off layers of skin, and not hair. The Nair wax wasn’t sticky enough. I must note, it wasn’t painful ripping the wax off. The muslin paper supplied kept sliding around on the wax.  To put it simply, it just didn’t work on my underarms. The instructions were quite clear. My arms were tired by the end of it, holding them above my head, glancing in the 10x zoomed mirror. It definitely was not worth $14.99. I do not recommend anyone else to go out and buy it. At least the muslin strips supplied could be rinsed off, and reused.

Final thoughts: Was it worth the hassle of $15 to do it at home? Absolutely not. This Nair product gets two thumbs down.

Next up to the podium? Veet EasyWax Electrical Roll-On Kit. Thank heavens my Shoppers Optimum points were put to use because this kit was pricy. I forget what it retails at but it was between $20-$30. The Veet EasyWax kit comes in a fancier package than Nair’s.

What you get:

• Veet’s self-heating device with electrical cable and base
• 1 Wax refill
• (Notice how they did not supply any strips to remove the wax?)

How to use:

• Plug in the device and wait for 30 minutes for it to heat
• Apply the roll-on wax directly on your desired area
• Use YOUR OWN strips to pull the hair in the direction of growth

I ended up having to wait 30+ minutes for the device to get to a liquid consistency as it was pretty solid when I opened the package. I expected that, however. I’d rank this pretty in the middle of line. Nothing to write home about, but it did work better than the Nair product. Since I have the wax warmer (shown below) I will not be repurchasing this item. Plus, it was super expensive!

NEXT UP:

Third time’s a charm. What I say in that scenario is third time’s a charm or three strikes and you’re out. Finally, the third product up to review is a Satin Smooth Professional Single Wax Warmer from the British Columbia based Flat Iron Experts. That was a mouthful.

This wax pot takes a long time to heat up, so be ready to do some chores around your house while waiting for the wax warmer to do its thing. The instructions said you should set it at high for 30 minutes as the wax melts. Then turn it down to “ready” for another 30 minutes and then it’s good to go.

You are supposed to stir the pot of wax, to heat evenly.

The first weekend I tried out this kit, I went to Sally’s Beauty Supply to pick up the supplies listed below, they also had the same wax cans as Flat Iron Experts. Then again Flat Iron Experts has free shipping to CAN/USA if you spend over $50 if there isn’t a Sally’s around you. Very convenient.

You also get these expensive Satin Smooth Protective Collars for the wax warmer, but they didn’t fit over top of the wax warmer at all. So when I run out of these collars, I’ll be using masking tape or something to cover up the sides of the warmer so it doesn’t get all sticky.

Good things come to those who wait. Right? Why didn’t I just use this wax warmer all along? Why did I go out and try two other products that I simply did not need to do? Probably to save money and do it inexpensively. Girls (guys?) trust me on this when I say you shouldn’t cheap out on hair removal.

My first go at the hot wax took about an hour for my underarms. First, I had no idea how much wax to scoop up with the stick, then I put on too much and some of it got on my bra. Panic attack set in, the wax was drying on my underarm, it needed the muslin cloth strip to be applied, but at the same time — wax was on my pretty bra!!! Dilemma. I got the hang of it all after I switched arms. I also recommend not going over the same area twice with the wax, or it’ll feel as if you got a burn. I’ve since used it three times there after, and each time I get better and quicker at it. Pro. Who wants me to wax them!?

I feel like the wax warmer is in a completely different league of its own, compared to the two other products up above. I’m all “hey girl hey” showing my underarms to the world, now that I have a profesh warmer. I have no shame.

 * I like having my underarms waxed as with a razor I feel like I get a  5 o’clock shadow, plus if I shave the next day I get razor burn! Thus: waxing = way better.

Have you ever waxed anything? Are you more of a fan of razors? Oooh, or have you ever gotten laser hair removal?