Waxing

by Geraden

I am trying something new. I have bought some wax strips and I have had a go at using them on my legs for the first time.

There are 30 strips in the packet (for the price of 20) in sets of two. They have to be separated to use them. Each strip has a wax panel 5" long by 2" wide. The strips are said to be usable 6-8 times, but in my experience if you get 2 good uses out of each one you are lucky. Now I estimated that to cover my legs with wax strips, each leg would take all 30 strips, so if I got two uses out of each strip, the packet of 30 would do my legs once.

In my novice experience, the percentage of hairs removed varies. With a new wax strip, on an easy part of the thigh or calf, up to 90%. On the knee area, maybe 40%, and with a used wax strip the success rate goes right down. I found that if I washed and scrubbed my skin first to remove the dead cells, the wax strips lasted about twice as long.

I have used about half the strips now, and though I have removed a lot of hair, I still have lots of hair left on my legs. I am not sure whether this waxing malarkee is for me. It's not the pain – that is not too bad, but it just doesn't seem to be as effective as shaving. Waxing also leaves a lot of tiny red dots on my legs, which persist for 24 hours or so. The strips sometimes leave a sticky residue on the skin. Surgical spirit seems to get that off, and I guess that it also has the advantage of disinfecting the follicles, which should help with the red dots.

Maybe those of you who have tried waxing could give me some tips?