Even though summer is usually the time to focus on all things hair removal related, I thought winter would be a good time for trying out some at home wax kits. Because really, you’ve got to grow out your body hair and what better time of year than winter when you can hide it under pants and sweater?
First, I looked for a kit that had ingredients I could pronounce, mostly, or at least recognize. I found Parissa. Not only were the ingredients simple, they were real: Pine resin, caster oil, and bees wax. Then I picked out the kits. For my eyebrows, the Brow Shaper kit. My legs were a bigger project, obviously, so I choose the Warm Wax hair removal kit. And lastly, since Parissa makes a kits that says it’s specifically for face and bikini, I figured they were the experts so I got that box too.
I started at the top and worked my way down. Honestly, aside from nearly having a nervous breakdown that I would misplace a strip and end up looking like Marilyn Manson, waxing my eyebrows was considerably easier than I thought. The strips are made smaller, so they fit your brow better, and they are made with wax specially formulated for sensitive skin. I was super cautious and mostly tried to get rid of the stray and errant eyebrows, I didn’t attempt to shape them. The Parissa kits come with a little bottle of wax remover oil that also soothes your skin, which I found to be really helpful.
Then I moved down to my bikini line. If you’re squeamish, look away now. Bombshells, I don’t know about you, but my bikini line is a tender area. Ripping hair out of sensitive skin is, how shall I say it…it’s own special kind of torture. Though the strips for face and bikini were reasonable in size and not long unruly strips, after my first attempt to “zip away the hair” I was pretty sure I was going to pass out. Now, I’ve had a bikini wax before, and it wasn’t like I was trying to get myself ready for a Brazilian beach vacation, if you know what I mean, but this, I learned, is not something to be attempted by the weak hearted. Or for anyone who isn’t a masochist, if I’m being perfectly honest. Needless to say, my bikini line went unwaxed that evening, and my children may have learned a new curse word, or two.
After the shaking and sweating subsided, I took a short break to heat up the warm wax kit and have a snack since my blood sugar had dropped when my body when into shock from the pain. Granola bar in hand, I trekked back upstairs and set about getting my legs as smooth as a baby’s bottom. I smoothed the wax onto my shin, about the thickness of a banana peel, let it cool, and then quickly peeled it off. Okay, it wasn’t really as easy as all that. I mean, “peel” is a really nice word for rip that sucker off and pray some hair comes with it, but I can say that I found the hot wax to be the least painful of the three. My legs weren’t perfect, but again, I’m a novice. I suspect in time I’ll get better at it.
Overall, I think at-home waxing can be a great part of your beauty routine. I, personally, will not ever, no-never, be trying to wax my bikini line myself ever again, but I think I can manage some eyebrow maintenance throughout the year and a beginning of summer leg wax before vacation. The other stuff, I’ll just stick to a razor.