Argh!! Eek!! (Immac Wax Strips)

Member Name: GuruOnAMountain

Product:	Immac Wax Strips
Date:	16/07/05 (1182 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Should, in theory, keep you hairless for up to 4 weeks.

Disadvantages: Pricey, painful and uneffective.

Immac has changed it's name to Veet and has recently been pushing it's waxing products through TV advertising. To be honest, I've always fancied an alternative to shaving as I'm extremely clumsy and tend to come out the bath looking like an extra from a horror movie with blood spurting out of tiny gashes all over my legs. As if that's not bad enough, my hair is dark so even when shaved you can tend to see little dark pinpoints of hair on my leg and I have to shave my legs every day if I'm intending wearing shorts or a skirt or such like.

I was tempted by the advertising promising that waxing isn't half as painful as everyone cracks it up to be and by the fact that you can get rid of hair for up to 4 weeks. Well, that sounded good to me so I headed off down the supermarket.

I bought Ready To Use Cold Wax Strips which can be found in a yellow box. It states on the front that these are effective on short hair and my box contained 20 wax strips and 4 perfect finish wipes. However, I felt that it was an expensive product as the box of wax strips cost me almost £5!

So I took my fairly expensive wax strips home and read the instructions. The wax strips are two 'strips' made of greasepoof paper-esque material with a big blob of glue wax smeared in the middle sticking them both together. You are supposed to warm the wax up by rubbing the two sheet in between your hands and then peel them apart. Then you stick one to the area to be waxed, smooth it down in the direction of hairgrowth for a few seconds then pull skin taut and pull the strip off as swiftly as possible while trying not to lift it upwards.

Sounds simple enough. However, I am also advised to apply pressure on my skin to relieve discomfort which makes me have a nauseus feeling of foreboding.

So, off I go doing as the instructions tell me. I brace myself, give the sheet a good yank and YEAUUEYEWUWWWW!!! Ok, the air did turn slightly blue, but it isn't too painful if it has removed all the hair on that section of leg. I look down. It looks no different. I look at the strip and find 3 solitary hairs on it. I clean my leg off and wait a week for the hair to grow some more.

Now, the first time I'd used it my hairs were definately at least 2mm long and these strips are supposed to work best on hair 2mm-5mm long; but hey, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and try again. So with hair a bit longer I do the same as before (including turning the air blue and examining the wax strip to find a paltry number of hairs). Now, this amount of pain is definately not worth it if I'm only removing a few hairs at a time, but I'm determined not to have wasted my money so I keep on trying.

Eventually, my legs are aching and red raw and I decide I'm going to have to call it a day. However, I'd chickened out on a few attempts and ended up pulling the strip off too slowly and it had left me with big globs of wax on my legs. They advise you to try and get it off by pressing another wax strip against it. I do this and although it works to an extent, it is far from totally successful. So, 2 perfect finish wipes and a good 15 minutes of scrubbing with soap and water later I finally have wax-free legs. Well, they may be wax-free, but unfortunately they are red raw and still hairy. In all fairness, after reading the instructions later it advises you not to use soap and water to get wax off your legs, but use cotton wool and oil instead, but I'm convinced I'd still have been there a year later if I hadn't used soap, water and a fair amount of scrubbing with a rough face cloth.

However, I've heard glowing reports off many people who've used these, so maybe my legs are just extremely reluctant to part with my hair or something.

The pain was not excrutiating and I'd have been quite willing to put up with it had it removed the hair, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't decidedly uncomfortable. I'm fairly hardy when it comes to pain, though, and I know that my big sister for example could never use these as she'd just curl up in a ball and die at the mere thought of peeling a strip back off. I definately could not use them on a more sensitive area such as my bikini line or underarms as I think I probably would pass out and die!

I'll not be buying them again. I suppose both the pain and price would be worth it if they were effective, but since I found them virtually useless and quite messy and fiddly, I'll be sticking to my razor from now on.

Summary: An alternative to shaving.