Here comes the *ouch* fairy (Immac Warm Wax)

Member Name: chrisandmark

Product:	Immac Warm Wax
Date:	18/01/04 (1195 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A more economincal way of waxing than going to the salon, Wax spreads on easily and smoothly, Legs are hair free for ages

Disadvantages: The pain could be compared to childbirth...

I had a top to toe pampering night the other night so I ran a hot bath and while it was running plucked up the courage to try the Immac Hot Wax I brought months ago but have been too chicken to use.

I've had my legs and bikini line waxed at the salon before and don't really see what the fuss is about. Yes, it hurt's but if you're willing to pay to get your hair pulled out by the root then you can't expect it to be painless. So in Boots one day I spotted Immac Warm Wax with Tea Tree on special offer at £7.49 instead of £8.99 I thought I'd have a go at home waxing. I had a bad experience involving my bikini line and cold wax strips once and wasn't keen to repeat it so I read the instructions, put it away for a month or so, re-read the instructions, in the cupboard again and now here it is sitting in front of me.

For your £8.99 you'll get a 250ml tub of wax, 10 fabric strips, an instruction leaflet and a wooden stirrer/spatula. The great thing about this is you can heat the wax in either a microwave or in a saucepan of boiling water to get it to the correct temperature. I opted to use the saucepan method as our microwave is 850 watts and tends to create a lot of hotspots when I use it to heat liquids and I don't fancy a trip to casualty with third degree burns today! To heat a full jar of the wax to optimum temperature takes 10 minutes but you must be careful that no water comes into contact with the wax or the wax won't work as effectively. To warm in the microwave takes between 35 and 75 seconds, depending on the wattage and amount of wax left in the tub. When warmed properly the wax should be in thick liquid form and it should be fairly easy to stir. Remember to take the lid off the tub before you heat it and remember the tub may be hot after heating, although Immac does say the tub is heat resistant I'm very careful about things that might burn! lol

OK, I've heated my wax and now it's t
ime for the temperature check. Grab the little wooden spatula and give the wax a good stir using the end that shows a blue square - this clever little device will tell you if the wax is too hot by displaying the word 'NO' where the blue square was but if the square stays put you know you've got your wax at the perfect temperature. Even if according to the spatula the wax is OK I'd try a little bit on your hand to make sure the spatula is working properly and you're not going to burn yourself.

The instruction leaflet tells you how to apply the wax to various parts of your body that may need de-fuzzing and also gives you preventative advice. I decided to wax my lower legs and underarms. Using the spatula I applied as thin a layer of wax as possible (the thinner the wax the better it works) to my legs. The wax feels lovely and warm on my skin and goes on really smoothly. I press on one of the fabric strips, tear it off quickly in the opposite direction to my hair growth and...

AAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Oh my god, the pain... I had to grab a towel and press it on my leg to take the horrible sting away! But in the words of Magnus Magnusson, I've started so I'll finish. The next layer of wax I applied I made sure was almost as long as the fabric strip and around double the width so I could get a larger area done in one painful pull using 2 strips side by side. Shhhhhh*t, I feel like a layer of skin is coming off with the wax. Tears are coming to my eyes and I'm having to put one hand on the wall to balance myself, Mark wanders into the bathroom at this point and asks why I don't just use a razor and save myself the agro - men! They just don't understand! lol

Both legs done and they're lovely and smooth, completely hair free but bright red. At this point I blasted my legs with the cold spray of the shower to take the last of the sting away and things are looking good.

But
then stupidity sets in and I start on my underarms. I've got really sensitive armpits and the merest whaft of a spray deodorant will have me screaming and hitting the ceiling - so why do I think it's a good idea to start yanking my hairs out? Because I want beautiful smooth underarms, not that I've got fur coats growing under my arms but shaving doesn't seem to leave a smooth finish. So I apply the wax (again, using the spatula) and have the fabric strip on before I can chicken out. Pulling the strip of wax off is nothing short of torture... I did exactly what it said in the instructions - held my skin taut and pulled the strip off in the opposite direction to hair growth and I feel like I've had my armpits amputated - no, no, sh*t, no, no. And I've got another armpit to do yet... Grrrrrrr

So, in short, it hurts. But the good news is if you've ever used Immac cold wax strips then take comfort from the fact that this warm wax doesn't hurt half as much as those horrible to handle, sticky strips. The one and only time I used cold wax I actually cried when I'd ripped one halfway off my skin and couldn't handle the pain - and with cold wax the only way to get the other half a strip off is to pull it off! *ouch* My underarms and legs were left beautifully smooth and the redness had faded by the time I got out of the bath, which I believe is thanks to the Tea Tree inclusion in the wax as it gives relief to inflammations and irritations. And believe, my armpits are inflamed and I'm very, very irritated. Besides the pain factor, I really like this wax. It melted in the time the instructions told me it would, went on smoothly with the spatula and pulled off well with little residue left on my skin. The only niggle I had was by the time I wanted to apply the wax to my underarms it had started to solidify again so it wouldn't spread on thinly enough and I could feel the spatula pulling against my skin as I tried to spre
ad the wax. However, I simply returned it to the saucepan of water that was still hot for a couple of minutes and it brought it back to a manageable consistency. The tub of wax incorporates a special lip built into the top of the tub above the wax level for scraping off any excess wax from the spatula and also for resting the spatula on while you're applying the fabric strips. This is a great idea because if you had to put the spatula down every time you used it, you'd have a pretty mucky bathroom by the time you've finished! The fabric strips can each be used up 4 times consecutively to remove up to 4 layers of wax, although I found once I'd used a strip a couple of times it was less effective at yanking my hair out. You can rinse the strips under warm water and rub the wax away, hang them over the side of the bath to dry and you use the same strips the next time you feel like a bit of masochism in the bathroom. And if you tear off the first strip of wax and realise you can't handle the pain, Immac Warm Wax will rinse off under warm water.

But does it work? Yes, it seems to work brilliantly. It's been a week since I waxed and there's no sign of re-growth yet, my skin is still lovely and smooth and there was no long term stinging or redness. Another bonus with waxing is the hair growth comes back finer each time you wax and may eventually stop growing through altogether if you use the wax regularly enough. Don't forget to check for ingrowing hairs a couple of days after you've waxed as this seems to be the main problem with waxing as opposed to shaving. Each 250ml tub of wax will (according to the information leaflet) allow me to was my full legs twice and my underarms twice, but I've still got two thirds of the tub left so I'll probably get more use out of the wax than this. This makes it a very economical way of waxing when you consider each time I had my legs, underarms and bikini line waxed at the salon it wa
s
costing me nearly 25 quid! If I carry on using Immac Warm Wax (which I will, by the way) I'll be paying roughly £3 for each wax. Saying that, I will NEVER wax my own bikini line...

Thanks for reading.

ps - Even though it hurts like hell I've given it 5 stars because as a whole it's the perfect product and whichever wax you use it's going to hurt!

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