Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Waxing! OMG
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 195906" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Oh dear. </p><p></p><p>As someone who has never been to a salon but has used just about every hair removal method except electrolysis, I can sympathise. And while we laugh now, it's not funny at the time!</p><p></p><p>I had to promise my mother that I would never, ever shave my legs. And I never have. I HAVE shaved my bikini line and I used to shave under my arms, but when I found i was getting small infections which my doctor said were due to tiny shaving nicks, I had to stop shaving entirely.</p><p></p><p>However, I had no desire to suddenly appear simian, so I needed to do something.</p><p></p><p>I talked to my sisters (who somehow escaped having to promise our mother; or, alternatively, have less problem breaking such promises). One sister told me in graphic terms to avoid hot wax. She described an experience similar to yours, only it was underarms. She made the mistake of spreading the wax on with a spatula, to BOTH underarms at the same time. She ripped the first one off, and the pain was as you describe - there was no way she could go through that again. But wait a minute - the other underarm still has wax on it! Oh, no - it's gone cold and hard!</p><p></p><p>She said she had to go to the emergency room to get it chipped off.</p><p></p><p>OK, that finished me with the stovetop hot wax kits. I really didn't relish the idea anyway, of melting it all out again and sieving out the hairs from the previous session.</p><p></p><p>So I bought a tube of depilatory cream, but found it all grew back prickly, as if I'd shaved my legs. It grew back dark as well. So I bought some blonding cream and bleached the hairs on my legs. It looked better, but I still had hairy legs. </p><p></p><p>Then I saw a hot wax kit that was one of those expensive roller thingies - the wax is in a rectangular plastic dispenser which has a roller on the top, so as you run it across your skin a very thin layer of warm wax is spread evenly. There are three different widths of these, a wide one for legs, a narrower one for bikini line and slightly more awkward areas and a narrow one for faces. You buy a small box which heats the wax dispensers to just the right heat. It sounded good - thermostatically controlled so you couldn't burn yourself, no chance of applying too much, the wax kept at the right temperature while you dealt with each strip one at a time.</p><p></p><p>So I gave it a go - ouch! But I did find, it hurts a lot more if you don't pull it off properly. If you get it wrong and the hair gets left behind, it hurts far more than if you successfully removed the hair. If you get it wrong, what still happens is each hair gets pulled just enough to really hurt, but not enough to remove it. It's the difference between ripping a bandaid off quickly, or pulling it slowly and gently and having it hurt far more. It took me a while to get the technique right.</p><p></p><p>What sounds like went wrong in your case - because you used the hair dryer, you heated the wax more than is usual. This means that it would also have taken longer to cool down enough to properly grip the hair, and would have also loosened its grip on the strip the wax came attached to. Probably if you'd waited longer, it would have been just right (like the three bears' porridge).</p><p></p><p>I strongly recommend anyone who is trying waxing for the first time, to NOT go for the bikini line first. Or armpits. Instead, do an area more socially acceptable in case you get it wrong. Like legs.</p><p></p><p>The first time I used my new hot wax kit on my eyebrows, I still managed to burn my skin. I no longer use it, because I have a permanent red mark between my eyebrows which is from the wax STILL being too hot, despite being 'thermostatically controlled'. Mind you, it did do a good job under my eyebrows.</p><p></p><p>Other options - cold wax. This stuff has the consistency of honey but won't burn. It also washes off in warm water. However, I have very oily skin and needed to thoroughly de-grease my face (and legs) before trying it. I found too often that it hurt a great deal and didn't remove a single hair (which is how I learned that it hurts a lot more when it 'misses'). With practice it wasn't too bad, certainly I never burnt myself with it. However, it was getting to be too much trouble to do large areas, so I tended to just use it for eyebrows.</p><p></p><p>Then I bought one of those epilator things. The first one I tried was the rotating coil thing. Ouch! It hurt awfully and wasn't too good at getting all the hair. I think it hurt so much because it was so BAD at getting the hair - it gripped it just enough to hurt, then slipped off it again.</p><p></p><p>So I got the one with the rotating head with lots of little tweezers on it. That was much better. it still hurt, but at least it did a good job. Then I found that when it's got a fully charged battery it not only does a great job, it doesn't hurt so much. But it can't do eyebrows, unless you take the whole lot off.</p><p></p><p>So current strategy - I use the tweezer epilator thing (Emjoi) on legs, bikini line, under arms and (now I'm menopausal) under my chin. I did it by feel under the chin, because I've found that the thing doesn't hurt, if there's no hair to grab. If it hurts, then it's doing its job.</p><p></p><p>I recently bought the newer depilatory creams, the ones with the growth inhibitors in them. It burned! I had used it on my (now increasingly dark and hairy) moustache and the area turned angry red, blistered, raw, with black speckles where the individual hairs had broken off. Not good. I gave it to a friend (one who had more resilient skin).</p><p></p><p>But there's one more product, which I use for my eyebrows - NADS. It's an Aussie product (although I suspect it's been made to one of those old family recipes that gets handed down). There's no wax in it; instead, it's based on sugar or honey. You use it cold (like cold wax) only I think it works better. It also washes off easily in warm water. You DO need to have your skin de-greased, but I'm happy with how it does my eyebrows. The name of the product is an acronym, based on the initials of the four daughters this woman has. They look Middle-eastern, they have said that they really needed something like this because of the family hairiness.</p><p></p><p>I had been doing my legs with hot wax for some time before I tried bikini line. NOT a good idea, in my opinion. I found out that the hair roots go in a lot deeper, in the bikini area - so deep, that the first time I actually drew blood from each hair follicle. Not a good look - we were going to the beach, I wanted to try something that would look tidier than a shave - but when you have a red area with lots of little bleeding spots, it definitely gets attention!</p><p></p><p>These days I have discovered that the Emjoi does armpits and bikini line very well indeed. After having done it so much, I no longer draw blood. But you DO have to hold the skin taut, or it gets snagged in those little tweezers. And since I've lost so much weight now that my skin is sagging like a shar-pei puppy, I REALLY have to be careful!</p><p></p><p>I'm far less hairy than I used to be - and I have managed to keep my promise to my mother - I have never, ever, shaved my legs!</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 195906, member: 1991"] Oh dear. As someone who has never been to a salon but has used just about every hair removal method except electrolysis, I can sympathise. And while we laugh now, it's not funny at the time! I had to promise my mother that I would never, ever shave my legs. And I never have. I HAVE shaved my bikini line and I used to shave under my arms, but when I found i was getting small infections which my doctor said were due to tiny shaving nicks, I had to stop shaving entirely. However, I had no desire to suddenly appear simian, so I needed to do something. I talked to my sisters (who somehow escaped having to promise our mother; or, alternatively, have less problem breaking such promises). One sister told me in graphic terms to avoid hot wax. She described an experience similar to yours, only it was underarms. She made the mistake of spreading the wax on with a spatula, to BOTH underarms at the same time. She ripped the first one off, and the pain was as you describe - there was no way she could go through that again. But wait a minute - the other underarm still has wax on it! Oh, no - it's gone cold and hard! She said she had to go to the emergency room to get it chipped off. OK, that finished me with the stovetop hot wax kits. I really didn't relish the idea anyway, of melting it all out again and sieving out the hairs from the previous session. So I bought a tube of depilatory cream, but found it all grew back prickly, as if I'd shaved my legs. It grew back dark as well. So I bought some blonding cream and bleached the hairs on my legs. It looked better, but I still had hairy legs. Then I saw a hot wax kit that was one of those expensive roller thingies - the wax is in a rectangular plastic dispenser which has a roller on the top, so as you run it across your skin a very thin layer of warm wax is spread evenly. There are three different widths of these, a wide one for legs, a narrower one for bikini line and slightly more awkward areas and a narrow one for faces. You buy a small box which heats the wax dispensers to just the right heat. It sounded good - thermostatically controlled so you couldn't burn yourself, no chance of applying too much, the wax kept at the right temperature while you dealt with each strip one at a time. So I gave it a go - ouch! But I did find, it hurts a lot more if you don't pull it off properly. If you get it wrong and the hair gets left behind, it hurts far more than if you successfully removed the hair. If you get it wrong, what still happens is each hair gets pulled just enough to really hurt, but not enough to remove it. It's the difference between ripping a bandaid off quickly, or pulling it slowly and gently and having it hurt far more. It took me a while to get the technique right. What sounds like went wrong in your case - because you used the hair dryer, you heated the wax more than is usual. This means that it would also have taken longer to cool down enough to properly grip the hair, and would have also loosened its grip on the strip the wax came attached to. Probably if you'd waited longer, it would have been just right (like the three bears' porridge). I strongly recommend anyone who is trying waxing for the first time, to NOT go for the bikini line first. Or armpits. Instead, do an area more socially acceptable in case you get it wrong. Like legs. The first time I used my new hot wax kit on my eyebrows, I still managed to burn my skin. I no longer use it, because I have a permanent red mark between my eyebrows which is from the wax STILL being too hot, despite being 'thermostatically controlled'. Mind you, it did do a good job under my eyebrows. Other options - cold wax. This stuff has the consistency of honey but won't burn. It also washes off in warm water. However, I have very oily skin and needed to thoroughly de-grease my face (and legs) before trying it. I found too often that it hurt a great deal and didn't remove a single hair (which is how I learned that it hurts a lot more when it 'misses'). With practice it wasn't too bad, certainly I never burnt myself with it. However, it was getting to be too much trouble to do large areas, so I tended to just use it for eyebrows. Then I bought one of those epilator things. The first one I tried was the rotating coil thing. Ouch! It hurt awfully and wasn't too good at getting all the hair. I think it hurt so much because it was so BAD at getting the hair - it gripped it just enough to hurt, then slipped off it again. So I got the one with the rotating head with lots of little tweezers on it. That was much better. it still hurt, but at least it did a good job. Then I found that when it's got a fully charged battery it not only does a great job, it doesn't hurt so much. But it can't do eyebrows, unless you take the whole lot off. So current strategy - I use the tweezer epilator thing (Emjoi) on legs, bikini line, under arms and (now I'm menopausal) under my chin. I did it by feel under the chin, because I've found that the thing doesn't hurt, if there's no hair to grab. If it hurts, then it's doing its job. I recently bought the newer depilatory creams, the ones with the growth inhibitors in them. It burned! I had used it on my (now increasingly dark and hairy) moustache and the area turned angry red, blistered, raw, with black speckles where the individual hairs had broken off. Not good. I gave it to a friend (one who had more resilient skin). But there's one more product, which I use for my eyebrows - NADS. It's an Aussie product (although I suspect it's been made to one of those old family recipes that gets handed down). There's no wax in it; instead, it's based on sugar or honey. You use it cold (like cold wax) only I think it works better. It also washes off easily in warm water. You DO need to have your skin de-greased, but I'm happy with how it does my eyebrows. The name of the product is an acronym, based on the initials of the four daughters this woman has. They look Middle-eastern, they have said that they really needed something like this because of the family hairiness. I had been doing my legs with hot wax for some time before I tried bikini line. NOT a good idea, in my opinion. I found out that the hair roots go in a lot deeper, in the bikini area - so deep, that the first time I actually drew blood from each hair follicle. Not a good look - we were going to the beach, I wanted to try something that would look tidier than a shave - but when you have a red area with lots of little bleeding spots, it definitely gets attention! These days I have discovered that the Emjoi does armpits and bikini line very well indeed. After having done it so much, I no longer draw blood. But you DO have to hold the skin taut, or it gets snagged in those little tweezers. And since I've lost so much weight now that my skin is sagging like a shar-pei puppy, I REALLY have to be careful! I'm far less hairy than I used to be - and I have managed to keep my promise to my mother - I have never, ever, shaved my legs! Marg [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Waxing! OMG
Top